Active learning currently lacks a model to describe classroom activity design and sequencing. Chi et al. (2018) has offered the ICAP Framework to describe active learning. To test ICAP, we applied the framework to the observations of two teacher educators teaching. Analysis found that ICAP lacks descriptive capacity when different engagement levels occur simultaneously and that ICAP lacked prescriptive capacity to guide class sequencing.

This paper explores the idea that wellbeing and healthy development should be the central goal of school music programs. After establishing a framework of student wellbeing, the metaphor of rites of passage experiences is employed—through Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey and Jane McGonigal’s analysis of the benefits of online gaming—as one way to think about high school music programs as potential sites for contributing to optimal adolescent wellbeing. Writing at the nexus of practice and theory the authors analyze two rites of passage examples from their high school music classrooms. Musicking experiences that offer students openings for embarking upon rites of passage hold potential for addressing students’ needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence—needs Richard Ryan and Edward Deci document as predictive of psychological wellbeing in all cultures and that Dissanayake argues are evolved psychobiological needs.

Explores eight examples of children’s (ages 4-12) self-directed play, using the theoretical devices of figured worlds and multimodality, to highlight the ubiquity of musicking and the self-authoring and social negotiations taking place within play. The joy of collaborative improvisation, creative ownership and participatory consciousness evident in these complex encounters is compelling for educators.

Examines children’s (ages 3-12) unprompted vocalizations using Dissanayake’s idea of artification, and specifically her five ‘affective aesthetic devices’—patterning, repetition, exaggeration, elaboration and manipulation of expectation. Children employ these aesthetic devices in their improvised vocalizing, always intermixed with movement and gesture, as expressions of personal communication, social connection and delight.

This article analyzes four vignettes of children’s self-chosen musical play that falter or shift during school recess. Using self-determination theory, it examines social and musical breakdowns, arguing for the value of free play in developing communication and creativity. Findings suggest implications for inclusive, child-centered elementary music education pedagogy.

Explores examples of children’s improvised vocalizing during self-directed play. Children playfully manipulate language, using rhythmic speech, vocables and song, combined with gestures and kinetic movements. These multimodal mash-ups address needs for belonging, individuality and growth.

This study analyzes seven start-up games from children’s self-initiated musical play across 14 Canadian schools, framing them as ceremonial rituals using interdisciplinary ritual theory. Emphasizing children’s artful, rhythmic actions, the article highlights their expressive sophistication and proposes pedagogical applications for music education grounded in children’s spontaneous, meaningful musicking practices.

Documents examples of playground count-out games used by children (ages 5-11) to begin other games. The reverence with which these count-outs are enacted, and the clear belief that they have special power, classifies them as ceremonial rituals. The beauty of form, rhythm, and repetition in count-outs, and the collective emotions they evoke, reveal children’s artistry at play.

Analyzes a one-minute play episode involving three boys, age 4, to highlight the richly multimodal and performative nature of much spontaneous play. We focus on sound, gesture, movement, gaze and proximity, revealing children’s abilities as fluent multimodal communicators who interactively shape their role-play as artistic performance. We believe such performances are triumphs of personal and social development and they underscore the reality that aesthetic expression is a human necessity.

The chapter provides an overview of how a commercial video game was implemented as a text for study in a high school English class. In addition to a philosophical justification for a video game being a valid alternative to a novel, play, or short story, a detailed summary of instructional methods and modes of assessment are also discussed.

The chapter outlines the justification, premise and execution of The Ward Game, an alternate-reality game based on Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The game, which was played for 30 days in an all-boys high school, critiques traditional systems of education while simultaneously enacting alternative modes of instruction and learning.

White paper written for UNESCO that explores how commercial video games can be used to support the work of conflict resolution and peace education. The paper argues for how games might provoke different types of empathy, and can help cultivate intercultural understanding and facilitate virtual contact between groups in conflict.

Urban music classrooms face distinct challenges, including poverty, resource scarcity, and marginalization due to the prioritization of literacy and numeracy. This context often results in underfunded or absent music programs. The article highlights how these systemic issues shape music education and calls for equitable, culturally responsive pedagogical strategies.

The twenty-seven contributors to this book are professors, teachers, and students representing all parts of Canada, as well as the USA, Brazil, Norway, Finland, and South Africa. They wrestle with the meaning and practice of social justice in and through music education.

This presentation explores strategies for fostering a vibrant community of play within higher education and beyond. It highlights how collaborative, playful learning environments enhance engagement, creativity, and social connection among students and educators, supporting inclusive and transformative educational experiences through serious play methodologies and community-building practices.

This article explores how youth experience musicking as play. Drawing on interviews with 35 youth and grounded in play theory, the authors propose a “musick-play” framework that connects musical engagement to well-being, identity, and self-determination, offering new insights for music educators and youth-focused pedagogical design.

This study examines how novice music educators develop effective questioning techniques to enhance student engagement and critical thinking. Presented at ISME #34, it highlights challenges and strategies in fostering inquiry-based learning, emphasizing the role of thoughtful questioning in shaping music education pedagogy and supporting reflective teaching practices.

This framework defines key criteria for effective educational musical games, emphasizing clear goals, motivation, learnability, and feedback loops. It highlights deep engagement, flow, social inclusion, and optimism for success, integrating Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development and universal play heuristics to foster meaningful, inclusive learning through play.

