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CANTILEVER BUILD

Popsicle Sticks

Hex Nuts

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Our First Invention: The Cantilever Build

Your challenge is to invent a cantilevered structure that can be quickly assembled and used in emergency rescue situations. Cantilevers are structures that are anchored on one end and extend outward, just like a diving board. Your prototype will be built out of Popsicle sticks and hex nuts.

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DISTANCE CHALLENGE

A cantilever that supports a hex nut the furthest distance from the tape.

WEIGHT CHALLENGE

A cantilever that supports the maximum number of hex nuts beyond the tape.

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Invention Education

Preparing Students for a Future Yet To Be Invented

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Disclaimer

References to particular products, patents, trademarks, service marks, services, companies and/or organizations in this presentation are for illustrative and educational purposes only and do not constitute or imply endorsement by the U.S. Government, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or any other federal agency.

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Session Overview

Time	Topic
1:30 - 1:40	Engage in Invention Activity: Build a Cantilever
1:40 - 1:50	Invention Education: What is it and why it is important
1:50 - 2:40	Engage in Invention Activity: Invention Challenge
2:40 - 3:00	Putting Inventing into Our Instructional Practice

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Agreements

CENTER for EQUITY and INCLUSION

Adapted from Pacific Education Group, Courageous Conversations

Listen to understand

Be willing to do things differently and experience discomfort

Expect and accept non-closure

Confidentiality - agree to not share other’s stories

Speak your truth responsibly

Stay engaged

Center experiences of our Black and Native students

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Our First Invention: The Cantilever Build

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Did you practice any of an inventor’s traits during the construction of your cantilever prototype?

Empathy

Creativity

Curiosity

Resourcefulness

Calculated Risk-Taking

Resilience

Tolerance for Ambiguity and Complexity

Passion

At their core, inventors display many of the following traits and dispositions, which we believe have benefit to all individuals in our society and are highly sought-for traits, including:

● Empathy (listens to viewpoints other than their own, understands variety of perspectives, the ability to understand the challenges or needs of others)

● Creativity (ability to pair things in an unanticipated way to reveal untapped potential)

● Curiosity (alertness to practical problems and opportunities; intentional focus on both large overarching system and on small micro-components)

● Resilience (embraces failure as a learning experience, ability to work towards delayed gratification, critical stance toward their own work)

● Calculated Risk-Taking (conservation of energy where possible in order to minimize necessary exposures)

● Passion (optimistic commitment to vision coupled with flexibility to contemplate novel ways to achieve desired end result)

● Resourcefulness (seeks solutions with available resources, seeks ways to increase available resources)

● Tolerance for Ambiguity and Complexity (comfort working on the margins of established knowledge, willingness to become immersed in multi-layered problem set)

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We know that invention improves lives. It provides new solutions to health, transportation, technology, the environment and more.

Invention is also the source of new jobs, new industries, and expanded economic opportunity.

We also know, our kids face a future of rapid change and the most urgent and complex challenges in history.

It’s become clear, we need invention, and we need it more than ever.

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Speakers Notes:

To appreciate the promise of Invention Education, it’s helpful to take a moment to consider the powerful role invention plays in our lives
Invention has been key to addressing our most important challenges.
It is the engine that moves our society forward. It’s brought us breakthroughs in health, advancements in technology, new ways to protect and preserve our world
Invention also results in the creation of new invention-based businesses, spurring job growth and expanding the economy
But while the power of invention is clear, the future that our kids will face is less so
We cannot predict what problems they will need to solve or the technologies they will rely on
But by embracing the power of invention we can help prepare our kids and our society to meet those unforeseen challenges of tomorrow

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So how do we prepare students today for an unpredictable future?

We empower them to invent it with invention education

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What We Need to Solve For

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A Future of Complex Problems – Climate Change, Global Health, Sustainable Business, Inequality, etc. (Source: UN)

Talent Shortages - In information technology, engineering, technicians, and others required for 21st Century jobs (Source: ManpowerGroup)

Rapidly Changing Technologies – New technologies are changing the future workplace at an unprecedented rate (Source: Deloitte)

Lack of Diversity - Patent holders and leading technology innovators are 90% male and nearly 95% Asian or White (Source: Nager et al., 2016)

Building a more technologically literate, home-grown resource is vitally to the U.S. economy.

