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Hudson Tyree-Rodriguez stood in the IDEAS Xchange space at Providence Day this week and built a roller coaster that included a drum and a “bouncy thing.”

The fifth-grader in Marcie Jacob’s class added the drum for noise and the bouncy thing, well, because it was an option in the virtual reality exercise where students learned being an engineer means making adjustments.

fifth graders building Rube Goldberg creations in virtual reality

“It’s really interesting because you can use anything you find to create something,” Hudson says. “And, you learn how to fix stuff.”

Providence Day fifth graders built Rube Goldberg creations this week using virtual reality headsets - boosting science lessons on the history of the Pulitzer Prize-winning American cartoonist, inventor, and innovator of simple machines.

“This experience allows students to use various levers, pulleys, inclined planes, wheels, and axles to build their own machines,” says Tomarra Londeree, the Education Technologist who collaborates with teachers to integrate student experiences through various digital media. 

“[It] will also require our students to use their problem-solving and critical thinking skills by using trial-and-error to build their machine.”

Virtual reality reinforces classroom teachings, and abstract ideas are more tangible and memorable, Ms. Jacobs says.

[Virtual reality] can cater to different learning styles, ensuring that all students have the opportunity to grasp complex concepts effectively,” Ms. Jacobs says. “We are privileged to use virtual reality technology to enhance our fifth-grade science units. Next up... space, perhaps?”

Rube Goldberg was the only person whose name is an adjective in Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary. Cartoons defined his career, according to the Rube Goldberg Institute for Innovation and Creativity.

“A Rube Goldberg Machine solves a simple problem in the most ridiculously inefficient way possible. Their funny functionality invites us to think more deeply about machines and mechanized processes, gadgets and technologies, and the very human ways in which we use them,” according to the institute. 

The Goldberg virtual reality experience is unlike any other because it incorporates mixed reality, Ms. Londeree says, meaning students are able to see the physical room and furniture they are in but are also able to build 3D machines within the virtual world. 

Students chose from various tracks, balls, wheels, and pulleys to build roller coasters, marble tracks, basketball hoops, confetti cannons, or any simple machine. 

“It’s amazing to see the ownership the students took of their own learning,” Ms. Londeree says. “I tell the students it's OK to fail. Try new things. If it doesn't work, make adjustments and try again, much like Rube Goldberg did when he invented various machines. It's all part of the engineering design process.”

Fifth-grader Lina Han says the experience was fun because “it’s a different way of learning how to do things.”

Ms. Londeree says she plans to offer students many more virtual reality experiences.

“I already have a teacher asking if we can send the kids to the moon,” Ms. Londeree says, “and the answer is ‘Yes.’”