When Billie, Maxine, and I met up on January 28, we had a lot to get done. Since our Rube Goldberg project didn’t initially go as planned, we basically had to re-do it.  Now we needed an entirely new plan.  Our first idea was to move our Rube Goldberg to the floor because the ramp going down the dresser was causing problems. Instead, we decided to begin our Rube Goldberg on a bench. Our first two steps would be on the bench, but then there would be a ramp leading down the bench to the floor. Our first couple of steps would be a ball hitting a small car which goes down a spiral toy. Then, the car hits a bigger car which goes down a gymnastics cheese acting as a ramp. It was  hard to think of other steps that would go after that, though. We had to do a lot of thinking. Also, we had to look at videos for inspirations. Eventually, we thought of five more steps. The hardest part for me about Rube Goldberg was thinking of a simple task. For our simple task, we decided on having an object hit the delete button on the keyboard. We had written “Rube Goldberg not finished” on the computer.  At the end of the chain reaction, the object deleted the word “not” because it was highlighted. I loved how our Rube Goldberg turned out!

For our Rube Goldberg we have to make a video to show our class. That video has to include our inspirations, our thinking, our failures, and our final Rube Goldberg. Since I have some experience with editing, I am editing our video. In the beginning of the video it shows us going to the hardware store and Michael’s looking for inspirations. Then, it shows our first ideas. I haven’t finished editing the rest of the video, but I have a pretty good idea what I’m going to do. Some challenges when editing a Rube Goldberg are deciding what the speed of the clip should be. That is challenging because if something is too fast then you can barely see the clip. If you make it slower it might take too much time. I hope our video turns out great!

When we met up yesterday we had only a little time to get work done. Since some of the steps in our sketch didn’t end up working we had to re-do the last couple of steps. We also wanted to have a new simple task. But then we realized that the last couple of simple tasks we had thought of weren’t so simple. We had some good ideas that not everyone agreed on though. So, we had to compromise. Now, we have narrowed our simple task choices down to two. When working on the last couple of steps we weren’t that successful. Most of our ideas didn’t go as planned.  We had to think of new ideas, but the ideas ended up not being so good either. I hope next time we meet everything goes smoother!

When doing Rube Goldberg, planning everything out is key. As you know, we worked with Google Drawings. There are advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is your hand doesn’t get tired because you’re not holding a pencil or erasing your work. Another advantage is when you’re working with Google Drawings, making the drawing is as simple as clicking and dragging. Even if you’re a not a good artist, your Google Drawing can come out really artsy. One more advantage is you can add pictures from the internet or take your own photo to add it to the drawing. One disadvantage is the sketch that you make comes out really simple with no personality. I had a really fun time working with Google Drawings! I hope you try it out.

Yesterday, Billie, Maxine and I met to discuss our sketch. We went to Michael’s and the hardware store for some inspiring ideas. At the hardware store we bought copper wire/string and at Michael’s we bought glue, a paper tunnel that a ball could go through, wood mini ramps, and glue. When we got back to Billie’s house we worked on the sketch. It was a little tricky to sketch everything out and decide what order the steps would be placed in. It was also tricky figuring out  if something worked or didn’t work. For example, we had to see if dominos would knock down a ping pong ball. Then if that ping pong ball would slide down a ramp. I think we are in really good shape for starting Rube Goldberg!

Do you know what Rube Goldberg is? Well, you are about to find out. Rube Goldberg is a chain reaction. Usually it’s a complex way to complete a simple task. In my class we are doing the Rube Goldberg project. You do it with a group of 2-3 people. I’m doing it with Billie and Maxine. The first thing we have to do for Rube Goldberg is draw our sketch. We are going to use Google Drawings for our sketch. We feel that it is easier to do the sketch on Google Drawings because we don’t have to draw the whole thing out in pencil. On Tuesday, we met up with each other to discuss our sketch. We only have the first couple of steps down, though. It was very hard to think of a complex way to complete a simple task. We had to test some things out. For example, we wanted to see if a certain toy car would knock down a certain number of dominos. We are meeting on Sunday and Monday again. I think our sketch will turn out great!