Curated OER
Motion Commotion!
Students explore the drawings of Rube Goldberg to design and construct a simple machine. They discuss simple machines, and using various materials and toy parts, design and construct a "Rube Goldberg" style machine to ring a bell.
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Creating My Own Rube Goldberg Machine
Students dissect simple machines. For this simple machines lesson, students gather simple machines from their home to dissect in class. Students investigate the working parts of simple machines and construct a machine based on the...
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Who is Rube Goldberg?
Fifth graders practice technology skills while searching online for information about inventor, Rube Goldberg. They discuss Rube Goldberg's use of simple machines, and write journal entries about their findings.
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Rube Goldberg Project
Students apply inquiry and problem solving approaches in science. They design a device (invention) that solves a special problem.
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My Crazy Contraption
Fourth graders design a contraption, which contains five different examples of simple machines and works without intervention. They sketch designs and label its parts. They present their creations to the class and relate them to Rube...
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Rube Rube
Students examine and discuss simple machines and Rube Goldberg cartoons, listing real-world examples. They design and illustrate a Rube Goldberg device, identify the simple machines involved, and write a paragraph explaining how the...
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The Art of Simple Machines
Students investigate the inventions of simple machines in our past and how they affect us today. In this engineering lesson, students discover who Rube Goldberg was and his ideas about complicated machines performing very simple tasks....
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Junkyard Wars: Air Movers
Students study Rube Goldberg machines. In this investigative lesson students design and build a machine that uses several steps to move an aluminum can.
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Air Movers
Students learn about Rube Goldberg machines (complicated devices designed to accomplish simple tasks and then design and build a machine that uses more than six separate steps to move an empty aluminum can. They can either work...
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Mystery Photo!
Students examine an original engraving of a piece of equipment called, The Grasshopper Catcher. They describe how technologies developed in Iowa during the Industrial Revolution influenced farming practices, and develop hypotheses about...
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Simple Machines
Students are introduced to a scenario: a ramshackle house is in need of repair. The roof leaks, the refrigerator is broken, it needs paint, etc. They are explained that in order to repair the home, students must use tools. Students...
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Leprechaun Traps Using Simple Machines
Are you looking for a fun way to incorporate St. Patrick's Day into your science curriculum? Try designing and building leprechaun traps!
Curated OER
Humor, Philosophy, and Religion
Philosophy and religion are the topics of this presentation, though humor is what ties them together. Providing many examples of humor in different religions (Evangelism, Buddhism, Mormonism) and from different philosophers (Plato,...