Dear SEP Families,
During Session 3, students were engaged with common materials like cardboard, tape, hangers, bolts and nut, wire, washers, and string. Students learned how expert engineers, Rube Goldberg artists, and kinetic artists manipulate a variety of materials to create both simple and complicated contraptions. This learning took about two periods, with the rest of the time devoted to actual construction.
Because cardboard was our primary medium, students had a lot of questions about connecting cardboard pieces, cutting cardboard, and getting cardboard pieces to be more or less rigid. This course was mostly about design and engineering, and these were easily the areas of greatest interest for students, with the most common question stems being, “I want it to do __________. How can I get this material to do that?” Session 3 had by far the most students who “went small”, producing Rube Goldberg rooms (in a cardboard box) and lots of tiny cardboard automata. The drive toward miniaturization drove a lot of their questioning and tinkering.
Students easily grasped the ideas of pulleys, levers, and inclined planes, the three most useful ways to get and keep things moving. They similarly took to camshafts, cams, and cam followers. While much of what we did was challenging for students, requiring a lot of trial and error and subsequent modifications, this group was particularly adept at perseverance.
During Session 3, students were engaged with common materials like cardboard, tape, hangers, bolts and nut, wire, washers, and string. Students learned how expert engineers, Rube Goldberg artists, and kinetic artists manipulate a variety of materials to create both simple and complicated contraptions. This learning took about two periods, with the rest of the time devoted to actual construction.
Because cardboard was our primary medium, students had a lot of questions about connecting cardboard pieces, cutting cardboard, and getting cardboard pieces to be more or less rigid. This course was mostly about design and engineering, and these were easily the areas of greatest interest for students, with the most common question stems being, “I want it to do __________. How can I get this material to do that?” Session 3 had by far the most students who “went small”, producing Rube Goldberg rooms (in a cardboard box) and lots of tiny cardboard automata. The drive toward miniaturization drove a lot of their questioning and tinkering.
Students easily grasped the ideas of pulleys, levers, and inclined planes, the three most useful ways to get and keep things moving. They similarly took to camshafts, cams, and cam followers. While much of what we did was challenging for students, requiring a lot of trial and error and subsequent modifications, this group was particularly adept at perseverance.
Resources for Continued Learning
If students wish to learn more about the topic of automata, I strongly recommend the book Making Simple Automata by Robert Race. Another excellent book is Making Things Move by Dustyn Roberts.
There are also lots of excellent Rube Goldberg Machine sites on the internet. My favorite kinetic artist is Robert Herscher. He has created wonderful machines that others can replicate, such as “Cream That Egg” and “La Macchina Botanica.” If one searches Youtube for “Rube Goldberg Machines”, one will find literally thousands of interesting videos, almost all of which feature elements that students can try to replicate with materials one finds in the home.
Thank you for being a part of SEP 2016 Session 3!
There are also lots of excellent Rube Goldberg Machine sites on the internet. My favorite kinetic artist is Robert Herscher. He has created wonderful machines that others can replicate, such as “Cream That Egg” and “La Macchina Botanica.” If one searches Youtube for “Rube Goldberg Machines”, one will find literally thousands of interesting videos, almost all of which feature elements that students can try to replicate with materials one finds in the home.
Thank you for being a part of SEP 2016 Session 3!
