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What is Contraption Maker?
Contraption Maker is a brand new learning tool in which you build a variety of Rube Goldberg machines to complete tasks. In addition, you can use the design mode to build your own tasks and machines from scratch. If you've ever played The Incredible Machine or Amazing Alex, then you'll be comfortable right away with Contraption Maker.
What is a Rube Goldberg machine?
Before you get started building, it's helpful to know a little background about Rube Goldberg and his famous machines. Rube Goldberg was a famous cartoonist and inventor. His cartoons showed complicated machines that were used to do simple tasks. An example of one of his inventions, the Self-Operating Napkin is shown on the right. Each letter in the diagram is an extra step that starts with Professor Butts putting the soup in his mouth and ends with the napkin swinging across his face back and forth. Can you figure out what each of the other steps are doing?
Contraption Maker in the STEAM Lab
The first part of the engagement should focus on playing through a set number of levels (determined by your SMART goal). The second half of the engagement should focus on you designing your own Rube Goldberg levels using the Make section of the game. As part of your presentation, it will be helpful to show off the Rube Goldberg machines in action, so make sure to use the recording feature of Contraption Maker so that we can see the inventions from start to finish!
Video Tutorials on Using Contraption Maker
Video Tutorials on Using Contraption Maker
Here is a list of fantastic video tutorials that teach you how to use the various features of the game, including:
Adding backgrounds to your project with our scenery tool
Controlling motion with our camera animation tool
How to use the video tools in order to record a nice looking video in Contraption Maker:
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