Neighbor News
Briarcliff MS Science & Engineering Team Headed to Nationals
Two of three BMS teams placed and the 8th grade girls placed first!
Three BMS Science & Engineering Teams participated in the Rube Goldberg Contest at the Engineering Expo at White Plains High School on April 15. This first place team - comprised of 8th grade girls - will compete at the National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest Finals in Chicago on April 21 and 22!
Rube Goldberg, Inc. is a not-for-profit dedicated to promoting STEM & STEAM education for students of all ages. There are several levels of competition and the goal with each is to encourage critical thinking and problem solving in a non-traditional learning environment and to have fun in the process.This year's contest was to pour a bowl of cereal, in ten or more steps. Read more about this year's contest here. From the website, “a Rube Goldberg Machine is a crazy contraption which accomplishes a simple task in the most complicated – and funniest – way possible! Based on the “Invention” cartoons of the famous Pulitzer Prize-winning American cartoonist, Rube Goldberg, actual machines are at the heart of the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest. They use everyday items (mostly junk!), they tell a story and, most important of all – they make you LAUGH.”
Jodi Shearer, BMS 8th Grade Science Teacher, said, "I've been advising the science & engineering team club for the past six years. I try to find competitions where my students can work collaboratively in groups, not individually and I allow the students to choose which competition they'd prefer. Each year the Rube Goldberg Contest chooses a task to complete and this year it was to pour a bowl of cereal."
The club builds after school at during their meeting. They brainstorm at meetings and on their own outside of school. Usually they start by using the materials from Ms. Shearer's classroom, they generate ideas that they cannot quite figure out, then they ask her advice.
Ms Shearer added, "For the most part, they have done everything on their own. I am very proud of all three teams!"
(Girls Front row: Ellie Park, Mia Suarez, Erin Burns, Chloe Reidy, Emma Dolgin. Back row: Jodi Shearer, Carolyn Calenda, Anya Splitgerber, Sophia Zielinski, Mariam Abud Chalita, Ava Mattina, Lillie Bianco
Boys blue shirts: Super Bears - Gautam Gupta, Edmound Tsou, Sebastian Uzynski, Colin Zhou
Boys yellow shirts: Welcome to the Jungle, SECOND PLACE WINNERS: Connor Bohan, Ben Unger, Rehan Karnani, Harrison Winger, Spencer Dennis, Nathaniel Juris, Connor Dornau!).
