Rube Goldberg Machines- Inquiry & Project Based Learning

When introducing the Systems Unit to my grade 8 class, I was looking for a way to engage them with the subject matter from the beginning. A colleague of mine suggested having students create their own Rube Goldberg Machine.

Rube Goldberg was a 19th Century engineer and inventor best known for a series of cartoons depicting complex machines performing a simple task. 

In our first class in the Systems Unit, I asked students to construct their own Rube Goldberg with the materials I gave them in their tool-kit and any other materials from the classroom. They were asked to create a machine using a minimum of three different steps to get a ping pong ball into a plastic cup.

Students were given: a ping pong ball, a plastic cup, tape, popsicle sticks, string, paper, paper clips, toothpicks, a ruler, and a toy car.

Having never used this activity before or even making my own Rube Goldberg machine, I was uncertain how the activity would go. I was thrilled to see that my students were enthusiastic and engaged in the task. This activity is great for  kinaesthetic learners, and is a great way to introduce the unit. I have included a few videos of the Rube Goldberg Machines my students created.

As we progressed through the unit, I had students asking me if we could make another Rube Goldberg Machine. In response to the enthusiasm my students showed for creating their own inventions, I chose to use a Rube Goldberg Machine as a final assessment in the unit.  

The assignment was to invent a compound machine, made of 2 or more simple machines that will make a task easier for the show Dragons Den. The students were asked to submit

• A neat drawings of the machine complete with:

• The name of the machine
• The two simple machines labelled
• Measurements of the weights and distances 

• A short description of their invention answering the questions: 

• What problem does your compound machine solve or what task does it make easier?
• Why did you choose to use the simple machines you did to overcome the problem?
  
  

Students were also asked to calculate the Mechanical Advantage, Work, and Mechanical Efficiency of one of two of the simple machines used. Students presented their inventions to the class as though they were on the TV show Dragon's Den.