LESSON 8 (Approximately 2 hours)
PREPARING TO CONSTRUCT STRING INSTRUMENTS
Overview
Materials
Class set of meter sticks or yard sticks Blank white paper
Student and teacher laptops installed with ‘Rhinoceros’ Class set of rulers
Digital projector Colored pencils
Projector screen Voice recorders
Community Resources
Parent or community volunteer (ideally a mechanical engineer, architecture, machinist, construction worker, or contractor) and music teacher
Key Words
Digital drawings | Hand drawings | Neck [of a string instrument] | Body [of a string instrument] | Art in mathematics | Prototype | N.A.S.A.’s Beginning Engineering, Science, and Technology (B.E.S.T.) | Ask | Imagine | Plan | Create | Experiment | Improve | Tunable | Fret | Pitch | Exponential growth/decay | Logarithmic growth/decay | Mathematical model
TEACHING PLAN
Introduction
In this lesson we will be using the mathematical models we developed last class to identify the location of frets along the neck of a string instrument we will begin building next class. You will be helping to provide feedback to one another regarding your proposed instrument designs. Additionally, you will help assess the accuracy of the digital or hand-drawn schematics your classmates composed by checking the exponential decay models off of which they are based. In teams you will combine your best ideas, develop new drawings and create a detailed list of materials for our second build project (next class). You will be emailing me your wishlist of materials for tunable string instruments. The budget for each team’s project is $25. Next class, we will be joined by family members and community volunteers as well as a music teacher who will consult on your design choices. I can’t wait to see how you blend one another’s ideas into something artistic and unique! Does anyone have any questions? Let’s get started!
ASK Questions and discuss as a class (10 minutes)
Task
Wrap Up
Discuss
Distribute
Web Resources
Formative Assessments
Summative Assessments
‘Circle, Triangle, Square’ Exit Slip
PREPARING TO CONSTRUCT STRING INSTRUMENTS
Overview
- Critiquing fellow classmates’ digital or hand drawn schematic drawings for accuracy in accordance with exponential and logarithmic decay models
- Synthesizing individual efforts made outside class into robust team products per the engineering design process as outlined by NASA’s Beginning Engineering, Science and Technology (B.E.S.T)
- Consulting with community experts (e.g., a mechanical engineer, a musician, an architect and an expert woodworker) and troubleshooting design ideas in an effort to plan the design and build phases for a string instrument prototype
- Student teams deliberating on and communicating a wishlist of materials to their teacher
Materials
Class set of meter sticks or yard sticks Blank white paper
Student and teacher laptops installed with ‘Rhinoceros’ Class set of rulers
Digital projector Colored pencils
Projector screen Voice recorders
Community Resources
Parent or community volunteer (ideally a mechanical engineer, architecture, machinist, construction worker, or contractor) and music teacher
Key Words
Digital drawings | Hand drawings | Neck [of a string instrument] | Body [of a string instrument] | Art in mathematics | Prototype | N.A.S.A.’s Beginning Engineering, Science, and Technology (B.E.S.T.) | Ask | Imagine | Plan | Create | Experiment | Improve | Tunable | Fret | Pitch | Exponential growth/decay | Logarithmic growth/decay | Mathematical model
TEACHING PLAN
Introduction
In this lesson we will be using the mathematical models we developed last class to identify the location of frets along the neck of a string instrument we will begin building next class. You will be helping to provide feedback to one another regarding your proposed instrument designs. Additionally, you will help assess the accuracy of the digital or hand-drawn schematics your classmates composed by checking the exponential decay models off of which they are based. In teams you will combine your best ideas, develop new drawings and create a detailed list of materials for our second build project (next class). You will be emailing me your wishlist of materials for tunable string instruments. The budget for each team’s project is $25. Next class, we will be joined by family members and community volunteers as well as a music teacher who will consult on your design choices. I can’t wait to see how you blend one another’s ideas into something artistic and unique! Does anyone have any questions? Let’s get started!
ASK Questions and discuss as a class (10 minutes)
- What parts of your design do you think your team members will be able to help you with?
- How can you assess whether members of your team have correctly located their frets?
- What common mistakes should we look out for?
- Having gone through the critique process before, how do you suggest we provide and respond to criticism?
