Innovating listening-led classroom practice in primary education: Sounding digital playgrounds

In primary education, understanding human/nature relationships requires doing more than introducing children to works of art that are inspired by nature. Nature is not ‘out there’; it is something experienced in the same way that culture is constructed and experienced (Diffey, 2001), wherein the relationship between learning, culture and nature shifts and merges. Whether we attune ourselves to what Dewey (1928) acknowledged as the potential of gardens for learning, or to nature and the sounds of water drops pooling, songbirds and leaves rustling in school gardens, the connection between outdoor learning and physical space and place requires us – as educators and as residents of Earth – to strive, as Gray et al. (2021, p. 148) argue, ‘towards a relational pedagogy that encourages children to recognise how important our thinking and our behaviours are to the health of the only planet we have, and ultimately to our own health and wellbeing’.

This article presents a collaboratively developed study from the Digital Playgrounds for Music (DPfM) project (University of Huddersfield, nd), examining how listening-led, sound-based technologies support creative, cross-curricular, place-based learning in primary education. A classroom activity with three Year 6 classes at the University of Cambridge Primary School used the Listening Playground web app, with Figure 1 outlining key listening-led learning areas for teachers. The project generated student recordings, images, sound maps and reflections, alongside teacher reflections and researcher observation, forming a listening-led practice in which sound functioned as material for inquiry. ‘Sound as material for inquiry’ looks like children investigating how places, materials and bodies shape and sense sound, recording, comparing and mapping what they hear (see Cook et al., 2023, for more examples related to ‘body sensing’). Listening served as the primary investigative mode, positioning students as active agents shaping process and outcomes, while collaborating, making cross-curricular connections and using technology creatively, inclusively and reflectively. A video walkthrough, lesson plan and link to the free web app are provided at the end of this article as practical resources for educators, who are encouraged to explore them with attention to how listening structures the learning process.