The Rube Goldberg project, a Palo Alto High School physics tradition, has been scrapped from this year’s curriculum by the Science Department in response to widespread complaints and criticism.
The project, which involved building a “Rube Goldberg” machine in a creative way, was the first semester final project in Paly physics classes for several years. However, mounting criticism over the project’s difficulty and work load has forced the Science Department to reconsider and ultimately cancel the project.
“It [the project’s cancellation] might have been in part because they [the students] put a tremendous amount of work and time in or outside of class,” physics teacher Josh Bloom said. “This made the parents upset that that they [students] were working on it during winter break. There was the opportunity to do it over winter break; it was the student’s choice to put it off until then.”
Although the original project has been cancelled, students will still work on an alternative Rube Goldberg themed assignment. The Science Department teachers are still deciding what to assign students instead of the Rube Goldberg project, but have agreed that there will be no building component this year. Although they have not reached a conclusion on the exact details, it is clear that the project will not involve the same type and amount of work.
“We are planning on, some of us, doing a drawing board kind of project,” physics teacher Gul Eris said. “You still have to know all the physics about it and present your drawing to the class. There will only be a drawing component, but no building component, which is really sad, because there was a very big [educational] value in designing something, applying it, and seeing it working. And most of the fun is there.”
Eris, like many other Paly physics teachers, is still debating the different options for the replacement Rube Goldberg assignment.
“Another possible option is an animated project,” Eris said. “Another idea is to keep it and give people the opportunity to do it during the class time, but it is very short notice to do it this year so we won’t be able to do it this year. This year will be a drawing project.”
Bloom has not finalized which project his Physics 1 class will be doing this year either.
“I haven’t decided yet what I’m going to do, but I’m definitely going to do some version of it [the Rube Goldberg],” Bloom said. “But it won’t be what it’s previously been. The final decision will be made in time to give students ample warning.”
Physics teacher Keith Geller declined to comment on the subject.
The physics teachers are not thrilled with the change in the curriculum, but acknowledge that the project had issues. They believe, however, that the project’s problems do not entierly lie in the assignment itself, but in how some students dealt with the project.
“The most leading argument is that people don’t have enough time to meet outside of class together with three others and work on the project,” Eris said. “My personal opinion is these are the people who usually leave it to the last minute and work until the morning until they make the right thing. If you just pace yourself, because we give you 6 weeks, there is no reason this could not be done.”
Bloom believes some of the controversy on the project has been overinflated to some extent by vocal students and their parents, and that the conflicts involving the project have escalated to a “mythical” level.
“The Rube Goldberg has been singled out because there were a number of people who decided to become particularly vocal,” Bloom said. “I think some of it came from students, some of it came from parents concerned about their students. Things [complaints] like this can take on this ‘mythical level’ that may be somewhat an exaggeration, but that’s not to say that there weren’t problems.”
Student opinions on the project can be found here.