According to the National Association of Manufacturing and Deloitte, that by the year 2025 there will be 3.5 million STEM jobs and many as 2 million of these jobs could go unfilled.

In the Washington DC region alone, there are currently more than 17,000 unfilled digital tech jobs and of the current work force only 17% are African American and only 5% are Hispanic.

It is more important than ever that educational offerings are intentionally designed to address equality and engage diverse populations that have traditionally been overlooked or left behind.

The first time I had heard the term “The Lost Einsteins” was when I listened to Dr. Kamau Bobb, Georgia Institute of Technology, talk about how access to STEM education is power. In a study done by a team from Harvard, MIT, the U.S. Treasury, and the London School of Economics, they refer to the “Lost Einsteins” as those children that, thanks to inequality, have missed out on the chance to become innovators and inventors.

The research shows that innovation in the U.S. could quadruple if women, minorities, and children from low-income families became inventors at the same rate as men from high-income families.

Currently, children whose parents were in the top 1 percent of earners were 10 times more likely to inventors than those whose parents were in the bottom 50 percent. It is vitally important to expose all children to STEM leaders that look like them at a young age, understanding that “they can’t be what they don’t see” lack of role models makes it difficult to recruit students into STEM fields.

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What is Needed

A Diverse Pipeline of Future Inventors and Problem-solvers

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New Ideas and Solutions

Agile Thinkers

Technical Talent

Inclusive Problem Solving

Empathetic Leaders

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The Solution: Invention Education

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Invention Education prepares students to identify problems in the world and solve them
It inspires teamwork; develops empathetic leaders
It leads to the creation of new products, new services, new approaches – new industries and expanded economies

By teaching today’s youth how to be inventive thinkers, we can prepare them to succeed in an ever changing world

We can create a better future for us all

One of the challenges with developing our young inventors is helping them identify problems. Those problems range from “what makes it hard to get out the door in the morning” to “world peace”.

Sometimes the problems that need solving need to be found by collaboration, sometimes the problems find us. (Covid-19)

The inventive mindset can happen at any level. It doesn’t have to include an “invention”.

When a second grader identifies a problem like “a bar of soap is slippery and hard to hold on to” and a team of second graders decide the best solution is put a handle on the bar of soap, they are being inventive! It is not important that someone already holds a patent for the idea, to them it is both new and novel.

(Students have a fund of knowledge. Get impedances out of their way. Prior knowledge needs to be brought out.)

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How It Works

Key Elements Include:

Integrate the Process of Invention: Educators integrate the process of invention into their current approaches and curriculum
Give Students Agency in Problem Identification: Students lead in the critical choice of which problems demand attention
Enhance Learning in Existing Disciplines: Students draw upon their knowledge in existing disciplines and approaches (including STEM, computer science, entrepreneurship, project-based-learning and more) to develop solutions to the problems they’ve chosen
Provide Real-World Application: The real-world application activates deeper engagement and learning
Emphasize Diverse Inputs: Throughout the process, diverse student and community inputs are emphasized, so students gain deep, first-hand knowledge of the value of inclusivity

A flexible approach that can be integrated into current efforts in a variety of ways across a wide range of formal and informal educational settings

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Intellectual

Property

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Intellectual property

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Patent

Trademark

Copyright

Trade Secret

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Is Intellectual Property for Kids?

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Young Inventors

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INVENTION CHALLENGE!

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Invention Challenge Steps

Brainstorm: Discuss ideas with your team
Invent: Decide what to create
Design: Sketch invention and design logo
Search: Patent and Trademark databases
Build: Make a prototype of your invention
Pitch: Present your idea to investors

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1. Choose a Problem to Solve with an Invention:

Weather Winners! Survive the elements
Keeping Kids Safe! Safety first
Sportsmania! New equipment or functional clothing
Save the Oceans! Oil spills, plastics, waste and more
Suited up for Space! Is the force with you?
Helping Others! How can you help community members in need?

