A while ago a found a fascinating blog post about 'water computers' entitled, "Pruned: Gardens as Crypto-Water-Computers". It somehow makes a connection between early economic calculation machines, computers, and victorian age water gardens. Oddly though, I couldn't help but think of Fances Picabia's mechanical paintings when looking at the diagrams of water based calculating machines.
This is a video of a reconstruction of one of those water machines functioning...
I can't help but think constructing a (less complex) water machine of some sort would make a great great group art project for a high school class. Picaba's work could be drawn from, as well as Rube Goldburg and I'm sure with some research there are even more appropriate artists to pull in.
Economics might not be the best multi-displinary subject to incorporate, but computers surely could be connected. It is actually one of the things most often neglected in discussions and uses of computers in classrooms. Namely, what are these machines and how dow they work?
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