Music Curriculum

Engineering Teaching Fellows in the MUSIC Program develop curriculum as part of their Fellowships.  This curriculum is submitted for review and publication on the TeachEngineering Digital Library (www.teachengineering.org). Below is a sample of the curriculum published by MUSIC Fellows on TeachEngineering.

Curricular Unit: All Caught Up: Bycatching and Design
Grades 4-8
Includes 2 Lessons and 3 Activities
Bycatch, the unintended capture of animals in commercial fishing gear, is one of the hottest topics in marine conservation today. About 25% of the entire global catch is bycatch. This surprisingly high level of bycatch is responsible for the decline of hundreds of thousands of dolphins, whales, porpoises, seabirds and sea turtles each year. Through this curricular unit, students will analyze the significance of bycatch in the global ecosystem and propose solutions to help reduce bycatch. Students will become familiar with current attempts to reduce fishing mortality of these animals, such as acoustic alarms, breakaway links, gear modification, and time-area closures. Through the associated activity, the problems that managers face today will be reinforced and students will be stimulated to brainstorm about possible engineering designs or policy changes that could reduce the magnitude of bycatch.

Lesson: Energy Transfer in Musical Instruments
Associated Activity: Energetic Musical Instruments
Grades 5-6
Students will learn to apply the principles and concepts associated with energy and the transfer of energy in an engineering context through the designing and making of a musical instrument. The students must choose from a variety of supplies presented to them to make an instrument capable of producing three different tones. After the accomplishment of the design, students must explain the energy transfer mechanism in sufficient detail and describe how they could make their instruments better.

Lesson: Sounds like Music
Associated Activity: Strum Along
Grades 5-7
Music and sound are two different concepts that share much in common. Determining the difference between the two can sometimes be difficult due to the subjective nature of deciding what is or is not music. The goal of this activity is to take something constructed by students, that would be normally classified as just sound and have the class work together to make what can be perceived to be music. Students will construct a basic stringed instrument made of a shoebox and rubber bands. This activity aims to increase student understanding of what distinguishes music from sound.

Lesson: Food Packaging
Associated Activity: Package those Foods
Grades 6-8
This activity provides students with the opportunity to create a food package for a specific food. The students have three components to focus on in the design of their food package. The package will have to keep the food clean, protect or aid in the physical and chemical changes that can take place in the food, and identify the food appealingly.

Lesson: Fortified Breakfast
Associated Activity: Cereal Magnets
Grades 3-5
In this activity, students will design a process that removes the most iron from the cereal. This activity is meant for the students to experiment with different materials using what they know about iron, magnets, and forces to design the best process for removing the iron from the cereal.

Curricular Unit: Marine Mapping
2 Lessons and 2 Activities
Grades 6-8
The marine environment is unique and requires technologies that can use sound to gather information since there is little light underwater. The seafloor is characterized using underwater sound and acoustical systems. Current technological innovations are allowing scientists to further understand and apply information about animal locations and habitat. Remote sensing and exploration with underwater vehicles allows scientists to map and understand the sea floor. Similar technologies also aid in animal tracking, a method used within science and commercial industries. The teacher will use inquiry-based learning techniques to teach students the importance of habitat mapping and animal tracking.

Lesson: Physics of Roller Coasters
Associated Activity: Building Roller Coasters
Grades 7-9
Students build their own roller coasters using pipe insulation and marbles, and then analyze them using principles of physics. They examine conversions between kinetic and potential energy and frictional effects to design roller coasters that are completely driven by gravity. A class competition is then held to determine the most innovative and successful roller coasters.

Lesson: The Other Water Cycle
Associated Activity: What Trickles Down?
Grades 6-8
Permeability is the degree to which water or other liquids are able to flow through a material. Different substances such as soil, gravel, sand, and asphalt have varying levels of permeability. In this activity, students will explore different levels of permeability and compare the permeabilities of several different materials. They will also be introduced to the basic concepts of building design, landscape architecture, and environmental pollutant transport. As an extension activity, they will discuss the importance of proper drainage and urban design issues in sensitive environments such as coastal areas.

Lesson: What will Biodegrade?
Associated Activity: Bury Your Trash!
Grades 2-5
This activity will allow students to bury various pieces of trash in a plotted area of land outside. After approximately two to three months, the trash will be uncovered to allow the students to investigate what types of materials biodegrade in soil.