Description
Goals
Students will meet these goals in their explorations:
Develop the essential skills of logical thinking, creative problem solving, intellectual risk taking, and communication
Make connections across disciplines
Identify a need
Create an original idea or object that satisfies a need or addresses a problem
Investigate whether or not the innovation already exists
Test the innovation, make modifications, and draw conclusions
Keep records and document progress
Relate scientific methods to real life, including ethics
Identify criteria for an innovation and tell how the innovation meets them
Generalize about innovators and the creative process
In small groups or individually, students will develop an understanding and appreciation of the contribution of innovations by researching an innovator (see Attachment #3—Innovators, for some ideas) and one of his/her innovations. Ask the following questions.
Why was there a need for the innovation? What problems did it solve? Did it create any new problems?
Did the innovator hold any patents or copyrights on the innovation?
How did the innovator communicate his/her ideas to others?
What had happened in the past that enabled the innovator to come up with new ideas/designs/objects? What happened afterwards as a result of the innovator’s work?
What else was going on in the world at the time of the innovation?
If the innovation still exists, how has the invention changed over time?
Record the major world happenings and events of the innovator’s life; Attachment #4— Innovator’s Timeline.
Combine all of the individual timelines into one class timeline. In categories such as agriculture, education, communication, technology, or transportation, note ways that significant innovations changed knowledge in a related field of study. Which innovations were not accepted at the time of their creation? Why were they not accepted? When did society accept the innovations?
