Educator Resources

Curriculum Materials

MIM offers unique curriculum resources created through collaborative efforts of the MIM Education Team and K–12 educators in order to prepare students for their visit to MIM and to continue the learning after they return to school. All lesson plans align with Arizona State Academic Standards and lessons are multidisciplinary, drawing on music education, science, and social studies. Click on the lesson plans below to connect with the content.

Elementary School

"I Am AZ Music: MIM Celebrates 100 Years of Arizona Music"
Designed by Dr. Rebecca A. Cairo
Designed for fourth-grade students, this standards-based social studies lesson aims to enrich, enhance, and extend the learning begun at MIM’s centennial exhibition, titled I Am AZ Music: MIM Celebrates 100 Years of Arizona Music. The exhibition and accompanying curricula provides fun opportunities to learn research skills for history. Arizona students learn about historically important musical moments, cultural traditions, or legendary musicians who have made an impact on the world. This lesson is also suitable for middle or secondary students in general music classes.
Click here for the lesson (zip 1mb)

"Indonesia: The Javanese Gamelan"
Designed by Nancy Kullos, Colin Pearson, and Dr. Rebecca A. Cairo
Students will learn about the geography, culture, and gamelan music of Java, Indonesia. For cultural context, they will see and hear instruments of the Javanese gamelan. Through a music activity, the students will practice hearing the rhythm of the gong cycle.
Click here for the lesson and PowerPoint presentation (zip 6.2mb)

"Sound Science: Do You Hear What I Hear?"
Designed by Ann Hammersly and Dr. Rebecca A. Cairo
This interdisciplinary lesson, designed for students in grades four to six, explores the characteristics of sound, how various musical instruments make sound, and how the human ear detects it. Students will formulate a relative question and test it through investigation. As they complete this activity, students will become familiar with the names, origins, and sound-making characteristics of various musical instruments from around the world. 
Click here for the lesson and PowerPoint presentation (zip 10.1mb)

"Indigenous Music of North America"
Designed by Dr. Rebecca A. Cairo
This lesson is intended to introduce intermediate-aged students to indigenous music of North America. It is a brief overview and not a comprehensive representation. It introduces three basic principles of indigenous music of North America. Lesson components can be presented by classroom and/or music specialists for students in grades four to six. 
Click here for the lesson and PowerPoint presentation (zip 2.8mb)

Middle School and/or High School

"Aerophones: Pipe Down!"
Designed by Ann Hammersly 
This cycle of lessons explores the relationship between the physical characteristics of an aerophone (wind or pipe instrument) and its pitch—or the sound it makes. This lesson can be presented in three parts. Before a visit to MIM, present the exploration lesson (Part 1: Bottle Music). This can be augmented with the PowerPoint presentation, MS_SC_Which Pitch_ppt, available on MIM’s website. The concept-development lesson (Part 2: Handy Music) can be presented either before or after the field trip. Optional activities include making an aerophone (Part 3: Making Raft Flutes). 
Click here for the lesson and PowerPoint presentation (zip 7.7mb)

"The Balalaika: A Russian Icon"
Designed by Nancy Kullos and Dr. Rebecca Cairo
Students will identify the iconic Russian folk instrument, the balalaika. While focusing on the balalaika, students will identify one example of how musical instruments can be seen in relation to history and culture. Students will listen with sustained attention to three musical ensemble performances of a Russian folk song, “The Birch Tree.” They will identify, describe, and analyze the characteristics of each performance that evoke a temperament or mood in a piece of music. 
Click here for the lesson and PowerPoint presentation (zip 6.3mb)

"Amplification: Turn Up the Volume!"
Designed by Ann Hammersly and Dr. Rebecca Cairo
This lesson explores the amplification of sound waves by diverse musical instruments. In Part 1, which is suggested for use before the field trip to MIM, students learn about the concept of amplification. They have an opportunity to create a sound resonator using classroom materials. In Part 2, a PowerPoint presentation is available that allows educators to prepare high-school physics students to identify amplifiers (mechanical, acoustical, and electrical) in instruments of the world on exhibit at MIM. Students are instructed to look specifically for ways that instruments are constructed to amplify sound. After visiting MIM, in Part 3, students are introduced to the concept of electromagnetism as a means of amplification. 
Click here for the lesson and PowerPoint presentation (zip 16.1mb)

"Peru: A Place of Historic Interaction"
Designed by Dr. Rebecca A. Cairo
This three-part social studies lesson, designed for middle and/or high school students, aims to enrich and enhance the educational field trip “A World of Musical Journeys” at MIM. This tour includes opportunities to view in-depth exhibits of several countries including Peru, found in the Latin America geo-gallery. This lesson specifically focuses on the musical culture of the Aymara people of Peru’s Altiplano region—a small part of the Andean highlands. This lesson is also suitable for middle-school or secondary students in dance studies.
Click here for the lesson and PowerPoint presentation (zip 3.5mb)

Acknowledgements

MIM would like to thank Target Corporation for its generous support of "A World of Musical Journeys" School Tour Program.

Special thanks to:

Arizona Geographic Alliance
Nira Bailey-Ibragimova
Christopher R. Caseldine
Dr. Robert Culbertson, Associate Professor of Physics, Arizona State University
Darcy Kuronen, Curator, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Shea Marshall
Hector “Flavio” Martinez
Jana Pinneo, Social Studies Educator, Paradise Valley School District, AZ
Dr. Maria Williams, Associate Professor, University of New Mexico