According to "Curious George" Margolin, “an ‘inventor’ is almost any child under the age of about 9. He…lives partly in the ‘real’ world and ‘much’ in a world of possibilities and make-believe.” This is great news if you are teaching kids 9 and under, but how do we keep this curiosity alive in our older students? The following sites and resources can help maintain this intrinsic sense of curiosity that blossoms during the younger years. Please browse through these resources and search for more that will suit your needs on The Gateway. Good luck, and may you and your students be inspired and innovative this year!
Thinking about young inventors brings back memories of my fourth grade invention convention. I spent many evenings pondering problems in the world around me and how I could fix them. My classmates did the same thing, and on the day of our convention, I was amazed by the variety of ideas in the projects. The inventions ranged from an aluminum can crusher, a pet-hair removing glove, an alarm to alert you when your mail comes in, and even a burglar alarm that turned on lights and flushed the toilet. Although most of the ideas might not have been particularly practical, the invention process taught a group of fourth graders to solve real-world problems around them.
Inventor Ed’s Kids Inventor Resources has some good information for young inventors that can help you bring inventing into the classroom. MIT also has a wonderful collection of resources and links related to inventing and teaching innovation and engineering in the classroom. Don’t forget to check out the PBS Design Squad Trash to Treasure competition for a really neat contest for kids ages 5-19. That contest ends September 5th, though, so you’d have to act fast! Speaking of competitions, check out The Idea Locker from By Kids For Kids, which has links to all kinds of different competitions for young inventors, innovators, and scientists.
We spend our days teaching our students the things they need to learn to move on to the next grade, and eventually, succeed in the world. Teachers also have the important job of keeping the inquisitiveness and wonder of the world alive, and rekindling it when paradigms start to set in. Read this inspiring article by Mr. Margolin about inventing, and think about how you can help change the world by encouraging your students to become young inventors.
In celebration of National Inventor’s Month, I urge you to look at how you challenge your students’ curiosity, problem-solving, and creativity in your classroom. As school begins around the country, it’s the perfect time to step back and look at the big picture of what you are planning to teach your students this year. Can you teach your students to be more inventive and creative while still covering all the standards you are required to teach for your subject and grade? Remember that you can use the standards suggestion tool on The Gateway to discover how the activities you choose will fit in to your curriculum.
Whew! That should give you plenty of starting material to create lots of little inventors in your classroom. I hope you all find at least some small way to encourage this problem solving and creativity in your classrooms some time this year.
~Peggy's Corner - 8/14/2010~
Showing posts with label PBS Design Squad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PBS Design Squad. Show all posts
Monday, August 16, 2010
Eureka!
When I was in second grade, our teacher assigned us a project on inventors. It was to be our first research project, where we had to use the school and public libraries to collect information about our chosen inventors.
“I already have my book,” I told Mrs. Flanagan on the day the project was assigned.
Mrs. Flanagan was duly impressed by my efficiency, until she found out that my book was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and that my chosen inventor was Willy Wonka.
“He’s not a real person, dear,” she said. “Your report has to be on an actual inventor.”
I don’t remember which inventor I eventually settled on, but I do remember feeling fairly crushed that I couldn’t write a report on Willy Wonka. To me, he represented the gold standard of inventors – eccentric, solitary, creative. Most importantly, he made candy, which pretty much made him the embodiment of awesomeness. And isn’t that ultimately what inventors do – enhance our lives and make them better?
August is National Inventors Month, which was established in 1998 by the United Inventors Association of the USA, the Academy of Applied Science, and Inventors’ Digest magazine. It’s a month-long event that honors the pioneering spirit and creative vision of inventors worldwide – those men and women who have helped to shape the modern world as we currently know it, and in the future to come. Despite setbacks and numerous failures, they have persevered in the face of adversity and defied the odds to create inventions – some heralded, some unnoticed by the general public but used in everyday life – to make our existence just that much better.
My picks this week feature fun hands-on lessons where students get to be inventors and create their own machines. As always, please be sure to check our Facebook and Twitter pages throughout the week, where we will post links to more resources on inventions, inventors, and hands-on activities for a variety of ages.