Task
- Please group together with your string instrument design team and retrieve your digital or hand-drawn schematics. Bring your portfolio, laptop and something with which to write. (3 minutes)
- Now that you are sitting with your three team members, partner up and examine one of your team members’ schematics paying close attention to the neck and body of string instruments. Remember to offer criticism that is most in line with your earlier suggestions and respond rather than react. After five minutes, we will quickly switch and double-check the work of another team member. (5 minutes)
- Switch partners and again check the mathematical model and subsequent calculations he or she used to position the frets. (5 minutes)
- Get back together as a team of four and retool any calculations. If you do not need to make adjustments, begin envisioning how your team will blend your individual ideas. (5 minutes)
- At this point, I would like to bring attention to how your upcoming string instrument team project will be graded. Let’s go through the details. (Distribute ‘String Instrument Final Project Grading Rubric’) (10 minutes)
- Stretch break (2 minutes)
- Now that each of you have established your specific role on your team—Materials Team Member, Schematics Team Member, Coordinator Team Member, or Recorder/Photographer Team Member—take a moment to re-read the document ‘Specific Roles For Helpful Team Members’ provided last class. Afterwards please revisit the features of the engineering design process as outlined in ‘N.A.S.A.’s B.E.S.T.: The Engineering Design Process. (Distribute ‘N.A.S.A.’s B.E.S.T.: The Engineering Design Process’) (7 minutes)
- At this point, I would like to invite you and your team to combine aspects of your individual work, imagine changes to your design, and begin composing your wish list of materials. But before we do this, let’s review. (1 minute)
- (If available, show examples of former students’ work. Be sure to differentiate between exemplary, satisfactory, and below average projects.)
- Materials Team Members: You will email me your team’s wish list of materials. Additionally, you are responsible for pricing out each item, how many you will need, and where to buy them (if not available at Home Depot). You will also be responsible for ensuring safe lab practices over the next two classes and organizing cleaning up. (1 minute)
- Schematics Team Members: Make sure to update the drawings tonight to reflect your team’s collaborative work today. (1 minute)
- Coordinator Team Members: Consider how you can help your team stay organized, make use of on-campus resources and involve expert guests next time. Please also consider how you will utilize the space around the class and Innovation Lab. (1 minute)
- Recorder/Photographer Team Members: Document your progress in notes and photos. I would recommend that you enlist help from your Materials Team Member and spend time looking for materials on campus or after school. Does anyone have any questions? (1 minute)
- At this point, you have forty minutes to work together. I will be fielding your questions and checking out your evolving designs. Feel free to use any online resources. We will check in at the halfway point to take a little break. Let’s get started! (20 minutes)
- As a break, let’s take a few minutes to play some of the professional instruments still in the room! (6 minutes)
- Alright. Let’s transition back. You have another twenty minutes to work with your team members. Please let me know how I can help! (20 minutes)
Wrap Up
Discuss
- Review homework deliverables due next class: (7 minutes)
- Materials Team Members: Communicate your team’s wish list of materials to me with price, quantity, and store location
- Schematic Team Members: Update schematic drawings (3) or digital renderings of proposed string instrument design from three angles (Top, Perspective, Elevation); due at the beginning of next class.
- Coordinator Team Members: Create a list of tasks for individual team members to complete during our first construction period (next class), commenting in 4-5 sentences how your team will utilize guest experts and school resources next class, prepare to serve as the spokesperson who will communicate team progress over the next three class periods
- Recorder/Photographer Team Member: Organize photos, printouts, and notes into a chronological, well-ordered three-ring binder
- Students complete ‘Circle, Triangle, Square’ Exit Slip (7 minutes)
- Submit homework from last night: Schematic drawings (4) or digital renderings completed on ‘Rhinoceros’ (2)
Distribute
- "String Instrument Final Project Grading Rubric"
- "N.A.S.A.’s B.E.S.T.: The Engineering Design Process"
- "Circle, Triangle, Square’ Exit Slip"
Web Resources
- N.A.S.A.’s Beginning Engineering, Science, and Technology (B.E.S.T.) website: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/best/#.V4Q9GJMrJp8
- N.A.S.A.’s B.E.S.T. Engineering Design Process (E.D.P.) video series: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/best/edp.html
Formative Assessments
- Schematic drawings (4) or digital renderings completed on ‘Rhinoceros’ (2)
- Verbal responses to ‘ASK Questions’
- Peer critique of schematics
Summative Assessments
‘Circle, Triangle, Square’ Exit Slip