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Lesson Plan. How to Run the Sound of Our Water Project in School

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To provide participants with an opportunity to reflect on water issues;
To build more personal relationship to the element and material of water, through participants' own artistic expression;
To achieve deeper knowledge on water issues;
To practice digital art creation;
To gain skills on digital creative tools and production;
To share ideas and artistic expression with other young people around the globe.

During the project the participants will compose soundscapes and music pieces about the issues of water with a collection of sound samples using creative digital tools. The Sound of Our Water web site is a meeting point for sharing experiences and exchanging ideas among the participants that come from different cultural backgrounds.

By doing their own creative artwork � music pieces � young people will come to think about what water really means for them. The qualitative growth of the participants' awareness on water issues is a very important aim of this project. The "audience" of the art pieces, the people who listen to the music pieces from the web site - may get a similar kind of experience - discovery of an unexpected approach to the issue of water. To achieve that, the textual descriptions of the music pieces and following discussions are very important.

The following lesson plan will help the teachers to organize their activities in their local school/Unesco club. The plan should be seen as basic guidelines. It can be modified and applied to the local situation and schedule.

Lesson Plan

26 April - 18 June 2004
8 weeks: 24 hours (3h a week)

week 1:

Learning activity 1:

The Sound of Our Water project activities should start with a group discussion. The teacher may introduce the general idea of Unesco Young Digital Creators Programme and explain the Sound of Our Water project aims. It is a good idea to give an overview of tentative schedule of the activities and explain general rules about the use of audio recording equipment, computer classrooms, etc from the very beginning. The students should familiarize with the basic guidelines of how the groupwork will be done and understand the collaborative and multicultural nature of the project.

Discussion about the water issue may start with a small brainstorming session among the students on the topics: what is water? Where is water around us? What is the significance of water in our lives? What areas of human life and what human activities are dependant on water in our planet? How are humans affecting the water ecosystem on Earth? Making a "mind map" (for example, using post-it notes) about the issues discussed helps to structure interaction among students. It is helpful to keep the �mind map� visible in the classroom where the project activities take place throughout the duration of the project as a reference point, if possible.

Learning activity 2:

Presentation of the Sound of Our Water web site. At this point it is good to remind the students about the project goals and explain how wide and global your students� �audience� will be. The countries where other project participants come from should be introduced. Students should understand the difference of the Unesco programme from other web communities and virtual chat rooms.

During this learning activity students have to register to the programme and to the web site. They should fill in the personal details and look around in the Sound of Our Water website. The teacher could explain how the students may use the website for collaboration and discussions. The students should be encouraged to go through different parts and the materials available in the website.

Learning activity 3:

At this stage the teacher may remind the students about findings from the initial brainstorming session and update the �mind map� together if there�s some new ideas emerging.

In this learning activity the students will plan their audio recording sessions. The questions about where interesting water sounds could be found and recorded? Places? Environment? should be discussed. If there seems to be a lack of ideas, the students and teacher may check together the keyword list from uploading samples page in the Sound of Our Water website. The students should work out a list of possible types of sounds, places and locations where sound samples could be recorded.

The groups of students should be formed. If there are some people that are more experienced with audio equipment or digital audio tools among your students, it is a good idea to try to distribute them evenly in the groups so that they could help the less experienced ones. Sample recording schedule and locations has to be decided, as well as agreement about sharing the equipment.

It is important to give some time for the students to get familiar with the recording equipment, also to check that everything works and everyone understands how to handle the equipment.

week 2

Learning activity 4-5-6:

During this learning activity students will be going to the field, recording the water samples. Each group could report to the teacher about their experiences: success or problems that they have encountered, after each recording session. There has to be extra time assigned if recording sessions need to be repeated.

The teacher should encourage collaboration and respect within the group, also she may interrupt if one person seems to be dominating the activities in the group.

week 3

Learning activity 7-8:

The teacher should organize a presentation of the audio editing tools that are available in the computer classroom. After the main functionalities of the tools are shown, the students may capture and edit the recorded sound samples. The files should be saved as .wav, .mp3 or .ogg format

The teacher could give an example of uploading a sound sample to the Sound of our Water website and explain how the keywords could be used. The students should understand that all the project participants from other countries are doing the same activity and that their samples will be available to everybody once they are uploaded to the database.

During this learning activity the students should upload their sound samples to the website. The aim could be for each group to upload at least 3 audio samples.

Learning activity 9:

The teacher may show how the students could search for samples in the Sound of Our Water website.

The students could search and download some samples from the website together. Then they could listen to the samples and discuss about them: where they have been recorded? What kind of sound it is? What water source has been used for recording it? In what kind of music piece this sample could possibly be used? Is it good for looping? What kind of feelings and thoughts does this sample raise?

week 4

Learning activity 10:

At this stage it is good to return back to the �mind map� about water issues. Discussions about the issues and updating the �mind map� again taking into account your experiences in the field could be organized.

The groups have to be formed for a discussion (brainstorming) about what water related issues the students would like to touch upon in their music piece (composition). What seems to be important about water that the students would like to share with the multi-cultural and global community? How could they express their insight, feelings and thoughts through music? Have they downloaded any samples from the website that create an appropriate mood or carry similar feeling that they would like to convey? Is there some water related issue particular to their country that they would like to share with other participants around the globe? It is important to document the ideas (for example, by making an idea list or additions to the �mind map�.)

week 4-5-6

Learning activity 11-12-13-14-15-16:

In these learning activities the students will compose and edit a music piece. The sample collection and the �mind map� may become very useful for giving inspiration and ideas for the composition.

week 6

Learning activity 17-18:

The uploading music pieces to the Sound of Our Water website functionality should be explained. It is a good idea to remind the students that all the thinking and creative work done would be more visible and the pieces themselves would be easier to understand for other people if they make proper descriptions of their work. The students could be suggested to include some things about the process of making the piece, also on the sources of inspiration. The idea of collaborative discussions that may emerge around each of the pieces should be emphasized at this point.

The students should upload their pieces to the website during this learning activity.

week 7

Learning activity 19-20:

At this stage, the teacher and students may listen and talk about the pieces from the Sound of Our Water website together. The students could be invited to participate in discussions and comment on other people�s work.

week 8

Learning activity 21-22-23:

Group discussions about the pieces from the Sound of Our Water website should be organized. The �mind map� could be used again for discussing about the water issues and reflecting on the input from other project participants. The students could discuss about different experiences, insights and types of music from different countries. Talking about how other project participants expressed their ideas and feelings through music may open up some new insights about students� own work. The students may talk about their work and reflect on the things about water, music creation and inter-cultural collaboration that they have learned through this project. It is a good idea to post the discoveries to the Forum in the Sound of Our Water website.

Some songs for the �concert� should be selected from the range of contributions made by project participants.

Learning activity 24:

A good idea that helps students to keep motivated during long duration of the project is to organize a school / club concert where one song from each region is played as the final goal and closing of the project.