Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Investigating Brass Instruments and Pitch

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Students observe the sounds of different brass instruments in order to understand how to create different pitches. In this musical instructional activity, students create a "brass" instrument from everyday household objects. The students...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Weather instruments

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students explore weather instruments. In this weather lesson, students make rain gauges, anemometers, and barometers following the instructions given in the lesson. Students set up a weather station using their instruments and record and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Buoyancy

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students use materials found at a resource table to design simple devices that will house instruments to take water samples from a tub of water. They design 3 instruments, each varying in density so that one will float, one will hover...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Woodwind Instruments and Pitch

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore musical pitch. In this cross curriculum musical instruments and "sound" physics lesson, students identify and describe common traits of woodwind instruments. Students research "pitch" and what causes pitch fluctuation by...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Solving Equations

For Teachers 8th - 11th Standards
Put out by Texas Instruments, this lesson involves learners in an activity focused on adding polynomials, solving equations, factoring trinomials, and expanding binomials. A TI-89 calculator is needed to complete this lesson.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

String Instruments and Pitch

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students make predictions and explore how pitch is altered in string instruments. In this acoustic science lesson, students learn the types and parts of string instruments and create their own. They listen to classical music and identify...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

An Introduction To The Instruments Of The Orchestra

For Teachers 1st - 6th
Students explore a variety of instruments to discover their sound. After watching an orchestra play, students discover the categories of instruments such as woodwinds, brass, strings, and percussion. In teams, they listen to music and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Harmonic Conjugates

For Teachers 9th - 10th
High schoolers investigate harmonic conjugates using Cabri Software or the Ti Calculator to analyze harmonics. They explore different angles measurements as they move their circles around and solve problems.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Length and Volume Exploration

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students explore how to measure length and volume. They compare and order objects according to their measurable attributes and measure items using non-standard units. Students put 4 pencils in order from shortest to longest after...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring the Area Under a Curve

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Using TI-89, mathematicians explore and investigate Riemann sums to estimate the area under the graphs of intervals by drawing and illustrating rectangles. They review and practice the concepts of summation notation and area formulas to...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring the Orthocenter of a Triangle

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Young mathematicians explore the concept of triangles as they construct altitudes of triangles to find the orthocenter. Learners construct their triangles using Cabri Jr. on their graphing calculators and find that the altitudes of a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Complex Roots

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed Standards
In exploring the concept of complex roots, students find the axis of symmetry and roots of parabolas.  Then, they discuss what makes a solution complex and how to identify functions with complex roots.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring the Exponential Function

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Learners collect and analyze data regarding exponential functions of the form y = abx.  Students explore the affects of changing parameters on the graph of the function. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Graphs of Inequalities

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Learn how to solve inequalities and graph their answers. Students use addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to solve problems. They analyze their graph using the TI calculator.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sound/Pitch

For Teachers 1st - 6th
Learners explore how pitch changes when using instruments that are plucked, blown, and hit. In this sound and pitch lesson, students blow across the top of bottles that are filled with water to create sound. Learners use recorders...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sounds Good to Me

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students determine density and hardness of wood samples based on several investigations. In this physical science and music lesson, students visit four centers and perform tests on wood samples to determine densities and hardnesses. They...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Acoustical Science

For Teachers K - 5th
Students explore musical instruments and the pitches and tones they make. In this acoustical science lesson, students create their own string instruments and explore how pitch is altered.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Expressions

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Examine parts of an expression in this algebra lesson. Ninth graders identify the properties of the coefficient and their behavior to the graph. They graph the equation on a TI to see their results.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making a Musical Instrument

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students determine how music is produced through sound waves and how instruments produce music differently than others. They construct flutes out of straws and explore how to adjust the sound.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Transformations

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Young scholars investigate functions and their transformations. They move absolute value functions around on the coordinate plane, and then define the transformation and plot the new graph. The table feature of the TI-calculator is used...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sounds Good To Me - Instrument Creation

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders differentiate between pitch and volume and explain how sound travels through different materials. They analyze sound waves for their basic characteristics. Students design an instrument based on the principles of sound...
Lesson Plan
Cornell University

Sound Waves

For Students 6th - 9th
How does sound travel through different mediums? Scholars explore this question by creating and observing sound waves as they learn the difference between transverse and longitudinal wave motion. Using their new knowledge, class members...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Can Sounds Be Different

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders explore energy and motion. They investigate how sound energy moves in waves. Students explore how sounds are varied and how the instruments that make those sounds are built. They observe sounds being produced and predict...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Weather or Not

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders explore weather. In this meteorology lesson, 6th graders create weather instruments and compare and contrast weather data.