Rube Goldberg Machines
Kindergarten – 5th Grade Program Description: Rube Goldberg machine activities are hands-and-minds-on engaging experiences that can easily be adapted for all grade levels and lengths of classroom learning times. We can offer this program virtually by droping the supplies off with you and instructing the lesson over Zoom.
Rube Goldeberg was an award winning cartoonist who lived from 1883-1970. He was most well known for his zany cartoons depicting extremely complicated machines that did very simple tasks. His goal was to get people to laugh, but his ideas have been sued to inspire and educate a generations of learners. Each of his contraptions uses a series of simple machines to create chain reactions. Thus, the designing and building of these contraptions covers several different standards ranging from energy, forces, motion, speed, technological design, and more. Check out the official Rube Goldberg website to learn more about these projects.
Kindergarten Cross Disciplinary Concepts:Simple tests can be designed to gather evidence to support or refute student ideas about causes. Events have causes that generate observable patterns. The shape and stability of structures of natural and designed objects are related to their function(s).
Kindergarten Vocabulary: All vocab listed on corresponding proficiency scales
3rd Grade Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified, tested, and used to explain change. People’s needs and wants change over time, as do their demands for new and improved technologies. Engineers improve existing technologies or develop new ones to increase their benefits, decrease known risks, and meet societal demands.
3rd Grade Vocabulary: All vocab listed on corresponding proficiency scales
4th Grade Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Energy can be transferred in various ways and between objects. Engineers improve existing technologies or develop new ones to increase their benefits, decrease known risks, and meet societal demands.
4th Grade Vocabulary: All vocab listed on corresponding proficiency scales
5th Grade Cross Disciplinary Concepts:Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified, tested, and used to explain change. Energy can be transferred in various ways and between objects. Engineers improve existing technologies or develop new ones to increase their benefits, decrease known risks, and meet societal demands.
5th Grade Vocabulary: All vocab listed on corresponding proficiency scales
Science Standards This Program Meets
1-PS4-1 Waves & Their Application in Technologies for Information Transfer
- Grade: 1st Grade
- Discipline: Physical Science
Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.
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3-5-ETS1-1 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science
- Grade: 3rd Grade
- Discipline: Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science
Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost
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3-5-ETS1-2 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science
- Grade: 3rd Grade
- Discipline: Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science
Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
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3-5-ETS1-3 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science
- Grade: 3rd Grade
- Discipline: Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science
Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.
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3-PS2-1 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
- Grade: 3rd Grade
- Discipline: Physical Science
Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.
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3-PS2-2 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
- Grade: 3rd Grade
- Discipline: Physical Science
Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion
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3-PS2-3 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
- Grade: 3rd Grade
- Discipline: Physical Science
Ask questions to determine cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other.
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3-PS2-4 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
- Grade: 3rd Grade
- Discipline: Physical Science
Define a simple design problem that can be solved by applying scientific ideas about magnets.
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4-PS3-1 Energy
- Grade: 4th Grade
- Discipline: Physical Science
Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object.
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4-PS3-2 Energy
- Grade: 4th Grade
- Discipline: Physical Science
Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
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4-PS3-3 Energy
- Grade: 4th Grade
- Discipline: Physical Science
Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide.
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4-PS3-4 Energy
- Grade: 4th Grade
- Discipline: Physical Science
Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.
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5-PS2-1 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
- Grade: 5th Grade
- Discipline: Physical Science
Support an argument that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed down.
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5-PS3-1 Energy
- Grade: 5th Grade
- Discipline: Physical Science
Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.
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K-2-ETS1-1 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science
- Grade: Kindergarten
- Discipline: Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science
Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
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K-2-ETS1-2 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science
- Grade: Kindergarten
- Discipline: Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science
Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
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K-2-ETS1-3 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science
- Grade: Kindergarten
- Discipline: Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science
Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.
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K-PS2-1 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
- Grade: Kindergarten
- Discipline: Physical Science
Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object
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K-PS2-2 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
- Grade: Kindergarten
- Discipline: Physical Science
Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull.
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About Wyoming Stargazing
Wyoming Stargazing is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Jackson Wyoming that excels at making the often difficult to understand concepts of astronomy accessible to everyone. Our mission is to inspire and educate through Wyoming’s extraordinary skies. We offer public and private stargazing programs, solar astronomy programs, planetarium programs, as well as other indoor astronomy presentations. Our vision is to build an observatory and planetarium in Jackson Hole.
View All Programs Visit Website| Who | We work with all age groups from Preschool - Adults. |
| What | We offer engaging indoor and outdoor lessons that cover Earth and Space Science, Motion and Stability, Energy, and Technology standards. |
| When | Our classroom-based and planetarium programs can take place any time of year. Stargazing Programs are best suited for the beginning or end of the school year. |
| Where | We can bring our lessons to your classroom and our planetarium to your school gym, cafeteria, or multipurpose room. Stargazing can take place on any playing field near your school. |
| Why | Astronomy is a “gateway science”. It’s a hook that can get students excited about science who otherwise might never think about science as a career path. We excel at making difficult to grasp concepts about the Universe understandable for everyone and our portable space theater brings the Universe right to your students’ fingertips. |