Rube Goldberg Machine Ideas

Camp Invention excites young imaginations

Four days of Camp Invention have left local kids reeling with science, technology, engineering and math related knowledge.

Donnette Rusk, Director of Camp Invention for Magnolia West High School, said Camp Invention allows kids to create and work in teams while discovering scientific methods in fun ways.

“It was great,” she said. “The kids are having a blast. They are very creative and inventive. They just surprise you every year.”

The camp is made up of kids going in to grades first through sixth.

Every day the kids rotated through five different modules. This year the modules included the Wild: Wondrous Innovations and Living Designs, The Curious Cypher Club, Bounce! An Atomic Journey, Game On: Power Play and I Can Invent: Edison’s Workshop.

Libby Scroggins, 9, said this is her fourth year to be at Camp Invention.

“All the time it has been super fun,” she said.

Libby said the reason she first started coming to Camp Invention was to make friends since she was just entering Magnolia Elementary. Since then, she said she has made lots of friends.

Libby said her favorite module was Edison’s Workshop where she learned about Rube Goldberg and made her own machine.

“I had my broken stereo,” she said. “It was broke so I took it here and took it apart.”

Through the use of tubes and pulleys, Libby said she was able to get a golf ball to travel through the broken stereo and land in a cup which was resulted in a flag being raised.

“I just have so much fun here,” she said.

Tye Watson, 6, said this is his first year at Camp Invention and he loves it.

The activities “are actually kind of fun,” he said.

Today, he said he learned about matter and the atoms inside it by making a rubber ball.

Kimberly Ruffino, classroom teacher, said she works with The Curious Cypher Club where the kids learn all about codes and Game On: Power Play which is recess time.

“We learned about different ways people do codes,” she said.

To learn about Morse code, the kids used different colored beads in place of tapping out dots and dashes which they formed into bracelets.

To help build team work, Ruffino said they built club houses using cardboard houses. They then had secret handshakes and pass codes to get into the club, she said.

Ruffino said it was a bit difficult at first to get the kids to work together, because they were so independent, but over time they were sharing ideas and building as a group.

Rube Goldberg Machines (Innovative Ideas Video!) - The Science Guru

In 1990, I created a 14-step machine that, after 2 minutes of toppling dominoes, cascading marbles, and straws sliding down makeshift zip lines, popped a balloon. Inspired by the cartoonist Rube Goldberg, I entered my machine into the Ingenuity Challenge 300, a science & technology competition held to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Schenectady, NY, the town where I grew up. I remember the excitement when I finally got all of the carefully engineered steps to work… and the thrill of winning 4th place in the county-wide for my balloon-popping device.

Over twenty years later, the Rube Goldberg project has become an integral part of my teaching, serving as a culminating assessment for my 8th grade physics unit. Students apply their understanding of Newtonian physics to create 8 or more step machines that include 5 or more different simple machines. After presenting their finished machines to their families and younger students, my 8th graders engage in a detailed written analysis of their machines and a reflection on the engineering process. I find this project to be particularly powerful for how it pushes students to not only apply content knowledge but also to think critically, problem solve, and work collaboratively.

Students presented their machines just yesterday (my classroom is filled with K’NEX towers, marble ramps, dominoes, and Lego contraptions – all to accomplish tasks like pulling a tissue from a tissue box, stirring a glass of lemonade, or ringing a bell). To share some of my successes with this project, I’m posting the lesson plans and student materials that I use to guide students through the construction process. The downloadable materials include a rubric to assess student work and ideas for how to best implement the process in your classroom.

As a new feature on The Science Guru blog, I’m also posing a video from my classroom in which I share tips on implementing the project with your students. Please share your successes and challenges – post a comment, send me an email, or post your own video response. Good luck and happy engineering!

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