The Baima Family Blog: Olivia's Rube Goldberg Team Competition

Olivia's fifth grade class spent about three months designing, building, learning about, and writing about a Rube Goldberg creation that will fold a piece of paper (with a crease) in 10 or more steps (theirs had 11 steps) within a 3 foot space (height and width). Their theme was Wizard of Oz, and while I am not completely familiar with all 11 steps they had, their final goal was accomplished by having a book shut with a piece of paper inside of it so that they would achieve the folded paper. Olivia was then selected to be on the presentation team, which meant that she had a major role in resetting their contraption (her jobs were to raise the house and open the book at the same time) and had a minor speaking role in explaining their creation to the judges. Her team tied for first at the Springfield regional competition - the first time a team from her school had ever placed first! They beat out 12 teams to win the regional title, and that allowed them to move on to the "State" competition at the University of Illinois Engineering Open House in Champaign. There were 12 teams that participated at the "State" level. I was lucky enough to be a chaperone to the Champaign competition. The following pictures were taken in Champaign.

Olivia with her teacher and Rube presentation team.

The team practicing their contraption before their official presentation. Olivia is not typically a nail biter, but I believe she did bite her nails quite a bit on this day! They were nervous that the machine's first step became slightly unlevel in transporting it from Springfield to Champaign.

Giving their presentation to 3 judges. After they were done, the judges asked them multiple questions, and the team was able to answer all of them perfectly. The students really knew their machine!