Welcome to my Scimatics (science+math) post. This post is going to be about the Rube Goldberg machine that my group created. This machine was built to represent two things. #1: the scientific method, and #2: our knowledge of how to build parallel electrical circuits.
In this post, I will be going over the four curricular competencies, and I’ll be talking about my mind map of knowledge.
#1: Questioning & Predicting
This competency, applied to us, means that all of our time in class was spent productively and free of distractions. I can say that when I worked, I was very driven and focused. However, there were some instances where I went over to a friend and started talking a little bit. I wouldn’t do this for the whole class, but it would happen every now and then. Otherwise, I feel that I was very helpful when it came to building our machines. I did some painting, glueing, sawing, and constructing.
#2: Reasoning & Analyzing
The description for this competency is “final blueprint is complete and accurate. Contains grid scale. All measurements are labeled with a high degree of accuracy. All the lines are easily distinguished”. My group did very well at this competency. We worked quickly to deliver an accurate measurement of the board that was to scale. The drawing was clean and precise. This was, in part, thanks to my teammate Noah. He is a very good artist and he was a major help.
#3: Planning & Conducting
The description for this is quite long so I’ll sum it up, “our electrical design is neat and precise. The circuits made are are used properly and kindly. And, measurements of voltage, current, and resistance are calculated and handed in”. This was something that took our group a little bit of time to complete. Our design was fine (thanks to Noah), our actual circuits were good, but the measurement of resistance threw us off a little. Every place that described it just confused us a little bit more. In the end we got it, but not after making some mistakes first.
#4: Scientific Communication
The description of this is: “a video is recorded of the complete operation of the machine and voice overs are added. The voiceovers will explain the relation to the to the scientific method, as the machine progresses”. This was the final item that our group had to finish. It took us a while, either because I messed up filming, or the machine didn’t want to work. In the end we got a good video, and Noah did the voiceover. Here’s how that turned out
I feel that I was a all around helper with my group. I did soldering, I built, I glued, I painted, and I sawed. So, in the end. I gave a good contribution to my group and I’m proud of how or machine turned out.
Thanks for reading, please visit all my group members and check out their blogs.
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