Courtesy of KMS
Photo One: A convincing Rube Goldberg invention by Peter Tschaikowsky, a sixth grader at KES.
Photo Two: Killington Elementary student Wesley Cloutier displays a marionette designed earlier this month.
KILLINGTON—Using ingenuity and curiosity, students in Mrs. Kaija’s fifth and sixth grade art classes at Killington Elementary School recently delved into creating marionettes. A marionette is a string-operated, multi-limbed mechanism that moves in various ways when manipulated to perform certain actions. The students’ marionettes will be appear in an upcoming concert.
“Rube Goldberg” inventions
Sixth graders in Amy Simonds class at KES recently made “Rube Goldberg” inventions out of recyclables.
These inventions are named after American inventor Rube Goldberg (1883-1970), whose famously “over-engineered” gadgets performed very simple tasks, usually involving a chain reaction.
Andy Salamon, a Killington resident and engineer, helped develop the activity and guide students through the engineering process. They first planned one simple task to complete, such as turning off a light or watering a plant, and then created a contraption to accomplish that task. Students used problem-solving and collaboration skills to complete their inventions, and the process required lots of patience!
