Growing a STEM program with Rube Goldberg Machines

The Rube Goldberg Machine Contest originally began as a competition against Purdue engineering organization.  Today, it has grown into an international event that inspires all students to design, build, problem solve, and present.  In recent years, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) have been an area of focus and need for growth in American education.  To inspire young minds to pursue STEM careers, the Anderson school corporation has offered its physics and engineering students an extracurricular opportunity that has led many young adults to envision a possible future study in STEM.  The Rube Goldberg Corporation organizes a national contest each year to engage young people in a fun and creative way to engineer a complicated solution to a simple problem or task.  This project gives all schools the opportunity to offer students an opportunity to highlight student problem solving and promote STEM to your community.

This project is used as an after school activity to challenge physics students to put into practice many of the concepts taught in the classroom.  A team of about twelve students meet in the fall to begin planning for the regional contests held in the spring.   The students undergo the engineering design process of brainstorming, building prototypes, trouble shooting, evaluating, and revision as they build a series of mechanical step that sequentially lead to one final task.  Like dominoes falling, these steps rely on previous ones.  The team must work together to make the machine work fully.  The many weeks of machine building cause student to deeply invest in their learning and grow in ways far beyond the core curriculum.

This project concludes with students presenting the machine at a regional contest, much like a science fair.  Teams from the surrounding area travel to compete for a spot to attend the national Rube Goldberg contest.  No matter what the final awards earned, students have fun seeing other school’s projects and the unique steps each Rube machine utilizes.  As a final opportunity to present the machine to others, Anderson High School students travel to local elementary schools and show the project to a younger generation.  This provides tremendous opportunity for all K-12 students.

Challenges or Obstacles:

• Some of the biggest challenges is the after school time needed to build such a machine.  Many of the students have other after school commitments, and it sometimes becomes difficult to make scheduling work.
• Also, available space at the school can become difficult. The tools and material need to be accessible for after school build sessions, but must be stored in a safe place during the school day.
• One final obstacle is the money needed to make the machine. A few hundred dollars can purchase the necessary materials and transportation of the machine, but with resourceful students, many of the items can be donated.
• Also, many local grant opportunities have funded the project.

Benefits and Successes:

• The personal and educational growth due to the Rube Goldberg Machine contest at AHS is immeasurable.  The skills learned can range from building complex electric circuits with computer controls to the simple process of hammering a nail.
• The public presentations of the machine give students the opportunity to learn new communication skills of public speaking.
• One of the most important lessons is the pursuit of achieving a goal, and not giving up when a particular method fails.  This can be summed up by a quote from Thomas Edison, “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”
• The Rube Goldberg Machine contest has been a very positive event at Anderson High School, contributing a sense of pride and accomplishment for the school.

Additional Information:

Click here to see a 2015 newspaper article

Click here to see a 2012 newspaper article

Submitted by: David Perrel, Anderson High School