Sound STEM Challenge Musical Instrument Engineering Design STEAM Activity Unit
- PDF
- Easel Activity
Description
This week-long STEM challenge integrates science and music lessons about sound, pitch, volume, and vibration. Students investigate properties of sound, use the engineering design process to build pitched and non-pitched musical instruments, and write, notate, and perform a short musical composition to demonstrate their understanding of pitch, volume, and vibration.
A differentiated reading passage and quiz about the use of gourds as a material in traditional musical instruments will set the stage for students to design their own instruments. Options for sharing student work via oral presentations and a writing prompt are included. Students will complete a reflection, and a unit rubric allows you to evaluate students in science, reading, oral language, writing, music, and/or the engineering design process.
It is helpful for students to have prior experience implementing the engineering design process. These lessons were designed as a performance assessment following a 5th grade unit on sound, focusing on pitch, volume, and vibration. However, this mini-unit could also serve as an introductory, inquiry-based common experience for these concepts.
This mini-unit integrates STEAM skills with science, language, and music standards. It can be taught in one classroom or implemented as a collaboration between science, ELA, STEM, and/or music teachers. The activities in this mini-unit are organized into 8 sessions with detailed lesson plans. Some sessions may be eliminated, shortened, or combined to fit your time constraints.
A full, free preview is available above to help you decide if this resource will be a good fit for your classroom.
This download is one pdf file that includes:
★Teacher notes and lesson plans for 8 sessions (30-60 minutes each)
★Posters for Focus Questions, Essential Vocabulary, and the Engineering Design Process
★3 differentiated versions of Making Gourd-geous Music reading passage, approximately relative to an average 5th grade reading level
★Comprehension Check reading quiz and answer key
★Design brief and student pages for each step of the engineering design process
★Materials for composing and presenting a brief musical composition
★Writing prompt and coordinating lined and blank paper
★Student reflection and self-evaluation
★Teacher rubric
★My unique Collaborative License, which grants you permission to share printed copies only of this resource with up to four other members of your regular teaching team! (If you’d like to share the digital file, please return to your My Purchases page to purchase additional licenses. See my current Terms of Use for more information.)
Standards Addressed:
(See the full text of related standards in the free preview.)
Virginia Science SOL 5.25 (2018 standards)
Virginia English SOL 5.1, 5.2, 5.4, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8 (2017 standards)
Virginia Music SOL 5.3, 5.6, 5.11, 5.14 (2013 standards)
Related standards:
NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas: PS4A: Wave Properties, ETS1.A: Defining and Delimiting Engineering Problems (3-5-ETS1-1), ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions (3-5-ETS1-2), ETS1.C: Optimizing the Design Solution (3-5-ETS1-3)
Common Core: RI.5.10, W.5.2, SL.5.1, SL.5.4
NAfME: MU:Cr2.1.5b, MU:Cr3.2.5a, MU:Pr6.1.5a, MU:Cn11.0.5a
Please note: This product is not editable. The included pdf file(s) have been flattened and password secured as per the included font and clip artists’ terms of use. High resolution printing is enabled. Be sure to use the latest version of Adobe Reader to view and print, as other programs may not render the file(s) correctly.
Distance learning: If needed, you may email the pdf to the parents and students you directly serve, as explained in my updated Terms of Use (2020).
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Happy Teaching!
♥ Kristin
