Distance Learning - Field Trip Fridays - Support Materials

Lesson Plan:

The lesson plan titled, "Creating My Own Rube Goldberg Machine" has students taking apart discarded appliances to discover the simple machines make them tick. It also incorporates a fun project that has students designing a Rube Goldberg machine of their own. (Click PDF file)

Simple Machines Worksheet (PDF File) to be used with lesson plan.

Cog: A very elaborate Rube Goldberg device set to film. Made entirely of car parts. It required 606 film takes to get right.

Websites:

Rube Goldberg Today: The Official RUBE GOLDBERG Web Site. Make sure to check out the gallery with 10 classic comics.   

Amazing Rube Goldberg and the Invention Convention: Many interesting facts about his life and his creative cartoons.

Inventors Tool Box: This site offers very good descriptions and pictures of simple machines. The parent site is called "Exploring Leonardo". There you will find pages about how Leonardo da Vinci used simple machines in many of his inventions.

Gadget Anatomy Quiz Use this resource after reviewing the Inventors Toolbox site. Students can test their knowledge of simple machines.  

Edhead: Students learn about simple and compound machines while they explore a virtual house and tool shed.