Touch to Connect: Musical Innovation with Makey Makey and Its Impact on Learning in Secondary Education
Abstract
This article presents Touch to Connect, an interdisciplinary experience implemented in the first year of secondary education (N = 17) that integrates music education and computing through the design and construction of digital instruments using Makey Makey and their use in the collective performance of a musical piece. The aim is to analyse the impact of this approach on students’ musical learning and competence development. The study adopts a mixed-methods didactic case study design, combining a musical performance test administered at two points in time (pretest–posttest) with semi-structured interviews conducted with music and technology teachers. Quantitative results reveal a significant improvement in musical performance after the intervention (M_pre = 5.44; M_post = 7.66; Wilcoxon, p < .001; r = .88), suggesting that interactive technological resources can strengthen musical learning when articulated around explicit disciplinary objectives. Qualitative analysis shows that the experience fostered more contextualised learning by positioning technology as an expressive mediation for rhythmic work, coordination, active listening, and collective performance, while also promoting transversal competences such as creativity, cooperation, autonomy, and problem-solving. The teachers further highlighted the inclusive potential of the project, linked to the diversity of roles and forms of participation, which helped reduce technical barriers associated with traditional instrumental practice. Despite some technical and organisational constraints, the experience provides situated evidence of how interdisciplinary design and coordinated teaching can support artistic and competence-based learning in secondary education.
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