3. Field Activity 04

The project is about coonnecting Music, Visual arts, Art history, Physics. As I have conversation with Musician and composer hwo is also working with kids, teaching them piano lessons. we were talking about active and involved listening, wich is the first step to be open to learning music notes, as for me it is very interesting chalange “translate” listening of music to the visuals, to be in active listening and creating process in the same time, and how we can transform listening, feeling and movement to light painting, to explore light painting as a photography teqnique. And also it’s interesting to speak about Kandinsky’s ability and passion about synesthesy, and visualaising music and notes. This will be lesson about abstraction, creativity, self confidence. We will introduce one famous classic composer and one contemporary composer work, giving short introduction about the composer, then talking about contemporary musicians, talking about Vasiliy Kandinski and his work translatimg music to painting. Physics part will be:

How Camera Optics Affect Light Painting: Slow Shutter Speed (e.g., 10s-30s): Allows light trails to be recorded smoothly over time.

Low ISO (e.g., 100-400): Reduces noise for cleaner, more detailed light streaks.

Wide Aperture (e.g., f/2.8-f/5.6): Helps capture more light in dark environments.

Tripod Stability: Prevents camera shake, ensuring clear, steady images.

By adjusting these settings, photographers can control how light interacts with the camera sensor, creating stunning long-exposure images that blend science with creativity.

Comparing Light Sources: Test different lights (LED from xiao) and analyze how their intensity and wavelength affect the image.

Speed vs. Trail Length: Move the light source at different speeds and measure how motion influences the streaks.

Shutter Speed Experiment: Capture images at different exposure times to see how long the camera records light.

Lesson parts Introduction about Musicians, and Vasiliy Kandinski, short conversation 1. Musical Interpretation & Initial Sketch 2. Light Painting Experimentation 3. Integration of Pencil/Paint & Light Painting 4. Creativity & Expressive Impact 5. Reflection & Presentation

There is very interesting quoute from Vasiliy Kandinsky. • Lend your ears to music, open your eyes to painting, and… stop thinking! Just ask yourself whether the work has enabled you to ‘walk about’ into a hitherto unknown world. If the answer is yes, what more do you want?

Learning Objectives

Express emotions and sensations through abstract watercolor painting while listening to music, without focusing on realistic representation.

Understand the connection between music and visual art by exploring how sound can influence colors, shapes, and composition.

Experiment with long exposure photography to create light paintings that visually interpret music and rhythm.

Engage in active listening by analyzing how different musical elements (tempo, mood, instruments) affect their artistic expression.

Explore the works of artists like Wassily Kandinsky and other painters who have visualized sound and music in their art.

Develop a personal artistic response to music through both traditional (watercolor) and experimental (light painting) techniques.

Discuss and reflect on their creative process and how different types of music influenced their artistic choices.

Key Skills & Goals

Translates music into visual elements (lines, shapes, mood). - Uses expressive mark-making to show rhythm, tempo, and emotion. Uses light trails to enhance the artwork’s musical feel. - Explores different movements, colors, and intensities of light. Balances both mediums to create a unified composition. - Light painting complements or contrasts with the traditional artwork. Shows originality and personal interpretation of the music. - Takes risks and experiments with new ideas. Explains artistic choices clearly. - Engages in self-assessment and peer critique.

Simple code example

MicroBlocks NeoPixel Light Changer

This project demonstrates how to control a single NeoPixel (RGB LED) using MicroBlocks. The NeoPixel will cycle through red, green, and blue colors in a continuous loop.

Requirements

• Microcontroller supported by MicroBlocks (e.g. micro:bit, ESP32, Adafruit Circuit Playground Express)
• 1x NeoPixel (WS2812) LED or strip
• MicroBlocks IDE: https://microblocks.fun
• Connection: NeoPixel data pin → board digital pin (e.g. P0), power, and ground

MicroBlocks Setup

1. Open MicroBlocks.
2. Add the NeoPixel library:
3. Click the Libraries button.
4. Select NeoPixel.
5. Code your program using blocs

with microblocks its also easy to set up color like it showes in this picture.

also it would be great to ask students to experiment with changing light colors and timing, we didn’t have enough time for experimenattion.

Reflection

It would be great to give students more time to experiment with changing light colors and timing. We didn’t have enough time for that.

Questions for students

• What parts of the music inspired your drawing?
• How could you enhance the expression of sound visually?
• What did you learn from this process?

From the Art Curriculum

Goals of Art Education:

• Develop imagination, observation, critical and creative thinking
• Learn to make judgments and decisions
• Appreciate and create beauty and harmony
• Visit museums, galleries, concert halls
• Apply artistic skills in practice
• Solve personal and social problems creatively
• Preserve and transmit cultural values
• Support future career in arts
• Keep Armenian art traditions while meeting modern standards

Course Objectives:

• Broaden worldview
• Develop artistic perception
• Learn about national and world culture
• Work with materials

Key Concepts:

• Creation: exploring materials, tools, ideas
• Presentation–Responding
• Connecting: relate art to time, technology, personal experience

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From the Physics Curriculum (Grade 8 – Topic 14: Optical Phenomena)

Learning Outcomes:

• Explain how light travels in straight lines
• Verify laws of reflection and refraction
• Classify lenses and explain how they work
• Model the human eye using physics and biology
• Explain image formation in devices

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Reflection on Interdisciplinary Approach

The curriculum rarely connects physics with art. Mostly it links physics with math, chemistry, or language.
But in our lesson, we found real transdisciplinary links. Art often uses physics—especially light. Many photographers and artists use optical knowledge. Examples: Olafur Eliasson, Neri Oxman.

