Can you create a rock band? Scholars learn about the creation and transmission of sound in a hands-on STEM activity. First, they explore the transmission of sound using a tuning fork. Then, they must solve the problem of missing...

Students create unique sounds using different instruments.  In this energy lesson, students read and define several vocabulary terms such as heat, energy transfer and thermal equilibrium.  Students utilize several household...

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...

Investigate sound waves with acoustic mirrors. Using audio software, groups make recordings of musical instruments, both with and without acoustic mirrors. They compare the recordings to see the effect of acoustic mirrors on sound...

Fourth graders listen to a recording of a string quartet and ask questions about what kinds of instrument they think they are listening to and describe what they think the instruments look like. Then they discuss musical ideas such as...

Young meteorologists explore different aspects of the weather while learning about measurement devices. They build instruments and then set up a weather station outside and measure temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind speed, and...

Students classify the classes of instruments of the orchestra: strings, brass, woodwinds and percussion. They aurally and visually identify the instruments of the orchestra. Students become actively engaged in live performances by...

Design and build a rover ... then eat it? This activity has groups of two design and build Mars rovers. The teams determine what instruments they want to include with their rover and plan a budget. They calculate the cost of the body of...

Art and science sometimes go hand in hand. A set of four activities for learners in grades 3-5 teaches engineering concepts as part of art projects. Class members build homemade robots, elastic puppets, musical instruments, and...

Weather — there's more to it than meets the eye of the storm. With this resource young meteorologists learn about the basics of weather, including information about the factors that influence the weather, common weather vocabulary,...

Young scholars recall Orff instrument families and specific instruments so that they can put sound effects to certain words in a scary story to make it more interesting.

Students investigate music appreciation by completing worksheets. In this musical arts lesson, students complete worksheets in which they identify different musical instruments, the sounds they make and the family of instruments they...

Sound engineers investigate the structural design of a musical instrument, the recorder. They work in collaborative groups to choose an instrument to build out of everyday craft materials. It must be able to repeat a three-note sequence...

Students are introduced to each sound made by the four instrument families. Individually, they create their own short song using at least one of the sounds. They use the internet to research the history of the four instrument families...

Students analyze how medical devices that help the human body function. They work in pairs or groups to draw multiple views of the medical device and describe how engineering is used by biomedial engineers.

Need some activities to go along with your unit? A collection of hands-on activities from PBS offers opportunities to add to your electricity, sound, and force units. The electricity activities revolve around building a...

Changing one aspect of a mission impacts all the others. Learners consider a list of criteria as they develop their own science questions related to Mars and design a solution while considering all the important systems: computer,...

High schoolers create a new project. They are told that the Garage Band is a program that comes on Macintosh computers. Students are told that they project doesn't matter what tempo or key if they are recording live music. They go back...

Fourth graders analyze, brainstorm and practice playing a melody/pattern with rhythm, tempo, dynamics, and instrumental pieces of many styles. In addition, they create an original piece of music.

Forget your local meteorologist — build your own barometer and keep track of the weather with an activity that provides directions to build a barometer out of a narrow necked bottle, a glass, and some water. Using their barometer,...

My forecast is that you'll want to use the resource. Pupils design and create a weather bot as part of a project-based unit. These bots should be able to measure temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, and...

High schoolers study the classical orchestra in this technology-based general music lesson for the high school classroom. Emphasis is placed on the use of the "Microsoft Musical Instruments" software. This lesson can be accomplished in...

Learners explore how the sounds made by everyday objects can be transformed into musical experiences, composing and performing musical pieces using non-traditional instruments.

Students analyze the lyrics, instruments, sounds and technology from the song "Vertigo" by U2. They view a video presenting interviews with the band and complete a stage design for the live playing of the song.