Troy Elementary 4th-grade Gifted and Talented (GT) students took on an exciting community research service project designing and building wind chimes to enrich the lives of animals in captivity. Through this hands-on experience, students explored the needs of animals in zoos and developed a solution to enhance the animals' environment. Under the guidance of GT teacher Kacy Hilliard, students researched how sound impacts different species and designed wind chimes tailored to specific animals, including giraffes, warthogs, antelopes, ostriches, rhinos, and kangaroos. The project incorporated critical thinking, measurement, product design, and collaboration, with insights provided by Cameron Park Zoo in Waco and the San Antonio Zoo. “Students had to use critical thinking skills to develop a plan for their wind chime.” Shared Hilliard. “It needed to be constructed for its sound and a benefit to the animal.” 

Teams selected materials and adjusted their designs to ensure their wind chime produced a sound suitable for their animal. Throughout the process, students encountered some challenges and gained insight which they shared: 

What inspired your design?
Antelope Group:
Claire: "They don’t like loud sounds."
Lily: "They need enrichment and toys because they get bored really easily. With the wind chime, they can play with it. They like to hit the wind chime with their horns."

What did you learn about sound and wind chimes?
Giraffe Team:
James: "I learned that having a wind chime for a giraffe can mimic the sound of nature and its natural foraging."
Sofia: "Specific sounds are good for giraffes—not too high and not too low, because the wrong sound could scare them or even hurt their ears."

How did you test your wind chime to make sure it was right for the animal?
Warthog Team:
Clay: "We gathered information, and I’m from the country, so I know what hogs like—this sounded the most natural."
Jaiden: "We got information from the zoo about warthogs, and they told us what type of sound they like."

What’s something new you learned?
Kangaroo Team:
Kaydence: "Kangaroos like low sounds because high-pitched sounds startle them."
Scarlett: "I learned that kangaroos can live up to 25 years in a zoo but only about 8 years in the wild."

This interactive project not only strengthened students’ problem-solving skills but also deepened their understanding of how animals experience the world around them. “The most rewarding part was seeing the kids learn about the animal and how they could help,” Hilliard shared. “I think it is going to be really fun to see them at the zoo, connecting what they made with the animals we will see.” Hilliard also shared how the Bamboo and PVC wind chimes will be donated to the Cameron Park Zoo.  The spoon wind chime will be donated to the San Antonio zoo (for their ostriches) as ‘thank you’ gifts.

We’re incredibly proud of our students whose research and projects not only helped them gain an understanding of the world around them, but also gave them an opportunity to make an impact.