Two Nexus learners, Freddie and Kiran, are proudly representing Nexus at the International Rube Goldberg Competition of 2024. Our learners created a Rube Goldberg machine using scientific concepts like conservation of energy, forces and others to create this year’s competition task, a device that would put toothpaste onto a toothbrush. Sounds like a simple task? Not in this case!
What Is A Rube Goldberg Machine?
At the heart of a Rube Goldberg (RG) machine is the intent to complete a simple task in an unnecessarily complicated way. Why you may ask? Well it started with Rube Goldberg, an American cartoonist who was famous for creating cartoons of characters who completed simple tasks in an overly-complicated, yet sophisticated way. Inspired by this concept, people have tried to create these machines in real life. However, these machines are challenging to design and construct. They require lots of planning and patience to create, needing umpteen times of trials and improvements in the process to ensure that the RG machine’s actions properly trigger tasks one after another in the correct order, a key characteristic of these machines.
About The Competition
The International Rube Goldberg (RG) competition sees more than 80 countries come together to compete on the elegance and sophistication of their RG machines on the theme of the year. In fact, the RG competition has many different categories, but for a start, the Nexus team decided to take part in the International Online version first.
As a member of a few international societies including the American Physics Association of Physics Teachers and the Chartered College of Teaching to name a few, I am updated about current science research updates and competitions from reading their journals and this is how I chanced upon this RB competition. I felt that this competition would give the learners an opportunity to put their hypothetical thinking of energy conversion from one point to another into a realistic application.
The Road to Preparation
As early as mid-December 2023, our learners had already started on their brainstorming sessions and material collection for their RB machine. During each science club meeting, Freddie and Kiran would be creating setups and trying their machines. They only completed their final prototype after 10 sessions of hard (and heart) work.
Learning Opportunities
Beyond a fun project, the activity unfolds theoretical scientific learnings into physical actions. The learners also quickly realise how there can be possible mismatches between theory and the actual physical actions, requiring them to adapt quickly on their feet to complete the challenge. Typically, it takes months and large man-hours to ensure the success of the RG machine, hence it is an excellent platform for our learners to experience and understand their failures and reflect on the areas for improvement to modify their plans accordingly. As a whole, it sharpens their critical thinking, collaboration and communication skills in addition to media literacy and researching ideas.
Initial Ideas and Progress
In the beginning, Freddie and Kiran had really complicated ideas like hanging the toothbrush and letting it slide down while concurrently creating a mixture of different chemicals in a bowl that would be sent out on strings to meet the toothpaste. However, while the sketches were amazing and grand, they soon realised how big of a challenge it was to translate these ideas into reality. Unfazed by these setbacks, Freddie and Kiran adapted quickly and modified their plans to realise their ideas
Witnessing Amazing Growth
Before the official submission, Freddie and Kiran did presentations for the Head of Secondary and Head of Science to seek feedback on their RG machine. It was amazing to witness their confidence, humility in learning, desire to succeed and motivation to make the machine right. The growth in these two learners is really amazing and this growth is certainly not something that we can see in standard curriculum hours.
The learners really pushed through during the recording of the submission video, taking 4 days in total to record and reflect on each version to find the best video recording. From ideation to execution to finalisation of the project, Freddie and Kiran really embodied the values of Nexus by taking the initiative to pursue such an innovative project outside of the classroom.
Future Directions
The Science Club will continue to explore more exciting competitions and create more unique learning experiences for the learners. With the experience from this RG competition, I hope that these two learners will take on bigger lead roles in the Science club and possibly mentor the RB team when our learners take on this competition in 2025. We are also planning to collaborate with the Computer Science department in the future to compete in the Robotics category of the Rube Goldberg competition.
I’m proud to share the final video that was created by our learners. Please enjoy!
Gary Lee, Deputy Head of Science Science
Gary is a very passionate and dedicated teacher who enjoys deep conversation in Physics and its latest development in this ever-changing and fast-paced world.