Games have the potential to transform students’ experiences of learning. This presentation explored the powerful pedagogy of musical games. Drawing on game and play theories and understandings about of learning and motivation, “why games work” was explained.  A framework of what makes a good game was shared.

Drawing on insights from key play theorists and illustrated by interview extracts with youth, Stewart Rose and Countryman develop a theoretical framework for  musick-play. Musick-play requires a special disposition toward musicking, in which relationships with both musical and social structures provide opportunities for addressing self-care and authenticity. Youth engage in intense musicking because it offers an antidote to distress, allowing them to take temporary control of a world that typically feels beyond their control. Musick-play provides the freedom to reimagine their individual and collective selves. Participants in this study reveal ways in which musick-playing helps them address personal growth, emotion work, vulnerability, social connections and identity issues.  Article to accompany this presentation is under peer review.

The study used the video game The Stanley Parable to examine how adolescents respond to a gendered authority figure in a choice-based setting. The sample consisted of 107 high-school students enrolled in English and drama classes in four schools, from four countries: Norway, Denmark, Canada and the United States. The participants ranged from 15 to 19 years old –37 identified as female, 69 as male, and 1 as other. The results indicated that adolescents are more likely to defy an authority figure whose voice is that of their opposite gender.

This presentation shared the possibilities of making “ear training” fun.  The presenters shared how teacher-candidates are using game theory to explore the sounds and symbols of music theory.  Three ear training games were played.

This article reflects on the authors’ shift from K–12 music teaching to teacher education in Canada, critically examining the persistent emphasis on teaching the “elements of music.” It challenges this dominant framework, proposing more inclusive, student-centered pedagogies that honor diversity, agency, and authentic engagement with music listening and learning.

This qualitative study explores elementary teacher candidates’ lived experiences in an inner-city, social justice–focused B.Ed. cohort. Through narrative inquiry and the lens of figured worlds theory, it reveals how candidates negotiate identity, equity, conflict, and agency, challenging assumptions and reshaping understandings of learning to teach in oppressive systems.

This is a chapter which describes a music lesson on “musical form” through a constructivist game.

This study explores Youth Participatory Action Research integrated with game-based learning in visual art education. Through co-designing the dystopian game Fall of Artica, students engage in critical making, collective inquiry, and creative identity exploration, transforming the art studio into a dynamic public sphere for participatory learning and social discourse.

This research integrates Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) with game-based learning, empowering students as active co-researchers. Through co-design in Fall of Artica, students collaboratively address complex social issues, fostering critical reflection, collective inquiry, and community-building in visual and literary arts within a dystopian, game-based learning environment.

This study advances an innovative approach using a dystopian game in a classroom setting to empower youth to be critically involved with complex societal issues within a dystopian fictional world. This design-based research endeavors to develop a critical action game that challenges students to adopt the role of 'troublemakers' (i.e., proactive change agents) in critically addressing divergent social values and beliefs. Engaging in the game provides personal reflection and a secure environment for vulnerable groups to co-create new narratives and restore the public sphere for open discussions and collective decision-making.

This paper is a design-based study of a collective inquiry-based game set in a dystopian world that engages high school students to reflect critically and build media literacy within various disciplinary contexts. We report on the preliminary design activities for an educational game undertaken closely with technology consultants and three high school teachers (Arts, English, and STEM). This paper reports on our first phase of design-based research (Brown, 1992), in which we work closely with teachers, game design experts, and technology consultants to develop an understanding of learning goals, gameplay dynamics, and learning environments (Gee,2005; Squire, 2006; Djaouti,2011), that would be suitable for students to collaboratively building an embodied game-based learning experiences.

This paper is a design-based study of a collective inquiry-based game set in a dystopian world that engages high school students to reflect critically and build media literacy within various disciplinary contexts. We report on the preliminary design activities for an educational game undertaken closely with technology consultants and three high school teachers (Arts, English, and STEM). This paper reports on our first phase of design-based research (Brown, 1992), in which we work closely with teachers, game design experts, and technology consultants to develop an understanding of learning goals, gameplay dynamics, and learning environments (Gee, 2005; Squire, 2006; Djaouti, 2011), that would be suitable for students to collaboratively build embodied game-based learning experiences. This paper received the Best Paper for Tech Innovation Award at ISLS 2023.

This paper presents Fall of Artica (FoA), a Critical Action Game set in a dystopian world that engages students to think critically and build media literacy through collective (i.e., whole class) inquiry within the dystopian context. The FoA game employed AI-Chatbots as Non-Player Characters, allowing students to converse naturally with FoA citizens through a “portal into their dystopian world.” The NPCS allow students to uncover the game narrative and receive clues and quests supporting their broader inquiry arc. This paper describes our initial application of these NPCs in an 11th-grade visual arts curriculum where students construct visual representations of the dystopian context, focusing on settings, characters, and artifacts.

Fall of Artica: A Dystopian Game for Change (Zhou, 2022) explores game-based learning through a Knowledge Community and Inquiry model. Collaborating with teachers, the study integrates critical pedagogy, disciplinary learning, and gameplay design, with expert input from Paul Darvasi and Leslie Stewart Rose, advancing participatory, socially engaged education.