On Friday 28th October, the Year 5 students were able to test their very own Rube Goldberg machines. There was much delight in the successes and failures of each groups design with modifications made and retesting occurring.
So what exactly is a Rube Goldberg machine? “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. it usually includes a chain reaction. It is named after the American cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg”. (Source: Wikipedia)
The objective of the lesson was for the students to design and build a 3D obstacle course for a marble that has 3 moveable elements or parts to its system. The marble must achieve an action by its speed or weight. Each student designed one part of a machine that linked up with three other students’ designs. They needed to ensure that all parts of the system worked together to achieve their goal.