The Rube Goldberg Project...

Reuben Garrett Lucius "Rube" Goldberg was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer and inventor. A Rube Goldberg machine, contraption, invention, device, or apparatus is a deliberately over-engineered or overdone machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction.  Last year under the direction of Mrs. Meyers students studied some famous contraptions inspired by of Rube Goldberg, most importantly Ok Go’s famous music video; This too shall pass.. Did you know it took over sixth months to create the contraptions for this?

In our classroom, the first through sixth grade students were challenged to come up with their own simple Rube Goldberg machines and music video. In their notebooks, our young inventors dreamed big creating their own blue prints for a design.  Using objects found in the classroom (and some brought from home), students got busy building. Other students recorded their project and pieced it together in iMovie. Some students thought outside of the box and pondered cause and effect.

Here is a sample of our fourth grade’s group video:

 

Check back here in a few weeks to see what other awesome apparatuses our other kiddos came up with.

At Home Extensions:

Though we were briefly touched upon Rube Goldberg and simple machines these past few classes, We will be revisiting this idea later this year when we start work on our lego robotics. Pulleys, levers, gears, wheels, and axles will play a big part in understanding how simple machines work.

If you would like to explore this idea at home check out the following web resources:

1. Crazy about Rube Goldberg machines? Check out videos of MIT’s Friday after Thanksgiving Chain Reaction event.   Over 1,500 participants link their chain reaction devices together forming one mega chain reaction – set off at the end as the event's thrilling culmination. No matter how unique the devices, inevitably, with a little string and duct tape, they all work together beautifully.


2.  Online Rube Goldberger Game:  http://pbskids.org/zoom/games/goldburgertogo/rubegame.html

3. How to build a Rube Goldberg machine at home.