Cause That’s How it Effects!
Rube Goldberg Inspires 8th grade Physics Lab
Ms. Herland’s 8th grade science class is experimenting with Rube Goldberg’s cause and effect cartoon contraptions. The goal of the lab is to see how simple machines, when combined, can create one complex machine.
Students were allowed permission of any classroom tools, specified by Ms. Herland, to use in their creations. Groups were chosen by students and the building was launched.
Here is a look at Ms. Herland’s eighth grade, second hour class’s Rube Goldberg contraption.
Ms. Herland’s classroom structure is based around playing to learn. She said, “I really think teaching has more to do with inspiring and facilitating. When we play, we love, and that’s how we care about it.” Many students agreed that it was enjoyable as well. “Amazing, like to do it again!” said James Workman.
It also helped students visualize and really see what was happening in their lab. “It helped me understand that energy isn’t just caused by humans but also objects,” said Aspynn Wade.
Leslie Davis, 8th grade, said, “It helped me understand how physics work and how angles moved energy around.”
What the research says
Rube Goldberg machines turn up in research as well as in science class. A 2011 paper (arXiv:1104.3559) used them as an analogy for living systems, arguing that some biological pathways may follow a principle of "maximum intermediate steps" instead of taking the shortest route. Building machines by hand has also been tried with younger learners. A 2017 case study (arXiv:1801.06042) taught five children aged 7 to 10 at a summer camp with a Lego simple machines kit and reported evidence that engineering skills can be developed at that age, alongside language and mathematical thinking.
Questions people ask
What is a Rube Goldberg machine?
A deliberately overcomplicated chain reaction built to do a simple job. Each part triggers the next, so a rolling car might pop a balloon that tips a line of dominoes, as in the class build above. The name comes from American cartoonist Rube Goldberg, and the term entered the Random House Dictionary in 1966.
Is there a Rube Goldberg machine contest?
Yes. Purdue University in Indiana started an annual Rube Goldberg Machine Contest in 1949, organized by the Theta Tau and Triangle fraternities. It ran until 1955, came back in 1983 and became a national competition in 1988. Classroom labs like this one borrow the same idea on a smaller scale.