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1. Brainstorm Solution for the Chosen Problem

Take turns and share as many ideas as possible
Encourage unusual ideas
Do not judge other people’s ideas
Think of new ideas based on other ideas
Keep all ideas at first
Record ideas exactly as stated

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2. Design Your Invention

What is your invention?
What is the purpose of the invention?
How does it work?
How does it solve a problem or address a need?
Who is your target audience?
Describe and sketch the invention
What are the main parts of the invention?

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Patents

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3b. Trademark design

Create a unique trademark (logo)
Do you have a slogan? Jingle?

What is a trademark?

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Trademarks

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3b. Trademark design

Create a unique trademark (logo)
Do you have a slogan? Jingle?

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4. Search

Search the patent database
Search the trademark database
Search Google Patents and other databases

Make sure that you emphasize that searching to see if your invention ideas exist already. Taking the time to due a search before you start developing your invention will save time and money in the long run.

1.Begin by making a list of the key words/features that make your invention unique or different.

2.Write a second list of the basic functions of your invention. Things that it does that have been invented already but are important to the functionality of your invention.

3.Do a basic IMAGE SEARCH in a search browser using the key words you identified in steps 1 & 2. Save the images and website information for the inventions you find that are similar to your invention.

4.Update your list of key words based on the image search from step 3.

5.Lastly, go to GOOGLE PATENTS and do a key word search, read through and identify patents that are similar to your invention.

6.Update your invention to make it different and an improvement on the inventions you found that already exist.

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5. Build

What materials do you need to make the invention?
Can you use clay, paper, cardboard, 3D Printer, etc.?
What equipment do you need?

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6. Pitch

What is your invention?
Why is special, important, or unique?
Who should buy your product?
How much does it cost?
What IP protection does it need?
Do you have a catchy logo, slogan, or jingle?

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Invention Challenge�Goal: Invent a product or service

Key Deliverables:

Sketch your invention
Create a logo, slogan, and/or jingle for your invention
Identify which forms of IP protection are appropriate for your invention
Search patent, trademark, and other databases to confirm novelty and avoid the likelihood of confusion
Pitch! Everyone must be fully ENGAGED in the process

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NEW

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Putting Invention Education into Practice

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Connecting to our Professional Learning Work

Reflect on your own

After our engaging in our learning today in our session,

What is learning that affirmed your current understanding or work with integrating invention education into your teaching practice?

What is something new you learned in relation to your current understanding or work with integrating invention education into your teaching practice?

What is learning that may be challenging your current understanding or work with integrating invention education into your teaching practice?

Hands Up, Stand Up, Pair Up

When ready to share with a partner, raise your hand
When you make eye contact with another person at a different table with their hand up, stand up, if able
Pair Up with the person somewhere in the room and begin sharing your thoughts.

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Putting it Into Practice

Consider the Traits of an Inventor. Which of the traits do you think is a trait most critical for your students to continue to develop next week during instruction?

Traits of an Inventor

Empathy Creativity Curiosity
Resilence Calculated Risk-Taking Passion
Resourcefulness Tolerance for Ambguity & Complexity

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Time to Explore, Connect, & Reflect

Consider the activities we engaged in today as learners, what are...

Explore some additional materials available from our teams and our community to find something to try on Monday- https://bit.ly/inventthefutureinyourclassroom

Connect with someone nearby and discuss something that squares with your beliefs or practices about how students develop inventor traits or your thoughts about what you think will be your next steps on Monday.

Reflect on what is a question still circling in your mind and find an invention educator to discuss

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Use the QR code to access a website that has a variety of resources created and curated by invention education educators.

These activities were cool, but I want to check out some additional ideas to use with my students

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Embraced by a Growing InventEd Network

A diverse group of leaders from education, government, policy and more

Including Lemelson-MIT Program, the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, The Henry Ford STEMIE Coalition, the Society for Science & The Public, Maker Ed, and many others

Committed to increasing access to quality Invention Education to more students across the country

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Join Us.

Together we can bring the promise of Invention Education to all students

www.inventioneducation.org

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