EDUCATOR PORTAL

MISSION MATERIALS

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MISSION RESOURCES

Learning Goals

Learning Activities

ELA Extension: Resistor Piano Narrative

• Pair students together or allow them to work independently based on writing level and interest. Students will write a first-person narrative, journal entry, or fictional article from the perspective of a robot, inventor, or musician who creates or discovers a piano powered by resistors.
• Start by setting the scene. Ask students: Where is the resistor piano? Is it on Earth, Mars, or in a secret underground lab? Who built it—and why?
• Next, describe the moment the character realizes the resistors make different sounds. Use language that captures discovery and wonder, such as:
• “Each note buzzed like a hummingbird’s wings.”
• “The red resistor hummed low and steady, like a cello.”
• Have students compose a song through description. Encourage sensory detail, musical metaphors, and emotional reactions to the sound.
• Wrap up the story with a reflective paragraph from the robot or musician about what they learned—about sound, coding, creativity, or connection.

Bonus vocabulary words to include: resistor, tone, input, sound, circuit, frequency, value

EXTENSION: Students illustrate the keys of their piano and annotate which resistor values create specific tones. Then, write a “behind-the-scenes” artist statement explaining their creative process.

ELD Extension: Resistor Piano Language Practice

• Pair students up so that one English Learner (EL) works with one other student who is a non-EL or a higher-level EL. They will begin by exploring different tones from the resistor piano together. One student will press a key while the other describes the sound using sentence frames and visual supports.
  Examples:
  • “The red resistor sounds ___.”
  • “It was higher/lower than the last one.”
  • “I played the ___ resistor. It sounded like ___.”
• Students will then switch roles and repeat the activity, ensuring both partners practice describing and listening. After both students have taken turns, they will draw a simple diagram of the resistor piano and label the keys with words or symbols that represent the sounds they heard.
• Each student will then retell what their partner described, using their drawing and sentence frames to support accuracy.
  Examples:
• “My partner said the green resistor was soft.”
• “They thought the blue one sounded like a bell.”
• Partners will give each other feedback based on how clearly and accurately the sounds were described and retold.

Math Extension: Resistor Piano Data & Patterns

• Pair students together or allow them to choose their partners. Partner A will press the resistor piano buttons, while Partner B records the timing, order, and tones. Then, they will switch roles.
• Connect back to sound sequencing and ask students to describe the pattern they hear using everyday or musical language (e.g., “It went slow-fast-slow,” or “It repeated the first note twice.”)
• Start by having students record the following during play:
• The order of notes played (e.g., 1-2-3-2-1)
• The timing between each press (e.g., 1 second, 2 seconds)
• The tone of each note (e.g., low beep, high beep)
• Then have students create a Rhythm Chart to organize their data, showing:
• Button press order
• Time delay between presses
• Tone labels or pitch categories
• Have students graph their pattern using a bar chart or line graph:
• X-axis = time or button order
• Y-axis = tone pitch or category label
• Encourage students to describe the pattern mathematically:
• “Every 2nd note is repeated.”
• “The tone changes every 3rd beat.”
• “Note = Button number × delay in seconds”
• Finally, challenge students to compose a repeating pattern using sequencing and logic, such as ABAB or ABCABC, and label it using ordinal numbers or functions.

Bonus vocabulary words to include: sequence, pattern, input, delay, repeat, order, output.

Career Connections

Hardware Diagram

Code Diagram

Tutorial Steps

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Blueprint

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Have an different version? Look for more information on the Support Page.

Troubleshooting Tips

• Are some notes failing to play when you touch the jumper wire to the resistors?
  • Make sure you touch the jumper wire to the metal part of the resistor instead of the plastic.
  • Ensure that you have set up the resistors correctly with the metal leads lined up along the rails so they complete the circuit. Check the wiring diagram if you’re not sure.
• Why do you have to be careful with the top portion of the Pico?
  • Touching the green wire to the areas marked with the yellow triangles ⚠️ will cause a short circuit and could damage your Pico module. Be careful!

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Term Glossary

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Standards Alignment