Rube Goldberg is known for his zany cause/effect inventions. He was a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist who showed his engineering sense of humor by depicting elaborate multi-step solutions to every-day problems. Teachers around the world use Rube Goldberg designs to teach physics and engineering. They even hold Rube Goldberg contests around the world.
So, my 6th grade students decided to create their own Rube Goldberg machine in honor of Easter. The task...SMASH A RAW EGG! The students were very creative in using a variety of cause/effect relationships, but they had many technical difficulties. At the end of the day (about 50 tries), all parts of the machine had worked. But, unfortunately, they did not all work together at once.
So, today, my 3rd graders tweaked the 6th graders' creation...And, after several more attempts...IT WORKED! Enjoy "Smashing Albert EGGstein!"
