A web framework to develop computational thinking through music coding

Music coding is a new discipline aiming to develop a computational way of thinking through music experience even in musically-untrained subjects. In this work we will show how music can represent both a valid learning tool and an engaging reinforcement technique to approach coding at an early stage of children education, i.e. in the primary school. This work starts from the discussion of the educative guidelines that make music coding suitable to the current context. In fact, music coding can foster analytical processes, but it is able to encourage artistic expression, creativity and collaborative learning, too. Educational goals are reinforced by peculiarities such as a prompt feedback of user actions in terms of music performance. After analyzing different types of scaffolding to support computational thinking processes, a publicly available Web framework for music coding will be presented. Finally, the paper will discuss some applications to enhance analytical skills and support creative processes.