Tracking the Specificities of Transdisciplinarity in an Educational Program Based on Integrated Music-Programming Teaching
A Longitudinal Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25749/sis.42660Keywords:
transdisciplinarity, computer programming, curricular integration, music technology, Sonic PiAbstract
The objective of this study was to analyse the specificities of transdisciplinarity and to identify their presence in students' thinking by examining their reflections following a 24-lesson educational program that integrated music and programming. The opinions of 63 students, aged 10 to 11 and drawn from three successive generations of fourth-grade classes, were collected through a questionnaire. The integrated teaching approach was designed around the specificities of transdisciplinarity, such as content unification, the “cosmetic effect”, knowledge fusion, and a future-oriented educational focus, these elements being consistently reflected in the students’ responses over time. Based on these benchmarks, the resulting learning process can be situated both between disciplines, through the unification of content and evidence of knowledge fusion, and beyond them, as the learning activities fostered holistic development.
Downloads
References
Aaron, S., Blackwell, A. F., & Burnard, P. (2016). The development of Sonic Pi and its use in educational partnerships: Co-creating pedagogies for learning computer programming. Journal of Music, Technology and Education, 9(1), 75-94. https://doi.org/10.1386/jmte.9.1.75_1
Bănuț, M. (2022). Mici muzicieni, mari programatori. Curriculum integrat muzică-programare pentru digitalizarea procesului didactic [Little musicians, big programmers. Integrated music-programming curriculum for the digitization of the teaching process]. Editura Paralela 45.
Bănuț, M., & Albulescu, I. (2024). Evaluation of an Inductive Strategy of Teaching Music and Programming to Primary School Students. Information Technologies and Learning Tools, 104(6), 67-80. https://doi.org/10.33407/itlt.v104i6.5813
Bell, J., & Bell, T. (2018). Integrating computational thinking with a music education context. Informatics in Education, 17(2), 151-166. https://doi.org/10.15388/infedu.2018.09
Borzea, A. P. (2017). Integrarea curriculară și dezvoltarea capacităților cognitive [Curricular integration and the development of cognitive skills]. Editura Polirom.
Burnard, P., Colucci-Gray, L., & Sinha, P. (2021). Transdisciplinarity: letting arts and science teach together. Curriculum Perspectives, 41(1), 113-118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-020-00128-y
Burnard, P., Lavicza, Z., & Philbin, C. A. (2016). Strictly Coding: Connecting Mathematics and Music through Digital Making. In Proceedings of Bridges 2016: Mathematics, Music, Art, Architecture, Education, Culture (pp. 345-350). Tessellations Publishing. https://archive.bridgesmathart.org/2016/bridges2016-345.html#gsc.tab=0
Creswell, J. W. (2008). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Pearson Education.
Di Paolo, A., & Todino, M. D. (2025). Inclusive Music Education in the Digital Age: The Role of Technology and Edugames in Supporting Students with Special Educational Needs. Encyclopedia, 5(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/encyclopedia5030102
Gold, N. E., Purves, R., & Himonides, E. (2022). Playing, Constructionism, and Music in Early-Stage Software Engineering Education. Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, Social and Technological Sciences, 9(1), 14-38. https://doi.org/10.4995/muse.2022.16453
Guzmán-Valeta, A. M., Inciarte-González, A., & Gómez-López, Y. (2024). Transversality and Transdisciplinarity in the Curricular Design of higher education: a Systematic Review. Procedia Computer Science, 231, 589-594. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2023.12.255
Hernández-Bravo, J. R., Cardona-Moltó, M. C., & Hernández-Bravo, J. A. (2015). The effects of an individualised ICT-based music education programme on primary school students’ musical competence and grades. Music Education Research, 18(2), 176-194. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2015.1049255
JASP Team. (2025). JASP (Version 0.19.3) [Computer software]. University of Amsterdam.
Klein, J. T. (2004). Prospects for transdisciplinarity. Futures, 36(4), 515-526. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2003.10.007
Lenoir, Y., & Hasni, A. (2016). Interdisciplinarity in Primary and Secondary School: Issues and Perspectives. Creative Education, 7(16), 2433-2458. https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2016.716233
Ludovico, L. A., & Mangione, G. R. (2015). Music coding in primary school. In V. L. Uskov, R. J. Howlett & L. C. Jain (Eds.), Smart Education and Smart e-Learning. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 41. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19875-0_40
Ma, Y., & Wang, C. (2025). Empowering music education with technology: a bibliometric perspective. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 12, 345. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-04616-2
Nicolescu, B. (2014). Methodology of transdisciplinarity. World Futures, 70(3–4), 186-199. https://doi.org/10.1080/02604027.2014.934631
Roberts, C. L., & Horn, M. S. (2025). Computational musicking: music + coding as a hybrid practice. Behaviour and Information Technology, 44(5), 993-1013. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2024.2402533
Treß, J. (2024). Maker music education: Towards a post-digital, participatory and empowering music education. International Journal of Music Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/02557614241259755
van Baalen, W. M., de Groot, T., & Noordegraaf-Eelens, L. (2021). Higher education, the arts, and transdisciplinarity: A systematic review of the literature. Research in Education, 111(1), 24-45. https://doi.org/10.1177/00345237211005799
Váradi, J. (2018). Musical education in the primary schools of Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. Život i Škola, 64(2), 67-75.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Sisyphus — Journal of Education

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) belongs to Sisyphus - Journal of Education. However, we encourage issued articles to be published elsewhere, provided that Sisyphus authorization is asked for and that authors integrate our original source citation and a link to our website.
Author Self-Archiving Policy
Author(s) are permitted to self-archive the final published version in institutional or thematic repositories, and in their personal or institutional websites.
DORA Signer
The Instituto de Educação da Universidade de Lisboa, Sisyphus' Publisher, is a San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment signer.



