Inventors and Inventions: Creative Cross-Curricular Activities, Fascinating Background Information, Problem-Solving Investigations for All Students - Softcover

Egan, Lorraine Hopping

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0590103881 ISBN 13: 9780590103886

Publisher: Scholastic Teaching Resources, 1997

About this title

From the Author

A book that every gr 3-8 teacher can use
Hi, "Inventions" is one of those topics that touches every part of our lives--and every part of the elementary and middle school curriculum. The book begins with activities and reproducibles that answer the question "What's an Invention?" Chapter 2 includes games, quizzes, graphs, timelines and other projects about the history and future of inventions. Chapter 3, the longest and most creative section, taps into childrens' natural inventiveness and curiosity to help them think like an inventor, work through the process of inventing step-by-step, and even figure the math behind marketing and manufacturing an invention. The full-color poster doubles as an inventions time line and a board game that challenges students to think about why certain inventions (e.g., wheeled cart) came before other inventions (e.g., bicycles). Here are a few of my favorite activities in the book: > compare nature's "inventions" with similar inventions by humans--glowing cat eyes and road reflectors; spider silk and bulletproof vest fabric; dolphins' cigar-shaped bodies and submarines. > Bicycle Built for Technology--how inventors improve on a basic design using a century's worth of bicycles for examples > Interview senior citizens about life before modern inventions such as computers and television > A graph showing how transportation inventions have made the world a much smaller place by allowing us to cross long distances in dramatically less time > True or Fraud? 19th century hucksters (groups of students) try to convince a town to buy into dubious inventions, including rain makers and perpetual motion machines; the "townspeople" (the rest of the class) conduct science experiments to prove or disprove the validity of the inventions. > Science Challenge: Starting with a basic model, invent a paper bag to hold as much weight as possible. > Invent a cereal, being careful to control cost, sogginess, food appearance, etc. > Calculate the cost to manufacture a board game invention. The last of these comes from my experience as an educational game inventor. After inventing more than a dozen board and card games, I have discovered that the process taps into every part of the brain from purely creative to mathematical. Studying inventions and inventing products is an excellent way to help students do the same.

Edition details

• Publisher: Scholastic Teaching Resources
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0590103881
• ISBN 13: 9780590103886
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96