students around the room so that they can focus on their music creations. However, students in a group or at a sta- tion can also wonderfully use these activities so that stu- dents can collaborate together to create and make music.
Rhythm: Built by George Michael Brower. This con- sists of animated characters playing rhythms in meters of 3, 4, 5, and 6 (see Figure 1).
In a one-device setting, I use this activity to introduce
a STEAM unit. I collaborate with the science teacher as we work together on teaching about sound and music. With Sound Waves, I have a student play the keyboard provided in the app and they watch the blue dots move. The blue dots represent air moving through molecules. The higher the pitch, the faster the air moves. When the magnifying class is clicked, a red line will appear that draws the shape of one molecule moving through the air. (see Figure 2). In a 1:World classroom setting, have students explore long sounds, short sounds, high sounds, and low sounds. Ask them to answer higher order thinking questions about why the shape of the red line changes. They can re- flect on this using their Seesaw journals, or a padlet (pad-
let.com), or writing their answers with paper and pencil.
Kandinsky: Built by Active Theory and inspired by
Russian abstract artist Wassily Kandinsky. This app turns anything you draw into sound. In a one-device and a 1:World setting, the students
Figure 1: Rhythm In a one-device setting, use this tool to show meters
as well as having students move to the meters. In addi- tion, have a student create a rhythm pattern within the meter. For older elementary, students can decode the rhythm pattern that was created on screen. In a 1:World Chromebook classroom, assign the students to first explore each meter and then to create a rhythm pattern for one of the meters. Once finished, have the students use classroom percussion instruments to play and record their rhythm patterns. Since this will create an atmosphere with very full sounds, encourage the students to perform each classmate’s rhythm patterns as a large percussion ensemble.
Sound Waves:
Built by Mark Lundin. This con- sists of an explora- tion and visualiza- tion of a sound wave moving through air mol- ecules.
MAY 2018
draw a pattern on paper. This pattern can include shapes and lines. Set a guideline such as two shapes and three lines so that they can perform all of their drawings. Have the students draw their pictures into the app and listen to the results (see Figure 3). Ask them if they thought if it would sound the way the Kan- dinsky app played it.
make Figure 3: Kadinsky
In addition, the
cross-
curricular connec- tions with learning about the artist in art class.
Song Maker: Built by Google Creative Lab, Use All
Five, and Yotam Mann. This app can make simple songs with melody, harmony and rhythm. The songs can be shared via a link or social media, where others can col- laborate and add to or change the song. Click the “Set- tings” button to determine the song’s length, beats per bar, subdivisions, scale (major, minor, pentatonic), tonic, and range. In a one-device setting, the elementary music educa-
Figure 2: Sound Waves
tor can create a melody in the app, like Lucy Locket, and have the students try to identify the melody. Then hand
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