By Kelli Greenfield and Sally Wonder - Intermediate Elementary Teachers
Intermediate Elementary has been visiting the "Islands of Imagination" through an exploration of Rube Goldberg and his inventions. A Rube Goldberg machine is one that takes a simple task and accomplishes it through a number of unnecessary tasks. Students have been learning about simple machines as a foundation. They then expanded on that foundation by trying to create the world's slowest gumball machine. In small groups, the teams explored the available materials and wrote a plan for their machine. Students used paper towel tubes, PVC pipe, ribbon containers, cups and other recycled materials to build a track for their gumball. Throughout the process, the students employed many different intelligences including interpersonal, intrapersonal, visual/spatial, kinesthetic, mathematical-logical, and linguistic. They also had to continually problem solve as they made adjustments to their machines. To wrap up our exploration, we gathered as a group to write down lessons they learned through their teamwork. Many students later took this exploration further as they created their own Rube Goldberg inventions during their weekly self-guided project time.
Intermediate Elementary has been visiting the "Islands of Imagination" through an exploration of Rube Goldberg and his inventions. A Rube Goldberg machine is one that takes a simple task and accomplishes it through a number of unnecessary tasks. Students have been learning about simple machines as a foundation. They then expanded on that foundation by trying to create the world's slowest gumball machine. In small groups, the teams explored the available materials and wrote a plan for their machine. Students used paper towel tubes, PVC pipe, ribbon containers, cups and other recycled materials to build a track for their gumball. Throughout the process, the students employed many different intelligences including interpersonal, intrapersonal, visual/spatial, kinesthetic, mathematical-logical, and linguistic. They also had to continually problem solve as they made adjustments to their machines. To wrap up our exploration, we gathered as a group to write down lessons they learned through their teamwork. Many students later took this exploration further as they created their own Rube Goldberg inventions during their weekly self-guided project time.
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