Rube Goldberg Design Project
Rube Goldberg Design Project
The Rube
Goldberg Machine Contest brings the ideas of Pulitzer Prize-winning artist Rube
Goldberg's "Invention" cartoons to life. Named after, and inspired by
the cartoonist Reuben Lucius Goldberg, this Olympics of Complexity is designed
to pull students away from conventional problem solving and push them into the
endless chaos of imagination and intuitive thought. To be specific, groups are
given an elementary challenge: something as simple as peeling an apple or,
sharpening a pencil or putting toothpaste on a toothbrush. But instead of just
"solving" the problem, students have to make the solution as
complicated and as convoluted as possible. In fact, the more steps - there's a
minimum of twenty - the better the Rube Goldberg Machine. And what a machine! An
assemblage of ordinary objects, mechanical gadgets and the oddest odds and ends
are linked together mechanically to somehow get to the desired goal.
Rube
Goldberg drew his "Inventions" as contraptions that satirized the new
technology and gadgets of the day. His drawings, using simple machines and
household items already in use, were incredibly complex and wacky, but somehow
(perhaps it was because Rube was a graduate engineer) the "Inventions"
always had an ingenious, logical progression as they worked to finish their
task.
Rube's
work has been immortalized in every media from a recent
Design
a Rube Goldberg machine to turn on a light switch, using a minimum of 20 steps.
I suggest that you start with the finish - what you are trying to accomplish - and work backwards step by step.
Describe each step on a Note card. This allows you to change and edit your Invention Machine step by step.
After you've detailed each
step in text and by a rough drawing you can start the final draft of your
project with a much clearer understanding of what you want your Invention
Machine to do, and how to achieve that result.
Printable Version of this page
Web
sites to check out for more ideas & info:
http://www.rube.iscool.net/
http://www.y3k.com/rube.html
Leonardo da Vinci DaVinci's Short Biography
http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/LeoHomePage.html
Leonardo
daVinci’s Inventors Workshop
http://www.anl.gov/Careers/Education/rube/
Do
your own search:
Rube Goldberg Individual Evaluation
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Reliability |
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Self Motivation |
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Decision Making |
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Communication |
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Cooperation |
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Creativity |
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Problem Solving |
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Quality of Work |
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Time on Task |
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Handling of Tools/Materials |
Group
1
John
Jana
Group 2
Jesse A.
Derek
Group 3
Jeremy
Ian
Group 4
Tiffany
Jesse B.
Group 5
Kayla
Whitney
Group 6
Craig
Cassy
Group 7
Danny
Group 8
Jacob
Mason
Your project will be graded based on this
scoring rubric. Click here to hyperlink to the Excel file.
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Name: _______________ | ||||
| Outcomes |
Criteria |
Score | |||
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Purpose |
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| Did they understand the problem, write a proper purpose and involve at least 5 transformations of energy? (Kinetic to Potential) | Didn't understand the problem and didn't successfully utilize any transformations of energy. | Vaguely understood the problem and/or utilized less than 5 transformations of energy. | Mostly understood the problem and/or successfully utilized at least 5 transformations of energy. | Completely understood the problem and successfully utilized at least 5 transformations of energy. | |
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Art/Creativity |
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| Did they produce an artistic and creative drawing to help explain the machine? Was the machine unique? |
No Artwork. |
Minimalistic effort and creativity. |
Some time was put into the creation of this project. Colors and objects were creativiely used. |
Excellent artwork and use of color and objects. Very creative, neat and well done |
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Physical Model |
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| Did they correctly and completely describe the device and how it functions? | Didn't model and/or describe the device from an energy standpoint. | Partially modeled and described the device from an energy standpoint. | Adequately modeled and described the device from an energy standpoint. | Exceptionally modeled and described the device from an energy standpoint. | |
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Explanation |
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| Did they effectively account for the energy transformations in detail and include an analysis of external work done on the system? | Didn't present the energy considerations and the external work done on the devices. | Very few of the energy considerations and the external work done on the devices were outlined. | All of the energy considerations and the external work done on the devices were not totally outlined. | All of the energy considerations and the external work done on the devices were outlined in detail. | |
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Reliability |
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| Did they discuss possible problems concerning reliability of the device, workmanship and possible energy losses over time? | They did not include a discussion of the feasibility that the design would work consistently over time. | They included an incomplete discussion of the feasibility that the design would work consistently over time. | They included an incomplete discussion of the feasibility that the design would work consistently over time. | They included a complete discussion of the feasibility that the design would work consistently over time. | |
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Product |
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| Did they produce a workable device that reflected their design? (20 steps) | The device doesn't work and the desired outcome is not obtainable without severe alterations. | The device could actually work and complete the desired outcome with a few major alterations. | The device could actually work and complete the desired outcome with a few alterations. | The device produced actually worked and completed the desired outcome. | |
| Comments: | TOTAL | ||||
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| Your Score is |
out of |
30 |
Which equals |
?? % |
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