INVENTION by Diane Findlay CONVENTION Webquest Introduction You, an inventor? Why not? We use inventions every day, from gadgets to games, from organizing systems to orchestra instruments. And we ve probably all solved problems in inventive ways. In this webquest, you ll learn about inventors and inventions of the past. You ll choose a problem that needs solving, tap your inner inventor, and figure out a solution. You might improve on something that already exists or create something original and new. You ll combine small group work with individual challenges. Finally, you ll work with your whole class to appreciate and evaluate each other s work at an Invention Convention. Get your thinking cap out and your creative juices flowing! Task As a class, you ll explore the idea of solving practical problems by inventing gadgets or systems based on scientific knowledge. Your Convention Coordinator (teacher) will assign you to a creative team. Your team will research one of the following categories of inventions by completing an online worksheet: Household Tools and Gadgets Musical Instruments Codes and Languages Toys and Games Grades 4 5 March 2011 Web Resources LibrarySparks
Webquest Next, each of you will choose a problem that is related to your team s category, and develop an invention to solve it. Your team will meet to help each other improve your inventions. Finally, each team will display its work as part of a classroom Invention Convention. As inventors, you will evaluate your peers work and have a say in choosing the best individual inventions and best team effort. Process 1. Watch Be An Inventor video together as a class: http://libraries.risd.org/bowlib/special/ invention.htm. 2. Get your team assignment. 3. Gather your supplies paper and pencil for taking notes and remembering things you need to share with your team and claim a computer workstation near your teammates. 4. Get your mind in an inventive mode by taking the quiz at www.inventivekids.com. Click on the Are You Inventive? box. Write your score on your own note paper, to hand in with your other paperwork at the end of the webquest. 5. Click on your team s invention category on page 3, and complete the research worksheet. Take extra notes to help you remember important details. Not all websites you ll visit are written for kids, so you might need a dictionary. Read the text around the web links so you know exactly what you re looking for on each site. Print your worksheet when you re done. 6. Meet with your teammates. Compare worksheets and share your 4 6 step invention processes with each other. Brainstorm as a group about problems you might solve in your invention category. Each team member will choose 1 2 problems that interest you. Try not to overlap; it s better if each person works on a different problem. 7. As homework, zero in on a problem to solve. Work through your invention process and come up with your invention. It might help to gather some props and materials and let your hands and eyes explore them to suggest ideas. Create a sketch and notes to present to your team. 8. Meet again with your team to share your invention ideas so far. Suggest improvements for each other s ideas. Collect a copy of the Cover Sheet form to display with your model at the Invention Convention. 9. At home, make adjustments and create a model of your invention; complete the Cover Sheet to explain your model. 10. Place your model and Cover Sheet in its assigned display area at your Invention Convention with the other inventions in your category. 11. Explore the work of your fellow inventors. Evaluate each invention by placing a tally mark below a number between 1 and 4 on the Voting form you ll find near it. Your Convention Coordinator will compile the scores and announce the top scores in each category, as well as the team with the highest average scores. LibrarySparks March 2011 Web Resources
Click on your assigned team below to access your research worksheet. March 2011 Web Resources LibrarySparks
You use dozens of inventions at home every day. A ringing alarm clock. Toast in the toaster, shoes with Velcro, the weather forecast on the radio or television. The dryer full of soccer uniforms, games on the computer, snacks from the refrigerator, late night reading thanks to your bedside lamp... You get the idea. Check out these websites to learn more about the inventions that make life at home easier, and prepare to invent your own household gadget. Read ALL of the text below so you know exactly what you re looking for on each site. Take a look at some of the hundreds of household gadgets we use and take for granted every day. First, look at some older inventions that paved the way for more modern versions we use today: www.womansday.com/articles/ Shelter/A-Look-Back-15-Vintage-Household-Ads.html, www.ideafinder.com/history/category/homeitems.htm. Now for some newer gadgets: www.kitchendaily.com/2010/01/13/top-10-gadgets-for-kids. At