Groups will focus on innovations in the following fields: communication, transportation, medicine, sports, and games. They'll choose important inventions in that field and look at how these inventions have changed the way we live. They'll consider how our world may change in this new century and what changes may require new inventions. Finally, they'll imagine new inventions for the future. Divide the class into four groups and assign each group one topic: communication, transportation, medicine, sports, and games. Tell students they will be looking at important inventions in each area, then imagining inventions for this new century.
Each group should use the related Web sites below to complete their assignment. First, they should review the inventions featured in the Web sites. Then have them choose five important or interesting inventions in that area. For each invention, the group should write the answers to the following questions.
• In what ways do you think our world will change in this new century?
• How does it change the way we live? (How does it help people make their lives better, easier, healthier, or more enjoyable?)
Then ask groups to break into pairs and talk about what kinds of inventions will be needed in the future. Have them consider the following questions
• What does this invention do?
• What new things will people need to be able to do?
Have each pair imagine a completely new invention that would help meet the needs of the 21st century. They should give this invention a name, describe what it does, and how it will improve people's lives. Have students create a poster with these facts and an illustration of their invention. Partners should present their posters to the class.
What is an Invention?
Students will talk about what inventions are (how they're different from discoveries) and learn to recognize some of the many inventions all around them. Then they'll look at a few famous inventors and their inventions, and talk about how each innovation changed the way people lived.
Write the following words on the board: telephone, fire, toothpaste, aspirin, electricity, wheel, gold. Ask your class to choose which of these are inventions. (answer: telephone, toothpaste, aspirin, wheel) Ask them why the other things on the list are not inventions. (They're found in nature; people didn't create them.) Which of these items might be considered discoveries? (fire, electricity, gold) Why? (They had already existed in nature when someone discovered them for the first time.)
On the board, write: "An invention is ..." and ask the class to brainstorm answers. For example, an invention is: something new, something created by a person, something that people use. When this list is complete, ask them to develop a definition of invention. (The Discovery School site below gives the following definition: "Invention is the creation of a new device, process, or product." The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines invention as: "an original device or process.")
Ask students to name inventions they can see in the classroom. For each invention, ask them to describe what the invention is used for. As they brainstorm, keep a list on the board. If they point out things that are not inventions, ask them to return to the definition.
Write the following names on the board: Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Alva Edison, Henry Ford, Orville and Wilbur Wright. Tell students that these are some of the most famous inventors. Ask students if they know what each of them invented and write the invention next to the name.
• Alexander Graham Bell: Telephone
• Henry Ford: Assembly line and the Model T (the first popular car to be sold to many people)
• Wright brothers: Airplane
• Thomas Alva Edison: Light bulb and phonograph (the first machine to record and play back sounds), and many others
• Eli Whitney: Cotton gin
Divide students into five groups, each assigned to one of the inventors above. Ask them to answer the following questions. They may use the Web sites below to help them research.
• How does this invention help people?
• How do you think this invention changed the way people live?
• What kinds of things did this person need to know in order to create his invention?
• Would you consider this a successful invention? Why or why not?
Bring the class together and have each group read their answers. What makes all these inventions important?
Inventions All Around Us! Students will keep a journal listing all the household inventions they observe. Class groups will be assigned to different rooms of the house, researching the everyday inventions that are found there. Then the class will create a "mural" of a house, filling each room with facts and pictures about common inventions.
As a homework assignment, ask students to keep a journal listing all the inventions they come across in their own homes. They should list each invention by room, from the toothpaste in their bathroom to the television set in their living room, and briefly describe the purpose of each one.
The next day, compile a class list of everyday household inventions, putting each invention named under the appropriate room: living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and garage. Divide the class into small groups and assign each group to a different room.
Each group will research as many inventions as they can find within their assigned room. For each invention, they should create an "invention card" with a picture of the invention and the following facts.
• Name of invention
• Name of inventor
• Year it was invented
• How does it help people?
Fill in the mural (or cross section or floor plan) by having each group work on their assigned room with their invention cards.
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