Middle School: Rube Goldberg - Engineering Gone Amuck

We’ve all seen the crazy chain-reaction contraptions called Rube Goldberg machines. Explore the creative side of engineering by designing and building your own Rube Goldberg devices.

We will start with a broad look at the principles of mechanics and design and go over measurement and hand-tool use. Then, students will design and build interactive machines where a simple push starts a chain reaction of pulleys, dominoes and so much more. As the week progresses, our designs will become more complex, culminating in a grand finale chain reaction on the last day. Ultimately, we will see how these devices, which waste time and energy to accomplish simple tasks, can be a vehicle for engineering ingenuity and artistic expression.
 

What You Will Learn

Students in Middle School: Rube Goldberg Engineering will:

• Receive safety instruction
• Learn the basics of mechanics and thermodynamics
• Gain an understanding of what a chain reaction is and why we want to learn about this concept
• Design and experiment with mechanisms for transferring energy from one place to another
• Learn about hypothesis testing and the scientific method
• Take a historical look at failure and examine how failure has led to success
• Design, build and test a variety of Rube Goldberg machines