Grade 2 Students Built Machines to Learn About Gravity!

Grade 2 Build Day was a culmination of "How the World Works", our Unit of Study helping children understand the natural forces by means of observing, asking questions and experimenting, adn learn how to use them to invent and create.

Our students were asked to plan, design and build a Rube Goldberg machine that consists of two simple mechanisms they have previously learned about. Rube Goldberg machines are chain-reaction contraptions intentionally designed to perform a simple task in an indirect and overly complicated way. Usually, they consist of a series of simple unrelated devices; the action of each triggers the initiation of the next, eventually resulting in achieving a stated goal.

The children reviewed many different examples of machines performing simple tasks and being powered by natural forces of gravity, push and pull. Grade 2 students used recycled materials to produce their innovations! During reflecting on the Build Day, the students emphasized the importance of working together and helping each other!