Build A Band- Creating Great Instruments and Mediocre-At-Best Songs
In this unit, groups were tasked with building 3 instruments (4 if it was a group of 5), consisting of a string, chime, and wind instrument. Each instrument was required to play all 7 notes. We used knowledge of waves (esp. sound waves) to create our instruments and keep them in tune. Groups were also tasked with creating a STEM-based song to play at a concert.
REFLECTION:
Overall, I liked this unit a whole bunch (being musical myself), but there was a very large issue. One of the peaks of this project was, well, music! Although the room could be a cacophony, it was fun to build and test our instruments, including the brainstorming. Another peak was the freedom. As long as we created the instrument, it could be played however. A deep pit was one of my groupmates, Kai. He did not cooperate, nor understand the concept of "group work". We had assigned him with the task of completing the string instrument, so he said he would work on it. Later, the unofficial completion deadline was right upon us, and he didn't have it done (nor had he done any work on it). Seeing as the other instruments weren't done either (my other group members and my own fault), we all agreed to meet at one of the other groupmates' house, but Kai declined, telling us to Skype him. He didn't give us his contact information so we couldn't work at all with him that Saturday. That Monday, nor the rest of the week save Friday, he didn't show up with the string instrument. When he did on Friday, all he had done was sanded it for 2 hours. Seeing as it was nowhere near complete, we took matters into our own hands and met during lunch to work on it. We showed Kai, and he got very angry, swearing at us and claiming that it was "his instrument", and that we had no right to work on it. It was group property, however. All in all, this project would have been super fantastic were it not for the group setup.
Overall, I liked this unit a whole bunch (being musical myself), but there was a very large issue. One of the peaks of this project was, well, music! Although the room could be a cacophony, it was fun to build and test our instruments, including the brainstorming. Another peak was the freedom. As long as we created the instrument, it could be played however. A deep pit was one of my groupmates, Kai. He did not cooperate, nor understand the concept of "group work". We had assigned him with the task of completing the string instrument, so he said he would work on it. Later, the unofficial completion deadline was right upon us, and he didn't have it done (nor had he done any work on it). Seeing as the other instruments weren't done either (my other group members and my own fault), we all agreed to meet at one of the other groupmates' house, but Kai declined, telling us to Skype him. He didn't give us his contact information so we couldn't work at all with him that Saturday. That Monday, nor the rest of the week save Friday, he didn't show up with the string instrument. When he did on Friday, all he had done was sanded it for 2 hours. Seeing as it was nowhere near complete, we took matters into our own hands and met during lunch to work on it. We showed Kai, and he got very angry, swearing at us and claiming that it was "his instrument", and that we had no right to work on it. It was group property, however. All in all, this project would have been super fantastic were it not for the group setup.