this next site, quickly look at the list and count about how many of the items you have in your home: http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/ Kids/Inventions/Inventors. Write the estimated number here. Think of a household invention in each of these categories: - Kitchen gadget - Simple tool for fixing things or communicating with family - Bathroom gadget - Clothing innovation Go to www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/1_1_search.asp. Click on By Invention, and search for your kitchen gadget alphabetically, or try www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia.html. At the FactMonster site, enter the kitchen gadget you chose in the Search Terms box and click on the encyclopedia entry. If your item doesn t appear on either site, choose a different invention that does. Note dates (approximate or exact) and places important in the history of its development. Do the same for each of the other categories. On your note paper, combine the information into a timeline showing the development of the four household items you researched. After you print your worksheet, attach your handwritten timeline to it. Read about a household gadget invented by a young person, Alexia Abernathy, at www.nmoe.org/gallery/i96.htm. Click on both the See photo and invention details and the See comic strip of inventor links. In what year did Alexia invent this gadget? What company manufactured her invention? What inspired her to create this product? March 2011 Web Resources LibrarySparks
To warm up your problem-solving muscles, spend some time playing the Tinker Ball game at http://invention. smithsonian.org/centerpieces/iap/playhouse_tinker.html. Did you get the ball into the cup? Draw on your note paper the arrangement of items that works best for you. Attach this to your printed worksheet along with your timeline from the earlier step. For more information about interesting items invented by kids, watch these video clips: http://ellen.warnerbros. com/2008/12/amazing_kid_inventors_part_one.php, http://ellen.warnerbros.com/2009/03/you_must_see_this_ incredible_k.php. Which invention do you like best? Name it and describe what it does. Find a quotation about inventors or inventing that you like at this site: www.kidinventorsday.com/quotes.htm. Copy it below, with the name of the person who said it. Then explain what it means, in your own words. What process do inventors use to solve problems and create new products or systems? How do you get from wanting to invent something to a finished invention? Visit these sites: http://scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/text/kids/research_ Rack/tools/invention_process.html, www.just-think-inc.com/columbus/sz_started.html, http://sparklab.si.edu/ downloads/sparklab-inventors-ntbk.pdf (pp. 21 23 of notebook). Based on what you learn, develop your own 4 6 step process. Write it below. (NOTE: Don t worry about the patenting or marketing parts of the process.) March 2011 Web Resources LibrarySparks
Just about everyone likes music; making music has been part of every culture throughout history. Whether your taste is for rock, country, rap, classical, folk, or ballads, musical instruments are part of the package. Check out these websites to learn about different kinds of instruments, musical inventions of the past, and how you can add your own creation to the musical mix. Read ALL of the text below so you know exactly what you re looking for on each site. Visit www.sfskids.org/templates/instorchframe.asp?pageid=3. Read through the four families of instruments and listen to examples from each. Name each family here, give an example of an instrument in that family, and describe how each family is played. Go to www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia.html. In the Search Terms box, enter the name of an instrument from the brass family and click on the encyclopedia entry at the top of the list of results. Note dates (approximate or exact) and places important to the history of its development. Do the same for an instrument in each of the other three families. On your note paper, combine the information into a timeline showing the development of the four instruments you researched. After you print your worksheet, attach your handwritten timeline to it. Read about an instrument invented by an elementary school student, Thomas, and listen to the sound it makes, at www.musicinventions.org/winn10/index.html. What instrument family does the Zebra Flute belong to? Spend some time in the virtual instrument lab at www.nyphilkids.org/lab/content.html. Move the mouse over different items and click on instruments to read about them and hear their sounds. Some have instructions for making them, which might give you ideas for your own instrument. Click on the boy sitting at the table and experiment with creating an instrument from the objects available. Give your instrument a name and print your work. Attach it to your printed worksheet, along with your timeline. Write here what instrument family it belongs to and describe how you think it might sound. March 2011 Web Resources LibrarySparks