Design Squad: Invent It, Build It
Subjects: Engineering, Physical sciences
Grade: 4-8
This unit presents five hands-on challenges designed to inspire kids to think like inventors and engineers. Additionally, the activities highlight how invention improves people’s lives. The unit is available in both English and Spanish, and is aligned to national and Massachusetts state standards. If you need to translate these standards to your state standards, no problem – use our ASN standards suggestion tool that appears at the bottom of The Gateway page for each resource. This resource was developed by PBS’s Peabody Award-winning reality competition series Design Squad, where teenage contestants tackle engineering challenges for actual clients.
Go-Go Gadget: Invent a Machine
Subjects: Engineering, Physical sciences
Grade: 3-5
In this unit, students study the concepts of force, motion, and work as they analyze simple machines (and simple machines found in complex machines). There’s also a design challenge where students become inventors, identify work they want to perform, and they invent labor-saving machines to do the jobs. There’s a strong focus on the design steps in the process of invention - the planning, drafting, construction, troubleshooting, and reliability testing. The unit is also aligned to national standards. This unit was created by Intel Education, which works with schools and communities worldwide to help advance education. They offer free professional development, tools, and resources to help K-12 teachers effectively use technology to educate students.
Designing a Rube Goldberg Machine
Subjects: Engineering, Physical sciences
Grade: 9-12
In this lesson, students apply their knowledge of complex and simple machines to designing a Rube Goldberg Machine. Students calculate the mechanical advantage of 3 of the simple machines in their design and also relate Newton's 3 Laws of Motion to their machine. This lesson was produced by ALEX (Alabama Learning Exchange), an award-winning education portal that provides lesson plans, education-related podcasts, best practices, and Alabama professional development activities. The lesson is aligned to Alabama Content Standards.
~Joann's Picks - 8/14/10~
“I already have my book,” I told Mrs. Flanagan on the day the project was assigned.
Mrs. Flanagan was duly impressed by my efficiency, until she found out that my book was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and that my chosen inventor was Willy Wonka.
“He’s not a real person, dear,” she said. “Your report has to be on an actual inventor.”
I don’t remember which inventor I eventually settled on, but I do remember feeling fairly crushed that I couldn’t write a report on Willy Wonka. To me, he represented the gold standard of inventors – eccentric, solitary, creative. Most importantly, he made candy, which pretty much made him the embodiment of awesomeness. And isn’t that ultimately what inventors do – enhance our lives and make them better?
August is National Inventors Month, which was established in 1998 by the United Inventors Association of the USA, the Academy of Applied Science, and Inventors’ Digest magazine. It’s a month-long event that honors the pioneering spirit and creative vision of inventors worldwide – those men and women who have helped to shape the modern world as we currently know it, and in the future to come. Despite setbacks and numerous failures, they have persevered in the face of adversity and defied the odds to create inventions – some heralded, some unnoticed by the general public but used in everyday life – to make our existence just that much better.
My picks this week feature fun hands-on lessons where students get to be inventors and create their own machines. As always, please be sure to check our Facebook and Twitter pages throughout the week, where we will post links to more resources on inventions, inventors, and hands-on activities for a variety of ages.
Design Squad: Invent It, Build It
Subjects: Engineering, Physical sciences
Grade: 4-8
This unit presents five hands-on challenges designed to inspire kids to think like inventors and engineers. Additionally, the activities highlight how invention improves people’s lives. The unit is available in both English and Spanish, and is aligned to national and Massachusetts state standards. If you need to translate these standards to your state standards, no problem – use our ASN standards suggestion tool that appears at the bottom of The Gateway page for each resource. This resource was developed by PBS’s Peabody Award-winning reality competition series Design Squad, where teenage contestants tackle engineering challenges for actual clients.
Go-Go Gadget: Invent a Machine
Subjects: Engineering, Physical sciences
Grade: 3-5
In this unit, students study the concepts of force, motion, and work as they analyze simple machines (and simple machines found in complex machines). There’s also a design challenge where students become inventors, identify work they want to perform, and they invent labor-saving machines to do the jobs. There’s a strong focus on the design steps in the process of invention - the planning, drafting, construction, troubleshooting, and reliability testing. The unit is also aligned to national standards. This unit was created by Intel Education, which works with schools and communities worldwide to help advance education. They offer free professional development, tools, and resources to help K-12 teachers effectively use technology to educate students.
