Rube Goldberg Contest –

Learning About Contraptions And Cooperation

By Tanjua Damon

Many may think that planting a tree seedling in a container is a simple task, but if you ask eighth grade students in the Discovery Program at Newtown Middle School you might be surprised by the answer they give you.

The students took part in the 11th annual Rube Goldberg Competition on Tuesday, April 3, where the simple task of planting a tree seedling in a container of dirt turned into a major engineering feat.

The Discovery students were asked to build a machine with a series of at least 15 steps that planted a tree seedling. The machine had to operate within the dimensions of five feet high, six feet long, and five feet wide. Students could only be in teams of four including one student who was a Discovery student. The machine also had to use two Duracell batteries, which were provided. Students were encouraged to spend no money on the project.

Judges scored students on the successful completion of the task, number of steps in the machine, creativity, Rube Goldberg spirit of the program, and how well the team was prepared and displayed a step description of the machine.

Leo Richardson and Thomas Cruson named their invention “Duct Tape.” The two built a contraption that planted an acorn. They used wood and a pulley system to build it.

“There were a lot of things we had to figure out,” Leo said. “We kept having problems over and over again. It was fun fixing the problems.”

Once the project was built, Thomas was excited when the machine actually worked.

Many of the students are considering engineering careers once they get older. The Rube Goldberg competition allows the students to experience firsthand what engineering entails.

“It was fun for me because I want to be an engineer,” Taylor Schmidt said about his group’s “Ducks of the World.”

“Getting the pot to come down without spilling [was challenging],” he said.

Taylor worked with Paul Ashey, Brian Hunt, and Ryan Kraft to build a 15-step machine that would plant the seedling. But the four-member group admits there were many obstacles to overcome before the machine would work.

“Getting the pulley system to work was hard. Sometimes the weight was not distributed evenly,” Brian Hunt said. “it was fun because we got to make something that works and was creative.”

Many of the teams agreed that seeing their machine work was the ultimate prize, even though winning the competition added icing to the cake.

“Actually seeing it work,” Lauren Reed said about completing the project. “It took us a while to figure out some of the steps.”

Lauren worked with Sarah Hemingway on their project, entitled “As Disney Magic Lives On.”

“Building the supports [was hard],” Sarah said. “Decorating it [was fun].”

The idea of the competition is to expand students’ use of creativity and problem solving in “real life” situations. Throughout the project, students had to question, analyze, and take risks while creating their contraptions. Using existing materials, students had to adapt various materials to suit the needs of a new product.

Shane Huebner and Corey Regensburger built “Indiana Jones,” finding many challenges as they went along.

“Coming up with all the ideas. There were so many to chose from,” Corey said. “Once you narrowed it down, it was harder to find ways to get it to work.”

The boys admit that the final outcome is well worth the hard work, even though their contraption of mousetraps and balls did not connect at first.

“It’s so exciting to see all your hard work go to good use,” Shane said. “Most aggravating was choosing the theme.”

Many teams were making last minute repairs before the judges began. Three team members of “Audrey 2,” Graham Philbrick, Al Mancuso, and Steve Giacolone, worked diligently until the judges arrived to make sure their machine was going to work. The machine incorporated 18 steps.

“Making all the circuit connections was difficult,” Graham said. “The mouse traps would go off at different times also.”

Brainstorming and coming up with ideas for the project are two things Al liked doing for the contraption.

“The building of the plan was fun,” he said. “And actually running through it.”

Steven found out that teamwork is just as difficult as coming up with the project and creating it so it will work, but he found the project to be fun too.

“I prefer to do things to my plan schedule,” he said. He said, however, that he got a lot of satisfaction from “actually having the feeling it’s finished and we completed it.”

Teacher John Vouros was impressed with his students’ dedication and hard work in creating their contraptions, as well as their performance for the judges.

“Your performance last night overall, the way you came in, how you set up, how you did all that was phenomenal. If I was not there you could have orchestrated it all yourselves,” he said. “It’s a tribute to you in your self direction.

First place winners were the team of “The City,” invented by Emily Koh, Sara Davis, Lenora Thorton, and Becca Gellis.

Second place winners were Monica Latowicki, Jessica Remitz, Amber Butler, and Anthony Santella with “Disney: JAAM Style.”

There were two teams who tied for third place: “The 3 Stooges” – Lesley Oberstadt, Shannon Bell, Kat Danziger, and Emily Blewett; and “Duct Tape” – Leo Richardson and Thomas Cruson.