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Seventh Graders Make Science Fun, Rube Goldberg Style

Students work on one of the 24 different “steps” which made up the Rube Goldberg machine.

What do you get when you mix a croquet mallet, an ironing board, some old books, a rope, numerous other every day objects, add in some physics, and top it off with 80 savvy BB&N 7th graders?  If you’re Middle School Director Mary Dolbear, you get a whipped cream pie in the face.

Dolbear and three other lucky faculty members had the auspicious honor of being the last cogs in a giant Rube Goldberg machine—a device named after cartoonist Rube Goldberg’s famous drawings of multiple step contraptions which result in a simple everyday action—in this case, a pie in the face.

“To be honest, I have never been a great fan of whipped cream,” joked Dolbear.  “But the kids deserved some fun, and this was a perfect way to marry that to learning.” 

The morning long event took place in the Upper School Nicholas Athletic center, allowing students ample space to build their machine, which stretched over multiple tennis courts in its pie slamming glory. 

“We spent time in class learning about Rube Goldberg and preparing for the day a few weeks ahead of the event,” said Middle School Science Chair Wendy Svatek.  “There was terrific energy in the classroom as students brainstormed materials and tasks and discussed ideas with their partners and the groups responsible for each step of the machine.”

In a curriculum change from past years in which the 7th grade took a field trip to the Hale Reservation for outdoor team building activities, the Rube Goldberg event emphasized the same themes but in a more relevant manner.

“After we made the decision to change the curriculum and begin the year focusing on scientific method and problem-solving, we brainstormed ideas for replacing the Hale trip,” says Svatek. “The concept and creation of Rube Goldberg machines actually sets us up quite nicely for the other topics we study in seventh grade science: energy, structures and rocketry (Newton’s Laws).”

Following the morning project, the afternoon presented a different set of challenges as the students were divided up by homeroom and given a box of every-day objects: papers clips, Styrofoam, straws, balloons, tape, pencils, etc. 

Inside each box was also a list of four objectives:
--Design and build a vehicle to win a 2 meter race without being powered by human contact
--Design and build a catapult that can launch a marshmallow the furthest distance
--Design and build the highest tower possible that is capable of supporting an egg for 15 seconds.
--Design and build a contraption that will keep and dropped egg from breaking from three different heights.

As students brainstormed, designed, and built, the action drew a curious and enthralled crowd including many upper school students, faculty, and Head of School Rebecca T. Upham.

“This is exciting,” said Upham as she and her friendly dog Leo strolled from group to group, inspecting the growing projects, “I love to see this sort of engaged learning taking place—it’s what makes this place special.”

When the projects were all completed, the groups squared off against each other with the results counting towards the standings in their year long 7th Grade Homeroom Olympics.
Competing chants of homeroom names reverberated around the indoor athletic fields as students cheered for their group’s design, and oohed or awed depending on the success of each design.

There were no losers on this day though, and students enjoyed the project so much that many of the faculty who helped out received genuine thank you letters from the 7th graders the next week.

“The students were totally engaged in this project and worked collaboratively in ways we often don’t get to observe in a typical classroom setting,” said Svatek. “There were many instances of creative problem-solving on the fly in order to achieve overall success for the class.”