For most of this semester our main focus in humanities has been Revolutions. Our goal was to create a Rube Goldberg machine. It is made up of a series of an intentionally complicated chain of events that performs a simple task. But there was a twist… Each connection of the machine had be a metaphor for an event that happened during the revolution.

To start of, we got split up into groups based on our individual talents and interests so that we could make the best team possible. I had six people in my group including me. We got assigned one main Revolution that we would be studying for the rest of the project leading up to the Winter exhibition. We got the Russian October revolution which I was happy about because I am Russian so I was excited to learn a little more about the history of that particular country. 

To learn a little bit more about the revolution I was studying, we made infographics to showcase our learning. I made it in an app called Canva which helped me with the visuals and the layout. It shows the four main stages of the revolution as well as a brief overview and timeline of the Revolution. 

Here is my infographic:

Now that I have learned a little more about the Russian Revolution, we began preparing for the exhibition. Before we started building, we individually came up with a connection idea that we would use in the Rube Goldberg machine that represents an event that happened during the revolution. My idea was the Russian Civil War. I used a newton’s cradle as my metaphor. A wooden block pushing the first marble on the newtons cradle caused a chain reaction. This was a metaphor for Vladimir Lennon sparking the idea and then other people catching on and spreading the word.  Then, my group and I put all of our ideas together and came up with a blueprint design of the full metaphor machine.

Here is our blueprint:

Once we finally started building, my teachers divided the work into each day. We were supposed to have one metaphor connection completed everyday leading up to the exhibition. While me and some others in my group got to work building and putting together the machine, others began making a documentary about the building process and the revolution itself. Our plan was to present the documentary and the machine at the exhibition. 

Here is our finished documentary:

And a photo of the process:

Through the process we went through many ups and downs with the design. We had to slightly modify many things that we originally thought would work but soon realized they didn’t once we built it. It failed too many times to count. We did eventually overcome those challenges and it was all ok in the end. Once we got close to completing the machine, all that was left to do was to plan out the finishing touches like food and drinks. One of our group members, Evelyn had antique prints along with a sword from Russia that made our display unique and authentic. In the end, I was very proud of what we produced as a team. 

Here is a photo of the final product/set up on exhibition night!:

At times it was difficult and stressful but over all it was a good learning experience. My biggest take aways from this experience was to not give up, have patience with group members and stay calm. That helped me through the whole process. And to answer the driving question…

“How do ideas drive change”

Ideas drive change by giving us new ways of thinking and inspiration. When we have cool ideas, they can help us solve problems and make the world a better place.

Thank you!