For more ideas of interesting instruments invented by kids, check out this site: www.musicinventions.org/winn10/ index.html. Name your favorite of the instruments you find here, along with the name of the student who invented it and the instrument family it belongs to. Find a quotation about inventors or inventing that you like at this site: www.kidinventorsday.com/quotes.htm. Copy it below, with the name of the person who said it. Then explain what it means, in your own words. What process do inventors use to solve problems and create new products or systems? How do you get from wanting to invent something to a finished invention? Visit these sites: http://scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/text/kids/research_ Rack/tools/invention_process.html, www.just-think-inc.com/columbus/sz_started.html, http://sparklab.si.edu/ downloads/sparklab-inventors-ntbk.pdf (pp. 21 23 of notebook). Based on what you learn, develop your own 4 6 step process. Write it below. (NOTE: Don t worry about the patenting or marketing parts of the process.) March 2011 Web Resources LibrarySparks
Are languages inventions? Most spoken languages developed so slowly and naturally that it s hard to think of them as inventions. But there are many codes and languages that were developed by inventors to meet specific needs. Maybe you like to communicate with friends using American Sign Language or a secret code of some kind. If so, you are using inventions. Think of Morse code, created to send messages over telegraph wires. Think of Semaphore, which uses colored flags to send visual messages between ships at sea. How about Esperanto, a man-made language invented to be a universal language so people could speak to anyone in the world? The Cherokee Indians didn t have their language in written form until Sequoyah invented it. Visit the websites below to learn more about invented codes and languages, and get ready to make one of your own. Read ALL of the text below so you know exactly what you re looking for on each site. Read about codes and ciphers at www.cerias.purdue.edu/education/k-12/teaching_resources/lessons_presentations/ cryptology.html (the first two sections) and www.thunk.com/learn.html. Why do people use codes and ciphers? What does a cryptologist do? Who might use a secret code? Go to www.thunk.com/index.cgi. Write a short message and have the scrambler encode it for you. Print the scrambled message; then write the unscrambled message below it. Attach it to your completed worksheet before you hand it in. Some languages use visual signals based on words or letters to send messages. Visit these sites and answer the questions below: www.anbg.gov.au/flags/semaphore.html, http://inter.scoutnet.org/semaphore, www.battleshipnc. com/kids/games/morse/index.php, http://pbskids.org/arthur/print/signdesign, www.lessontutor.com/eesaslsimple. html Which of these languages can be used with sound signals as well as visual signals? Which uses visual symbols for whole words, as well as spelling letter by letter? Use the translator on either the Semaphore site or the Morse code site to see your name in that language. Print the page. After you print your completed worksheet, attach your translated name to it. March 2011 Web Resources LibrarySparks
What is Esperanto? Who invented it, and why? www.pitara.com/discover/5wh/online.asp?story=89 Learn about a special language invented by a boy named Louis Braille at www.afb.org/braillebug/louis_braille_bio. asp. Look at a portrait of Braille as an adult at www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/braille/lb-portrait.html. What country did Louis live in? How did he become blind? What was the code Louis based his system on called? How old was Louis when he published the first book in Braille? Are there Braille books in your library? If so, get one and touch the code with your fingers. Learn about different kinds of codes and languages at www.scouting.org.za/codes. Click on the codes listed at the left side of the page to see how they work. Write the name of your school below, in one of the codes, and tell which code type it is. If you want to use a code based on symbols you can t type, hand write your school name on your note paper and hand it in with your printed worksheet. Find a quotation about inventors or inventing that you like at this site: www.kidinventorsday.com/quotes.htm. Copy it below, with the name of the person who said it. Then explain what it means, in your own words. March 2011 Web Resources LibrarySparks
