How can music technology improve the well-being of people living with dementia?

Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, STEM clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 music and design and technology.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Dr Jennifer MacRitchie, Dr Justin Christensen and Jon Pigrem, musicians and researchers at the University of Sheffield. They are combining their expertise in electronic engineering, psychology and digital lutherie to develop new digital musical technologies to improve music accessibility for people living with dementia.

• This resource also contains an interview with Jenni, Justin and Jon and offers an insight into careers in music technology. If your students have questions for Jenni, Justin and Jon, they can send them to them online. All they need to do is to go to the article online (see the Futurum link below), scroll down to the end and type in the question(s). Jenni, Justin and Jon will reply!

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Jenni, Justin and Jon’s research and challenges them to design a new accessible musical instrument.

• The accompanying PowerPoint reiterates the key points in the article and encourages students to reflect on their own aspirations.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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