CYFERnet Mission of the Month

1. CYFERnet Mission of the Month Bring SET to Youth via the Web Jay Staker, Iowa State University Trudy Dunham, University of Minnesota

2. SET Missions available online at http://www1.cyfernet.org/act-CYFAR/mom/05-09-index.html for youth to engage in SET • New Mission each month • Wide range of interests

3. 4-H SET Experience guiding MoM Engineering & Technology Connections Through Science

4. Roger’s Learning Continuum

5. SET Programming Critical Elements The philosophy of designing experientially-based non-formal SET curriculum materials brings into focus the ways in which teaching materials are created and organized.

6. National Research Council 2005 Effective SET curriculum design requires: • •Engaging in resilient preconceptions. Children don’t arrive as blank slates. • •Organizing knowledge around core concepts and abilities. Provide a foundation of factual knowledge and conceptual understanding. • •Supporting self-regulation. Design instructional strategies that help students take control of their learning.

7. Missions for 2009 • January: Ice and Water • February: Engineering Week • March: Container Gardening Science • April: Severe Weather Awareness • May: Creating Music • June: Leaping, Sprinting, Jumping • July: Fair Magic

8. August: Photography/ Generative story development • September: Community Mapping • October: Biofuel (NYSD Biofuels Blast) • November: TBA • December: TBA • Missions are archived

9. Rolling out May Mission at CYFAR ‘09 • A song is in the air: Creating Music • This month’s mission focuses on music, making music physically and digitally. • Multiple components • Science • Technology • Software based music • Acid PRO or Acid Express • Music

10. What is music? • Let’s look at sound: • How can you “see” sound? • What would you expect if you plucked a rubber band just below the surface of water? • How else could you “see” sound? • What is sound? • Disturbance, medium, reciever

11. When you hear the rubber band vibrate the same thing you see in the water is happening in the air. The air carries the vibrations as waves through the air, or other medium, to your ears. The vibrating waves in the air cause the parts of your middle and inner ear to vibrate causing your brain to perceive the waves as sound.

12. Try the stretching the rubber band over a metal pie pan or a metal pan lid. • How did the sound change? • Try a different size rubber band, a different size lid • How did the sound change? • What musical instruments make music like the rubber band? • What other kinds of musical instruments can you think of and how do they make music?

13. What other kinds of musical instruments can you think of and how do they make music?

14. Sound Sandwich • To make the sound sandwich you need to visit the Exploratorium website at http://www.exploratorium.edu/afterschool/activities/index.php?activity=137

15. Materials • 2 jumbo craft sticks • a straw • a wide rubber band (#64 size) • 2 smaller, narrower rubber bands • scissors

16. 1. Place a wide rubber band lengthwise over one of the craft sticks. 2. Cut two small pieces of straw, each about 1 inch to 1-1/2 inches in length. 3. Put one of the small straw pieces underneath the wide rubber band, about a third of the way down from the end of the stick. 4. Take the other craft stick and place it on top of the first one.

17. 5. Wrap one of the small rubber bands around the end of the stick a few times, about ½ inch from the top, on the same side where you placed the piece of straw. Make sure the rubber band pinches the two craft sticks tightly together. 6. Put a second small piece of straw in between the two craft sticks, on the opposite end, approximately a third of the way down from the top of the stick. This time, don’t put the straw underneath the wide rubber band; place it on top of the rubber band, in the middle of the two sticks.

18. 7. Wrap a small rubber band around this end of the craft stick, about 1/2 inch from the end. When you’re done, the two ends should be pinched and there should be a small space between the two craft sticks created by the two pieces of straw. 8. Put your mouth in the middle and blow! Remember to blow through the sticks, not through the straws. 9. Move the straws closer together. Does the sound • change?

19. What happens when you move the straws closer and farther apart? • Can you make several sound sandwiches and set them to make different pitches of sound? • When do the different pitches sound the best to your ear? • Measure the distances between the straws and predict what other distances would sound good together.

20. Straw Oboe • To make the straw oboe you will need: • Several straws (the thicker, strong straws won’t work well), scissors, a ruler • Measure and record the length of the straw and the diameter of the straw. Record the dimensions of the straw. • Use your observations and data to claims and evidence.

21. Now take the straw and flatten one end of the straw. You can use the scissors handle and press the straw flat to create a crease on either side. • Then cut the end of the straw on each side to create a point. • Measure your straw again record the dimensions including the cuts. • Place the straw in your mouth and blow. Do you get sound? This will take some patience and time. You may need to try a few times to be successful.

22. Now try different size straws and different size cuts recording all the dimensions. • What happens to the sound you produce? • Can you make several straw oboes that make different musical notes?

23. Now that you have made your own musical instruments and tested different sounds to see what sounds pleasing together it is time to make some digital music. The software has been downloaded that lets you make music and change it on a computer. • You will receive a copy of the Acid PRO on a CD. You can also go to www.acidplanet.com and download the free version of ACID Express. You will need to register to download the software. Also download the Free 8pack Loops. • You will find both the ACID Express download and Free 8pack Loops on the top menu under Free Downloads. Follow the prompts to download the software. • Mac Users: GarageBand

32. Music provides attraction to non-traditional SET audience • Popular and engaging art form • SET involvement in an activity that engages youth in a social, art based non-formal learning experience. • Cellist Yo-Yo Ma posted his music to online site Indaba Music for others to add their own variations to Ma’s music. • http://www.indabamusic.com/community • Essential Components for Successful Virtual Learning Communities. Sobrero, ‘08. • http://www.joe.org/joe/2008august/a1p.shtml

33. Ma: “Technology lets you share ideas. By sharing and learning and teaching, you expand your imagination.” Wired Magazine. David Downs. Jan. 2009 (pg. 50)

34. Where is the inquiry?

35. SET Abilities… • •Observe • •Categorize/Order/Classify • •Organize • •Infer • •Question • •Predict • •Hypothesize • •Evaluate • •State a Problem • •Plan an investigation • Use Tools • •Develop Solutions • •Design Solutions • •Problem Solve • •Measure • •Draw/Design • •Build/Construct • •Collect Data • •Invent/Implement Solutions • •Test

36. Research a Problem • •Interpret/Analyze/Reason • •Troubleshoot • •Redesign • •Optimize • •Collaborate • •Compare • •Model/Graph/Use Numbers • •Summarize/Relate • •Demonstrate/Communicate to Others