Designing a Rube Goldberg Machine
Subjects: Engineering, Physical sciences
Grade: 9-12
In this lesson, students apply their knowledge of complex and simple machines to designing a Rube Goldberg Machine. Students calculate the mechanical advantage of 3 of the simple machines in their design and also relate Newton's 3 Laws of Motion to their machine. This lesson was produced by ALEX (Alabama Learning Exchange), an award-winning education portal that provides lesson plans, education-related podcasts, best practices, and Alabama professional development activities. The lesson is aligned to Alabama Content Standards.
~Joann's Picks - 8/14/10~
Saturday, February 13, 2010
The Not-So-Geek Squad
With 3 kids of various ages, it’s pretty difficult to find a TV show that’s both age-appropriate and entertaining for them all. Terrific, then, that one day we happened to stumble upon Design Squad, a Peabody Award-winning reality competition series on PBS where teen contestants tackle engineering challenges for an actual client. My kids were all immediately engrossed in the show: the squabbling stopped, quiet ensued, and I avoided a date with some Extra-Strength Tylenol. Bliss! Design Squad’s mission is to attract kids to engineering and inventing, and to this end has created a host of science activities, teacher’s guides, and other resources to help students flex their design process skills while learning science and engineering concepts. Materials are available in both English and Spanish.
Watercraft
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-02-02.1864885492
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences
Age: 9-12
Think you can build an unsinkable boat out of straws and plastic wrap? While you’re at it, make it hold 25 pennies for at least 10 seconds before sinking. That’s right – it’s not as easy as it sounds. This activity has students test various boat designs while learning about buoyancy, weight distribution, and displacement. I like that this activity is completely hands-on, and that kids need to use various problem-solving methods in order to come up with designs that enable them to float their boats effectively.
Kicking Machine
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-02-02.6880661608
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences
Age: 9-12
In this activity, students design and build two machines that can reliably kick balls across the room. What I like about this activity is that kids have to think about different types of energy – potential energy, stored energy, kinetic energy - and what types of design (pendulum or rubber band-launching systems) that will give them the most bang for their buck. Bonus points if they can get the machine to bend it like Beckham. I also love the comprehensiveness of the Design Squad guides and leader notes. For one thing, they anticipate problems that some students may experience due to design mistakes or other matters, and provide solutions to help kids get back on course.
Feel the Heat
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-02-02.6383289638
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences, Space sciences
Age: Grades 9-12
The heat is on! This challenge, part of a Design Squad-NASA on the Moon guide, has students heat things up by building a solar hot water heater. The activity also asks kids to think about how NASA might use solar-powered heating on the moon. What’s cool about this resource is how chock-full of information it is without droning on and on. Aside from the instructions on how to design and build the water heaters, the activity includes safety tips, extension activities, fun little factoids, discussion aids, and a whole lot more.
~Joann's Picks~
Watercraft
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-02-02.1864885492
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences
Age: 9-12
Think you can build an unsinkable boat out of straws and plastic wrap? While you’re at it, make it hold 25 pennies for at least 10 seconds before sinking. That’s right – it’s not as easy as it sounds. This activity has students test various boat designs while learning about buoyancy, weight distribution, and displacement. I like that this activity is completely hands-on, and that kids need to use various problem-solving methods in order to come up with designs that enable them to float their boats effectively.
Kicking Machine
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-02-02.6880661608
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences
Age: 9-12
In this activity, students design and build two machines that can reliably kick balls across the room. What I like about this activity is that kids have to think about different types of energy – potential energy, stored energy, kinetic energy - and what types of design (pendulum or rubber band-launching systems) that will give them the most bang for their buck. Bonus points if they can get the machine to bend it like Beckham. I also love the comprehensiveness of the Design Squad guides and leader notes. For one thing, they anticipate problems that some students may experience due to design mistakes or other matters, and provide solutions to help kids get back on course.
Feel the Heat
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-02-02.6383289638
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences, Space sciences
Age: Grades 9-12
The heat is on! This challenge, part of a Design Squad-NASA on the Moon guide, has students heat things up by building a solar hot water heater. The activity also asks kids to think about how NASA might use solar-powered heating on the moon. What’s cool about this resource is how chock-full of information it is without droning on and on. Aside from the instructions on how to design and build the water heaters, the activity includes safety tips, extension activities, fun little factoids, discussion aids, and a whole lot more.
~Joann's Picks~
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