James Ball
John F. Ross High School, Guelph

James has been teaching physics, mathematics and computer science in both Ontario and Switzerland for the last 15 years. His focus has always been on "real world" physics in order to engage the type of students who often take the college physics course. When not teaching he attempts to keep up with his two daughters whether that be on the ski slopes or the walls of the climbing gym.

This workshop will focus on a culminating activity for the 4C course that's both fun and relevant. Participants will build a Rube Goldberg. machine to perform a simple task in an extremely complicated manner (a minimum 20 steps). An example might be launching a ball into a bucket. Participants will work in teams competing to produce the most elaborate machine that also incorporates the greatest number of concepts covered in the course. (limit 30 participants)

Official Rube Goldberg Web Site
Argonne National Labs Competition
London District Rube Goldberg Competition