Middle Schoolers Turn Circuits into Music

Students in Mrs. Burrell’s Middle School Engineering Design class recently combined creativity, coding, and electrical engineering to build their own playable guitars using BBC micro:bits. Students designed and constructed cardboard guitars, researched songs that could be played using just three notes, and programmed their micro:bits to produce those notes.

To play their instruments, students completed a simple circuit by holding the ground connection, allowing their bodies to help close the circuit and trigger the programmed chords. Through this project, students explored concepts such as basic circuitry, programming logic, prototyping, and iterative design, while also learning how engineering can intersect with music and creativity.

“This project shows students that engineering isn’t just about building machines,” said Mrs. Burrell. “It’s about solving problems, being creative, and realizing that you can design something from simple materials and turn it into a working piece of technology.”