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Crosscutting Concepts

To ensure a unified methodological foundation for understanding the world, the subject content is also built upon a set of overarching crosscutting concepts. These are core ideas that are common across various disciplines and help learners integrate and connect the knowledge they acquire from different subjects within a coherent worldview.These concepts should be given significant attention at all levels of schooling, and across all subjects, including the teaching of Physics. - Patterns
- Cause and Effect
- Systems and Models
- Energy and Matter
- Structure and Function
- Stability and Change

Reflection about curriculum of physics and transdisciplinary apraoch.

I find out that unfortunately, the national curriculum includes very few interdisciplinary connections between physics and art. Most of the connections are expressed between physics, chemistry, mathematics, and language. I think with this lesson me and my coleage find realy transdicipkinary connections, because in many art projects there are strong connection between physics and art works, we know fantastic photagraphers, their great work will not be posssible without knowledge of physics of light, understanding camera components, as well we can find out many artists, also there are so many artists working with multidisciplinary aproauch, One of them I can mention Olafur Elliason, Nery Oxman.

Formative Assessment Rubric – Visualizing Music Through Art

Criteria	Emerging (1)	Developing (2)	Proficient (3)	Extending (4)
Creative Response to Music	Rarely explores visual elements while listening to music.	Some attempt to respond through lines, colors, or shapes.	Actively experiments with movement, colors, or shapes in response to music.	Consistently and intuitively expresses musical elements visually with creativity.
Programming for Expression	Uses default or random LED patterns without purpose.	Attempts to match light to music but with limited clarity.	Selects light color/patterns intentionally to express emotion or rhythm.	Thoughtfully programs dynamic light behaviors to enhance musical interpretation.
Use of Camera and Light Tools	Reluctant or passive with camera/light experimentation.	Follows instructions but explores only basic adjustments.	Engages with light and camera settings to achieve planned results.	Shows curiosity and independence in controlling light-painting outcomes.
Abstract & Emotional Thinking	Work is literal or disconnected from music.	Shows some symbolic or expressive elements.	Artworks demonstrate abstract thinking and emotional insight.	Deep, imaginative interpretation with rich emotional and symbolic layers.
Peer Collaboration & Discussion	Rarely interacts or shares with others.	Occasionally contributes to discussion or listens to peers.	Actively exchanges ideas and supports group reflection.	Engages deeply

ScopesDF link

Visualaizing music

Gallery

How did you collaborate with your partner? What did they contribute and how did their perspective influence the lesson? I collaborated with a Physics teacher to understand curriculum alignment and whether students can understand the content with exposure. We were talking about what they learn about light and colour—did they learn optics, what do they know about optics, and how they connect knowledge, for example, to understand how a camera works. She gave me information about where they are in physics lessons, to help me understand how I can explain the lesson. I also had a conversation with the “Digital Literacy and Computer Science” teacher. He said that MicroBlocks could be easy for this age group, and that it could be a good idea to set up an interdisciplinary connection between art and IT. As we all have time constraints, they didn’t participate directly in the lesson, but we discussed making this kind of transdisciplinary lesson for future educational planning. Also, I had a conversation with a contemporary composer who had a classical music education and sometimes collaborates with music schools. David Balasanyan suggested some classical composers suitable for this age group. I also asked him to send links to his improvisations to introduce students to the music of a contemporary composer.

What instructional challenges did you encounter and how did you address them? How are diverse learners supported? The main instructional challenges we encountered were keeping all students engaged, managing different learning paces, and providing enough structure without limiting creativity. To address these challenges, we broke the project into smaller, manageable steps and provided limited materials. We also encouraged peer support and allowed flexible outcomes so that students could personalize their work based on their skill level. We supported diverse learners by offering multiple ways to access the content (visual, verbal, and hands-on) and by providing extra time or alternative instructions when needed. Open-ended tasks helped students with different strengths find their own entry points into the project.

Where does your lesson fall on the disciplinary integration continuum? How might you evolve it further?

Our lesson falls in the middle of the disciplinary integration continuum. It connects art and science in a way, where both subjects are equally important and complemantary to each other. To make it better, I want to add more technology and use computational thinking, so students can see more links and connections between different disciplines. I also want students to be envolved more actively in building their own experiments and projects, making the learning process even more experiential and interdisciplinary. I think this will be chalanging, I think we also should be more open to some “failures”.

Did you use AI during the process? If so, how?

I was using AI for cehking my thoughts gramamaticaly, sometimes to find some critical aspects, sometimes for getting feedback.

How has your teaching changed during the course? What would you like to learn more about? How can you support other teachers?

Personal Reflection

I became more empathetic towards learners. I am thankful for the course and learned many new pedagogical things from local instructors.

I became braver — before this experience, I spent a long time thinking about different methods, reading theory, and trying some approaches, but for some of them, I didn’t feel ready enough. Now, I feel more confident about turning my ideas into real lessons.

I received a lot of support and feel energized for further experimentation.

I think it would be great to take a deeper look at their curriculum and timing to understand which parts are interconnected with my general curriculum or learning objectives and outcomes, and which themes would be most useful to integrate.

Then, I plan to invite some artists invite them to school, I will have conversation with other teachers about me joining as a guest teacher or inviting them to contribute to my lessons.