Let's see how complicated we can make this simple task. The last activity associated with a 10-part series has groups design and build a Rube Goldberg machine. Teams determine a simple task to accomplish and use the engineering design...

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.

Learners investigate net force by building Rube Goldberg contraptions. They build a contraption that has at least 6 steps or moves.

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...

Mike and Kellie, a team of electrical engineers, demonstrate how to to design a contraption that accurately drops a marble onto a target. The materials needed and general instructions are provided on the website or via a downloadable...

Refreshed with an understanding of the six simple machines; screw, wedge, pully, incline plane, wheel and axle, and lever, student groups receive materials and an allotted amount of time to act as mechanical engineers to design and...

Through a five-lesson series with five hands-on activities, students are introduced to six simple machines - inclined plane, wedge, screw, lever, pulley, wheel-and-axle - as well as compound machines, which are combinations of two or...

Students take a simple task and make it much more complicated using a cardboard box. Each group must use a minimum of six simple machines utilizing at least four types of simple machines. The goal is to keep the initial impulse moving...

Explore motion, force and energy by building a complicated contraption to pour milk into a glass.