Children's+Museum+Problem


 * February 9, 2011**

Dear Nagel Students,

My name is Tony Lawson and I am the Director of Duke Energy Children's Museum at Cincinnati Museum Center. Duke Energy Children's Museum inspires kids of all ages to learn more about the world around them through play. We have several exhibits that are visited by hundreds of thousands of children each year: Energy Zone, The Woods, Little Sprouts Farm, and Kids' Town.

Cincinnati Museum Center is interested in creating a new and innovative area of play and investigation for our guests. Rube Goldberg was an American inventor whose ideas have inspired car commercials to computer games. Hasbro's board game, "Mouse Trap" is inspired from Goldberg. He took something as simple as setting a mouse trap and turned it into a complex set of chain reactions.

We would like to add a Rube Goldberg-inspired contraption to our Energy Zone exhibit. Specifically we would like you to develop the world's most complicated way to dispense a sticker to a child or stamp their hand. Guests should be able to "start" the exhibit and watch it, through a series of at least 7 events, dispense a sticker to a child or stamp their hand. Since you will be designing an exhibit for the Energy Zone your chain of events need to showcase forms of potential and kinetic energy as well as the transformation of energy from one form (chemical, thermal, acoustic, electromagnetic, mechanical, and electrical) to another.

I will be bringing my team to your Science class on Thursday, March 3, to choose the winning design. Designs will be featured at the entrance to the Children's museum. You will be invited to showcase your design on a Saturday morning this spring complete with FREE admission to Cincinnati Museum Center. Good luck.

Sincerely,

Tony Lawson