Rube Goldberg Machines

Do you remember playing Mousetrap as a child? I loved the idea of setting up the trap and watching it fall into place....


Can you even find them anymore? 
Little did I know that I was building my own "Rube Goldberg" Machine. With the onset of YouTube in the classroom, I have fallen in love with sharing these machines with my students.



My classroom full of future engineers and kinesthetic learners have fallen in love with them too.  Here's a great Mythbusters video for the holidays (wish I had seen it last month!)
 
Stay tuned for how my kids made their own versions in science class!
 
 




Comment:

Popular posts from this blog

Science in the Streets

Image
Science in the Streets: A free public engagement event from the History of Science Society Thursday, Nov 21, 3-6 pm, Boston Convention & Exhibition Center [I have asked  Conevery Bolton Valencius , who teaches at UMass Boston, to write a guest post about an event she is helping to organize at this year's HSS.  Many readers of this blog are interested in popular science & science popularization, and I urge everyone to join us for what promises to be a fascinating discussion!] Current newspaper headlines make clear how anti-science and science-illiterate many Americans are, at least about some political issues.  But there are effective and interesting efforts going on all around to engage people in the workings and the wonderings of science.  Further, historians of science are doing a lot of that work – and sometimes have particular insight about what is new or very old about rhythms of scientific skepticism or scientific enthusiasm.  At next week’s annual...
Read more

The Secret Science Club presents Neuroscientist Carl Hart on Wednesday, December 3 at 8 pm

Image
Wednesday, December 3 @ 8 pm at Union Hall Neuroscientist Carl Hart lectures on "Methamphetamine: A Good Drug Gone Bad" Carl Hart is an Associate Professor of Psychology in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry at Columbia University, and Director of the Methamphetamine Research Laboratory at the New York State Psychiatric Institute . Dr. Hart’s NIH-funded research focuses on understanding neurobehavioral and physiological effects of psychoactive drugs in humans. He is the author or co-author of dozens of peer-reviewed scientific articles, co-author of the influential textbook, Drugs, Society, and Human Behavior , and a member of a NIH review group. Before & After --Groove to dopamine-spiked tunes and video in Union Hall’s subterranean grotto --Stick around for the scintillating Q&A --Cocktail alert! Enjoy the Brain-Boggling Libation of the Night —the Synapse Sling!! The “Secret Science Club” meets December 3 at 8 pm in the basement @ Union Hall , 702 Union...
Read more

The Secret Science Club presents "Evolve!" on Wednesday, December 5 @ 8 pm

Image
AMNH Paleontologist Michael Novacek lectures on Evolution, Biodiversity, and Mass Extinction @ 8 pm Earth to humans, Earth to humans . . . is anybody there? Michael Novacek of the American Museum of Natural History discusses how biodiversity and ecosystems evolved from the Age of the Dinosaurs onward to create an ideal environment for a novel new species-- Homo sapiens . And now, Dr. Novacek warns, Homo sapiens is transforming that environment so rapidly that Earth may not be habitable in future. In fact, Earth is experiencing what scientists call the Sixth Extinction as thousands of plant and animal species are pushed into oblivion by habitat destruction, overfishing and overhunting, the introduction of invasive species, pollution and climate change. The provost of science at the American Museum of Natural History , a world-renowned dinosaur hunter , and the author of Terra: Our 100-Million-Year-Old Ecosystem—and the Threats That Now Put It at Risk , Dr. Novacek takes the long vi...
Read more