Exploring music through Data
1st - 3rd level
Teaching Materials
Exploring and gathering information about the instruments, genres and creators of music we enjoy highlights wider questions relating to data collection and visualisation. Examining the experiences of musicians of colour working in the UK music industry reveals the different types of racism, including interpersonal, internalised and structural, that exist across the industry. Reflecting on the stories told through the data also raises questions about how and why we gather data: whose voices are included and omitted? How might bias and assumption impact data collection? What can we do to challenge this? How can we use data as a compelling argument to bring change in our own lives, in our communities and in wider systems that we operate within?
Before you Begin
Background reading and professional learning on anti-racism maths pedagogy:
- The importance of data to equality, diversity and inclusion — Data Orchard
- Cambridge Espresso: Data Creator
- Cambridge Espresso: But What Can I do?
Background reading and professional learning on racism in the music industry:
Additional Data Education Resources:
Maths and Numeracy Skills Progression:
↔ Swipe sideways to view all levels
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1st Level Teaching Materials
Learners consider percussion instruments around the world as a context for reflecting on what we mean by stereotypes. Collecting their own data and choosing ways to display this which reflect their own preferences and skills, they look at different forms of data classification and presentation.
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2nd Level Teaching Materials
Learners explore what is meant by bias and consider the way in which bias can result in data that is not representative of a population. By gathering data about favourite music genres across the school, they will consider whether school music serves as a mirror and a window, both reflecting the identity of learners and opening up new possibilities, and action they would like to take.
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3rd Level Teaching Materials
Learners consider different forms of discrimination that exists in the British music industry. Through critically examining recent data and reports, they explore intersectionality and the ways in different aspects of our identity including race, gender and disability, impact the discrimination faced by Black artists in the UK.
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4th Level Teaching Materials
Learners consider how the representation of data can inform or influence opinion. Through engagement with the three sets of Scottish census data and historical visualisations, they explore the ways in which quantitative information can be represented. The activities draw attention to changes in data gathered and in representations that make comparisons over time difficult. The resource has been crafted to develop the skills that will be needed for Higher Applications of Mathematics and in the light of the curriculum improvement cycle.
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Exploring Scotland’s Census through Data
4th level
Different narratives relating to the population and movement of people across Scotland are presented to us through politics and media. Exploring the way that the representation of data can inform or influence opinion helps us raise questions and challenge what we read, hear and see. Comparing and contrasting data changes over time helps us to explore wider questions about the visualisation of data: how can it be used to change hearts and minds and speak truth to injustice and disinformation?