Hands-on Activity Designing Musical Instruments Using Material Properties

Learning Objectives

After this activity, students should be able to:

• Describe the physical characteristics of matter.
• Sort matter into like groups based on their properties.
• Work through the engineering design process.
• Determine which materials work best for different instruments based on their properties.

Educational Standards

Each TeachEngineering lesson or activity is correlated to one or more K-12 science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) educational standards.

All 100,000+ K-12 STEM standards covered in TeachEngineering are collected, maintained and packaged by the Achievement Standards Network (ASN), a project of D2L (www.achievementstandards.org).

In the ASN, standards are hierarchically structured: first by source; e.g., by state; within source by type; e.g., science or mathematics; within type by subtype, then by grade, etc.

NGSS: Next Generation Science Standards - Science

State Standards

Materials List

Each group needs:

• recycled materials, such as cardboard boxes and tubes, string, plastic bottles and containers, bottle caps
• tape
• scissors
• rubber bands
• small items (10-15 per group) that students can sort such as pipe cleaners, papers, marbles, craft sticks, erasers
• paper bag (to hold the small items)
• Describing Properties Student Worksheet, EDP Student Worksheet, Idea Chart Worksheet

For the teacher

• copy of Ada’s Violin (available on Amazon) or the Ada's Violin Read Aloud on YouTube

For the entire class to share:

• poster paper
• cardboard
• magic markers
• crayons
• craft sticks
• string

Worksheets and Attachments

Introduction/Motivation

Did you know recycled materials can be altered or changed in some way to create sound? There are many countries where students do not have the money to purchase instruments for school or individual use. A solution that the students in Paraguay discovered was to take recycled materials and change them in different ways to make instruments. Once they decide which instrument they would like to make, they have to make some decisions. Which material would work best for that instrument? What parts will I take away or add to make my instrument work? These are decisions that engineers make when they are working on a project. Engineers test and study different materials to decide which material will work best for an item and be the most reliable.  

In this activity, we are going to observe materials and classify them. We will determine what these materials have in common and decide how we could put them into groups that have similar properties.

We are then going to look at some different items and determine which ones we think work best for certain instruments and why. Is it the material that makes the difference? Is it the changes we make to the material? Is it because we added items to another item to make a change that would produce sound?

After we have sorted our materials and discovered their properties, we are going to be planning and constructing an instrument for our team. We will be following the Engineering Design Process to complete our instrument. You will brainstorm, plan, give feedback and revise your plan before completing the instrument.

Procedure

Background 

Matter is anything that has mass and takes up spaces. The clouds, the ocean, and the trees, it's all matter!  There are three different states of matter: solid, liquid and gas. These states of matter have properties. Observable properties include color, flexibility, hardness, texture, and absorbency. Properties of small objects do not change when the pieces are combined with other objects.

If students need a refresher on matter, ask them these questions and discuss as a class:

• How does the shape of things help it do what it was made to do?
• How does the color of things help it do what it was made to do?
• Texture is used to describe how something feels. What words can be used to describe the texture of a material?
• How does the texture of a material help it do what it was made to do?
• What are other properties of matter? Why are they important?

Engineers use a model called the engineering design process to guide them through any project.  We will be using this process to make our instruments.

Before the Activity 

• Gather recycled materials. Start collecting recycled materials at least a month before the project; reach out to your community! 

  

• Gather various small items (e.g., pipe cleaners, paper, marbles, craft sticks, erasers), enough for each group to have 10-15 items. Place each group’s items into paper bags.
• Make copies of the Describing Properties Student Worksheet, EDP Student Worksheet, Idea Chart Worksheet.
• Get a copy of Ada’s Violin (available on Amazon) or the Ada's Violin Read Aloud on YouTube.

With the Students 

Day 1

1. Read Ada’s Violin (or Ada's Violin Read Aloud on YouTube) and show YouTube videos of Recycled Orchestra - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYbORpgSmjg.
2. Review prior knowledge of matter, properties of matter and ways to sort/classify matter.
3. Divide students into groups of three. 

Day 2

1. Create a chart with descriptive words.
2. Give students a paper bag with different, small items in it. They will observe the physical features of the items and record their findings on their Describing Properties Student Worksheet. 
3. Students will then sort their items in any way and will explain why they grouped those items together—what feature did they have in common?
4. Have students re-sort their items by different physical characteristics by material type, size, and purpose.
5. Then ask the question, “If you were told that you would be making an instrument out of these materials, would you change the way you sorted them?” 
6. Let students re-sort their items based on new information. 
7. Have students observe and record findings.

Day 3

1. Introduce the engineering design process and talk through all the steps. Distribute the EDP Student Worksheet.
2. Have a table with all the recycled materials on it that the students will have access to and additional supplies.
3. Let students in each group start planning, designing, and collaborating.
4. Remind students that they are restricted by time and materials, so they need to take that into account.
5. Check that students are filling out the “Ask,” “Imagine,” and “Plan” sections of the EDP Student Worksheet.

Day 4

1. Tell students that now it is time to create their designs!
2. They will use this time to gather their materials and construct their instruments. Remind students to refer to the plans they made on the EDP Student Worksheet to guide them.
3. Students need to use caution when cutting materials as some items may be sharp; walk around and help students as needed.        

Day 5

1. Tell students that it is time to perform!
2. Students will present their instrument, demonstrate how it works and share their process.
3. If time allows, students can revise their plan, consider the advice, and improve their instrument. They will fill out the “Test” and “Improve” sections of the EDP Student Worksheet.   

Vocabulary/Definitions

classify: To place items into different categories based on their features/properties.

matter: Anything that takes up space is call matter.

property: A characteristic of an object that can be observed, such as its size, shape, color or material.

solid: A type of matter that keeps its shape and has a definite volume.

Assessment

Pre-Activity Assessment

Idea Chart: Draw the idea chart on the board. Have students use the Idea Chart Worksheet and share out.  
Have students brainstorm words that they could use to describe a solid. Create an anchor chart for these words. 

Datasheet: Have students use the Describing Properties Student Worksheet to record the properties of the items at their table.

Think and Sort: Have students identify some other characteristics of the items.  Let them sort the items in any way they want.  Listen to conversations.

Activity Embedded (Formative) Assessment

Handout: Have students work together to fill out the EDP Student Worksheet of the design process

Post-Activity (Summative) Assessment

Demonstrate their instrument. Complete the last two steps of the design process.  

Making Sense Assessment: Have students reflect on the science concepts they explored and/or the science and engineering skills they used by completing the Making Sense Assessment.

Safety Issues

• Use caution with using scissors.
• Be aware of sharp edges on metals, plastics and cardboard.

Activity Extensions

• Take pictures of the instruments and recordings of students playing them and send them to the head of the Recycled Orchestra. 
• Create a YouTube channel.
• Brainstorm other uses for recycled materials to reduce pollution.

Activity Scaling

• For younger students- the activity could include just the properties of matter and sorting of materials by properties.
• For older students- concepts of sound energy, conservation and financial literacy could be taught.

Additional Multimedia Support

• YouTube link about Recycled Orchestra, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYbORpgSmjg
• Ada's Violin Read Aloud on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3A85bWecwg

Copyright

Contributors

Supporting Program

Acknowledgements

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant no. EEC-1160494—a Research Experience for Teachers program titled “Nanomanufacturing Systems for Mobile Computing and Mobile Energy Technologies, or NASCENT.” Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.