What process do inventors use to solve problems and create new products or systems? How do you get from wanting to invent something to a finished invention? Visit these sites: http://scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/text/kids/research_ Rack/tools/invention_process.html, www.just-think-inc.com/columbus/sz_started.html, http://sparklab.si.edu/ downloads/sparklab-inventors-ntbk.pdf (pp. 21 23 of notebook). Based on what you learn, develop your own 4 6 step process. Write it below. (NOTE: Don t worry about the patenting or marketing parts of the process.) March 2011 Web Resources LibrarySparks 10
What s your favorite toy or game? Did you ever stop to wonder how it came to be? Someone invented it! Whether it s a doll or action figure, a board game or video game, building blocks or an outside sport, someone saw a need and figured out just the right combination of materials, design, rules, or whatever else was needed to make you love it. Visit these websites to learn about inventing different kinds of toys and games, and start thinking about what you ll invent to add to the fun. Read ALL of the text below so you know exactly what you re looking for on each site. What kinds of games are there? Get an idea of the possibilities by visit this site: www.chitag.com/dl/yic_10_packet. pdf. Scroll down to page 6 and look at the categories of games in the right-hand column. List four kinds of games you enjoy, from that column. Then visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/category:toys_by_type and do the same for categories of toys. Visit www.ehow.co.uk/list_6302420_ideas-kids_-inventions-patents.html and read the section on Games. Then check out this site: http://blog.scholastic.com/ink_splot_26/2009/11/how-problems-can-lead-to-awesomeinventions.html. From the suggestions there, write down four ideas for games or toys you could invent. Read about a toy invented by a young person, Austin Meggitt, at http://nmoe.org/gallery/i99.htm. Click on both the See photo and invention details and the See comic strip of inventor links. How old was Austin when he invented the Battie Caddy? What TV channels featured his invention? What inspired him to create this product? March 2011 Web Resources LibrarySparks 11
For more ideas of interesting toys and games and how they were invented, visit www.ideafinder.com/history/ category/toys.htm and click on three or four inventions. Choose one, and in the space provide below, briefly write what it is, who invented it, when, and one interesting fact about its history. Find a quotation about inventors or inventing that you like at this site: www.kidinventorsday.com/quotes.htm. Copy it below, with the name of the person who said it. Then explain what it means, in your own words. What process do inventors use to solve problems and create new products or systems? How do you get from wanting to invent something to a finished invention? Visit these sites: http://scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/text/kids/research_ Rack/tools/invention_process.html, www.just-think-inc.com/columbus/sz_started.html, http://sparklab.si.edu/ downloads/sparklab-inventors-ntbk.pdf (pp. 21 23 of notebook). Based on what you learn, develop your own 4 6 step process. Write it below. (NOTE: Don t worry about the patenting or marketing parts of the process.) March 2011 Web Resources LibrarySparks 12
Your grade will be based on your written work (online research worksheet, attachments, and Invention Cover Sheet), teamwork, and your invention. Online research Worksheet and attachments Excellent 4 Worksheet complete and very accurate, all attachments present, shows excellent effort and interest Good 3 Worksheet complete and accurate, all attachments present, shows good effort and interest Acceptable 2 Worksheet complete and mostly accurate, most attachments present, shows some effort and interest Incomplete 1 Worksheet incomplete or inaccurate, attachments missing, shows little effort or interest Teamwork Frequently shares useful ideas in a very encouraging manner, listens courteously Sometimes shares useful ideas in an encouraging manner, listens courteously Occasionally shares ideas in a fairly positive manner, listens fairly courteously Rarely shares useful ideas, shows little positive attitude or courtesy Invention Invention fulfills purpose very effectively and creatively Invention fulfills purpose effectively and creatively Invention fulfills purpose somewhat effectively, shows some original thinking Invention does not fulfill purpose, shows little original thinking Invention Covert Sheet Cover Sheet complete, very clearly explains invention, shows excellent effort and interest Cover Sheet complete, clearly explains invention, shows good effort and interest Cover Sheet mostly complete, explains invention farily clearly, shows some effort and interest Cover Sheet incomplete, does not explain invention clearly, shows little effort or interest Invention Classmate evaluation Average classmate scores 3.5 or above Average classmate scores 2.5 3.5 Average classmate scores 1.5 2.5 Average classmate scores below 1.5 16 LibrarySparks March 2011 Web Resources