Rube Goldberg machine
For our Rube Goldberg machine my group brainstormed for a good two days. On the first day we came up with the general outline of what we wanted to happen in our machine, which was five simple machines and four energy transfers. On the second day we tweaked and finalized our schematic (not the one on the right).
For the next two weeks afterwards my group constructed what we had planned and would make slight adjustments, such as a funnel for the water balloon, having a screw release the marble (Step 9) and a paddle for the marble to hit the pencil (Step 10). Along the way we argued over whether certain aesthetics should go in that may hinder the functionality of certain steps, these arguments usually ended with functionality winning over aesthetics.
Finally on the last three days we had before we had to present our machine we worked on presentation. Our presentation included a power point, which contained the mathematics behind all the physics, the steps of our machine and the definition of a Rube Goldberg machine, and painting our machine red and blue. In order to get all the information needed we applied our math understandings, what we had learned in our physics class and our understandings of English to write grammatically correct sentences.
For the next two weeks afterwards my group constructed what we had planned and would make slight adjustments, such as a funnel for the water balloon, having a screw release the marble (Step 9) and a paddle for the marble to hit the pencil (Step 10). Along the way we argued over whether certain aesthetics should go in that may hinder the functionality of certain steps, these arguments usually ended with functionality winning over aesthetics.
Finally on the last three days we had before we had to present our machine we worked on presentation. Our presentation included a power point, which contained the mathematics behind all the physics, the steps of our machine and the definition of a Rube Goldberg machine, and painting our machine red and blue. In order to get all the information needed we applied our math understandings, what we had learned in our physics class and our understandings of English to write grammatically correct sentences.
Reflections
When I look back I see many things I could have personally done better with and many things I learned and did well. I learned very quickly how useful power tools are when dealing with wood. I also learned that aesthetics were more important than I thought before and I shouldn't count them off as an extra bit that is unnecessary. I did argue with my group mates a lot about aesthetics and should probably learn to not argue so much.
Two things I think I should do better next time is to help even with ideas I didn't like or agree with. The other thing is that I should have payed more attention to looks because they could make your project 1000x cooler or make it look like crap.
Two things I think I should do better next time is to help even with ideas I didn't like or agree with. The other thing is that I should have payed more attention to looks because they could make your project 1000x cooler or make it look like crap.