A group of education students at Iowa State University finished some unique projects this week. Professor Larry Genalo’s “Toying With Technology” class project asked the students to put a quarter in a piggy bank using what’s called a “Rube Goldberg” approach. He says Rube Goldberg was a cartoonist known for elaborate drawings that detailed an elaborate contraption built to do a simple task. There is a method to the madness of the project.He says the overall idea was to bring some engineering context to solving mathematical or science projects. Genalo says all those things are best taught by doing, and that’s what the project was about. He says the project shows students how to think in different ways, and how to teach in different ways. He says one thing you learn is the best solution quite often is the simplest way. Genalo says the students always come up with innovative ways to accomplish the task.
