RSD2 ALERT Connections
  • ALERT Connections
    • 2018-2019 ALERT
    • Architecture >
      • Architectural Eras and Styles >
        • Colonial 1600-1700
        • Georgian 1700-1800
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        • Victorian Era Styles 1840-1900 >
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        • Arts & Crafts 1880-1950
        • Skyscrapers 1885-present
        • Early 20th Century Revivals >
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        • Prairie Style 1900-1920
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        • Vernacular Styles
        • Mimetic Architecture
      • House Styles Checklist >
        • Face Value: Facades and First Impressions
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        • What a View! Windows
        • Matter Matters: Building Materials >
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        • Details, Details: Special Features
      • Future Architecture >
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      • Sketchbook Exercises >
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        • Linear Perspective
      • Architecture Proposal Fall 2017 Project
      • Blueprinting
      • Model Building Tips
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      • Light it Up!--Electrical Circuits
      • Interiors
      • Scale: Putting People in the Picture
      • A Walk Down Main Street
      • Zeitgeist--Spirit of the Age
      • Music of the Ages
      • Computer-Aided Design
      • Online Architecture Resources
      • The Well-Built City >
        • Gingerbread City
        • Progress vs Preservation: China's Handshake Buildings
        • The Well-Designed City
      • Abandoned Architecture
    • Sustainable Living >
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        • Can 100% renewable energy power the world?
        • The Canadian Desert
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        • Plastic Roads
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      • Earth Imagery and Mapping >
        • Cape Town’s Water is Running Out
        • Emi Koussi and Wind Grooves
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        • A Ring of Green Around Surgut
        • Yesterday and Tomorrow Islands
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      • Nature's Habitat Book Clubs >
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      • Reforestation >
        • Socratic Seminar: Good and Bad Ways to Pursue Reforestation?
      • Global Warming
      • Bias and Flaws in Reasoning
      • Interdependence and Cooperation
      • Nature Inspiration >
        • Carl Sagan
        • Jane Goodall
        • Richard Dawkins
        • Richard Feynman
      • Online Nature's Habitat Resources
      • Persuasive Communication
      • Socratic Seminar
      • Water
      • World Building Tools
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    • Veterans Day
  • Research
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    • Research Step-by-Step >
      • NASCAR: Idea, Topic, and Issue
      • The Curious Cryptohominid: Idea, Topic, Issue
      • The Curious Image: Idea, Topic, Issue
      • The Curious Object: Idea, Topic, Issue
      • The Curious Phenomena: Idea, Topic, and Issue
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      • Be Confident for a Reason
      • Be Fluent in the Way You've Chosen
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      • Should I use Google Slides?
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  • Engineering
    • Engineering News >
      • European Space Agency: Space Debris Report
      • The Future of Humanity Institute
      • Sail Drones
    • Rube Goldberg
    • The Next BIG Idea
    • SCAMPER Challenges >
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  • Metacognition
    • 7 Habits >
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      • First Things First: The Urgent-Important Matrix
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    • ALERT Journals and Blogging
    • Ambiguity and Uncertainty--Jerome Bruner
    • Atlas of Emotions--Paul and Eve Ekman
    • Becoming T, π, or M-Shaped
    • Caterpillars to Butterflies
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    • Critical Thinking Model--Richard Paul
    • Cultivating Ourselves--Italo Calvino
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    • How Will You Spend Your Days?--Annie Dillard
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    • Inspiring History--David McCullough
    • Intensities & Overexcitabilities--Kazimierz Dabrowski
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Rube Goldberg: 
A Complex Machine to Perform a Simple Task

HEMA Rube Goldberg Website

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Hollandsche Eenheidsprijzen Maatschappij Amsterdam, "Dutch Standard Prices Company Amsterdam" is a Dutch housewares store similar to Wal-Mart in the United States. HEMA prides itself on low pricing combined with original design.
http://producten.hema.nl/

The Kids Should See This: Light-Powered Rube Goldberg Machine

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OK Go: 
"This Too Shall Pass"

OK Go: "Needing/Getting"

Audri's Monster Trap

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http://www.josephherscher.com/
The video clips on this website are hosted via YouTube. Students, please be responsible in judging the relevance and value of the suggested videos displayed after the first video ends.
Thanks to Kyle for suggesting this video clip. It is hosted via YouTube, so please understand that the suggested videos that appear after this clip may not be relevant to engineering.

Rube Goldberg Pairs and Teams Project

http://www.rubegoldberg.com/gallery#

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This winter and spring, students will be using everyday materials to construct their own machines in small groups.

Students will self-select groups of 2-3.
Students may brainstorm their own task, or get ideas from these options: 
  • Trap a monster
  • Turn a book page
  • Roll coins into a bank
  • Turn on a radio
  • Put toothpaste on a toothbrush
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Advice from Karen Wilkinson & Mike Petrich, curators of the Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium Museum, San Francisco, California.
Let's start off with plans that include at least 7 steps.  The plan should include the following elements:
  • Materials needed 
  • Description of each step
  • Total number of predicted steps
  • Blueprints (sketch) of the machine design with labels.
  • Upon teacher approval of project plans, students may begin collecting materials.
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Advice from Karen Wilkinson & Mike Petrich, curators of the Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium Museum, San Francisco, California.
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Advice from Karen Wilkinson & Mike Petrich, curators of the Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium Museum, San Francisco, California.
Safety and Security: 
  • Students are welcome to bring in cardboard that has not been used to store food.
  • Plastic jars or bottles and metal cans are fine, but please wash them out (top rack dishwasher) before bringing to school. Please check can rims for metal burrs or spurs. 
  • NO GLASS.
  • Please ask your teacher about sharp objects such as pins, screws, and nails before bringing them in
  • Please do not bring in any one-of-a-kind toys or objects with sentimental value.​
  • Rube Goldberg devices may be large scale for set up in the classroom, but the parts must be easy to store in a printer box at the end of the day for set up the next week.



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Active Learning Experiences in Resourceful Thinking: Our  Mission
​The Richland School District Two ALERT program for academically gifted students, in association with families, the district and global community, affords each learner unique challenges to inspire the pursuit of highest academic standards by providing rigorous, differentiated curricula that cultivates excellence in leadership and life-long learning.


Updated: 27 January 2019
Webpage maintained by the Active Learning Experiences in Resourceful Thinking (ALERT)  classes of Richland School District Two, Columbia, South Carolina.
Please direct queries to Mr. Kevin Durden.