About this resource
- Appropriate grades
- 6–8
- Subjects
- science (technology and innovation), thinking skills (information literacy)
- Provider
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
Legal
This catalog record is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. This license applies to the content of this page only and does not apply to the referenced website.
In this Science Update, students explore the virtual guitar, the invention of computer scientist Aki Kanerva and his colleqgues at the Helsinki University of Technology in Finland. To use this imaginary guitar, people use a pair of gloves and a camera tracks the movement of one hand along the imaginary fret board and the strumming of another. A computer program then tracks the movements and turns them into riffs and licks that make up a song. Science NetLinks provides a link to the audio file, a written transcript, and questions to engage students in discussion about the design of the computer program and how other imaginary instruments would work with this type of interface. This lesson also contains links to the Virtual Air Guitar Project, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology’s “Virtual Reality Lab,” and the “Driving Music” lesson plan.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
Science (2005)
Grade 6
- Goal 1: The learner will design and conduct investigations to demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry.
- Objective 1.01: Identify and create questions and hypotheses that can be answered through scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.05: Analyze evidence to:
- Explain observations.
- Make inferences and predictions.
- Develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
- Objective 1.08: Use oral and written language to:
- Communicate findings.
- Defend conclusions of scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.09: Use technologies and information systems to:
- Research.
- Gather and analyze data
- Visualize data.
- Disseminate findings to others.
- Objective 1.10: Analyze and evaluate information from a scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing, and/or viewing:
- Scientific text.
- Articles.
- Events in the popular press.
- Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate an understanding of technological design.
- Objective 2.01: Explore evidence that "technology" has many definitions.
- Artifact or hardware.
- Methodology or technique.
- System of production.
- Social-technical system.
- Objective 2.03: Evaluate technological designs for:
- Application of scientific principles.
- Risks and benefits.
- Constraints of design.
- Consistent testing protocols.
- Objective 2.04: Apply tenets of technological design to make informed consumer decisions
- Products.
- Processes.
- Systems.
- Objective 2.01: Explore evidence that "technology" has many definitions.
Grade 7
- Goal 1: The learner will design and conduct investigations to demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry.
- Objective 1.01: Identify and create questions and hypotheses that can be answered through scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.05: Analyze evidence to:
- Explain observations.
- Make inferences and predictions.
- Develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
- Objective 1.08: Use oral and written language to:
- Communicate findings.
- Defend conclusions of scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.09: Use technologies and information systems to:
- Research.
- Gather and analyze data.
- Visualize data.
- Disseminate findings to others.
- Objective 1.10: Analyze and evaluate information from a scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing, and/or viewing:
- Scientific text.
- Articles.
- Events in the popular press.
- Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate an understanding of technological design.
- Objective 2.01: Explore evidence that "technology" has many definitions.
- Artifact or hardware.
- Methodology or technique.
- System of production.
- Social-technical system.
- Objective 2.03: Evaluate technological designs for:
- Application of scientific principles.
- Risks and benefits.
- Constraints of design.
- Consistent testing protocols.
- Objective 2.04: Apply tenets of technological design to make informed consumer decisions about:
- Products.
- Processes.
- Systems.
- Objective 2.01: Explore evidence that "technology" has many definitions.
Grade 8
- Goal 1: The learner will design and conduct investigations to demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry.
- Objective 1.01: Identify and create questions and hypotheses that can be answered through scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.05: Analyze evidence to:
- explain observations.
- make inferences and predictions.
- develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
- Objective 1.08: Use oral and written language to:
- Communicate findings.
- Defend conclusions of scientific investigations.
- Describe strengths and weaknesses of claims, arguments, and/or data.
- Objective 1.09: Use technologies and information systems to:
- Research.
- Gather and analyze data.
- Visualize data.
- Disseminate findings to others.
- Objective 1.10: Analyze and evaluate information from a scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing, and/or viewing:
- Scientific text.
- Articles.
- Events in the popular press.
- Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate an understanding of technological design.
- Objective 2.01: Explore evidence that "technology" has many definitions.
- Artifact or hardware.
- Methodology or technique.
- System of production.
- Social-technical system.
- Objective 2.03: Evaluate technological designs for:
- Application of scientific principles.
- Risks and benefits.
- Constraints of design.
- Consistent testing protocols.
- Objective 2.04: Apply tenets of technological design to make informed consumer decisions about:
- Products.
- Processes.
- Systems.
- Objective 2.01: Explore evidence that "technology" has many definitions.
