Members of SWE have partnered with Sycamore Middle School’s G-Force club in order to encourage creativity and foster a love for science. G-Force is a club led entirely by girls, and its mission is the exploration of science and technology through hands-on activities and projects.
This spring, G-Force and SWE dove into the world of engineering by designing and building Rube Goldberg machines with a catch, they had to be themed around Barbie! The purpose of the machines was to perform an action, such as dropping a marble into a cup, in the most complicated way possible. Over the course of three weeks, the girls used the engineering design process to plan, create and improve their elaborate machines within teams.
The process began by sketching out the machines, starting with the end result action, and working backwards, making the machine more complicated as they went. The girls utilized simple machines such as pulleys and levers to move objects around the machine to perform their task.
Once planning was done, they assembled their machines with cardboard, string, dominoes, toy cars and lots of other materials to create chain reactions. As their machines took shape, the girls tested the functionality with each addition. This ensured that the machines would work without any help from them during the final display. Just like engineers, they went back to the drawing board if something did not work in order to improve.
Before they could display their machines, the G-Force members decorated the machines so they looked straight out of Barbie Land. One group featured a runway adorn with hearts that swung one of Barbie’s animal friends down a zipline. Another used books toppling over in order to drop Barbie into the ocean of a beach scene that was littered with palm trees.
The girls employed imagination and innovation in their machines to create an impressive final project. They transformed ordinary tasks into remarkable accomplishments through the engineering process. The girls in G-Force showed great technical skill as well as imagination and collaboration, perfect for young engineers exploring the possibilities of STEM. We at SWE are proud to work with G-Force and are excited to continue working with them in the future to foster a love for science.
-Kara Murphy
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