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Middle School Students Design Rube Goldberg Machines

To complement the upcoming Contemporary Jewish Museum exhibit on the life and work of cartoonist and sculptor Rube Goldberg, middle school students in the CREATE elective with Sandee Bisson are creating their own Jewish-themed Rube Goldberg machines. A Rube Goldberg machine is a deliberately complex contraption in which a series of devices that perform simple tasks are linked together to produce a domino effect in which activating one device triggers the next device in the sequence (click here for a popular culture example of one). Funded by the Brandeis Innovation Grants (BIG) program, “this is the first elective where we’ve collaborated with a museum and it’s so exciting,” says Ms. Bisson. The class collectively decided on creating a machine that automates Shabbat, everything from lighting the candles to removing the challah cover to filling a cup with wine for the Kiddush. “You put your phone down and the chain reaction begins: candles are lit, blessings are recited, wine is poured, challah is uncovered, and much more,” explains Ms. Bisson. The BIG also allowed for Ms. Bisson to bring in members from the Wonderful Idea Co.—a creative design studio which develops resources to support the exploration of art, science, and technology through making and tinkering—to help our students bring their ideas to life. “Our students are using such an array of skills to build this machine and are applying mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, storytelling, and design skills. They are taking their work very seriously and the level of engineering and creativity is tremendous.” MORE PHOTOS
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