California Invention Convention
A “How To” For Being a Judge
CA Invention Convention
Thanks you for being a judge
The Educational value of inventing is NOT the product, but the process!
Inventing is a realistic practice for success in the real-world
Why Use Inventing?
A Working or Non-Working Invention/Prototype (age appropriate “working” with age appropriate materials - if non-working, student must be able to describe how it would work)
Display Board (showing the invention process and the invention in use)
Invention Log (What was done and how it was done)
Judging Circle (Interview and discussion of the invention and the inventing process)
The End Result
Judging Circles
.They are actually a conversation between the inventor and people interested in what they have done.
How do I use the Judging time?
Start with introductions
(Tell them who you are)
Congratulations to all inventors!
(Some may be very nervous)
In what order should
you talk to the inventors?
Options:
What is an Invention?
It could be a brand new device or
an improvement on a current device or
a new way to do the same thing.
The first pencil is an invention
Adding an eraser is an invention
Doing the same thing in a different way is an invention
Is anything new, an invention?
The goal of the CAIC program is to enhance the student’s Problem-Solving Skills.
–Drawing a picture
–Writing a story
are creative things to do, but they do not solve a problem with a
physical solution and
thus are not CAIC program inventions
Criteria for Scoring Apps
How much can the invention cost?
–An invention that is used on a car,
does NOT include the cost of the car.
–The invention should be “material neutral”
•Cardboard is as good as machined titanium
–Build, rather than buy
•The student’s input is more important
than the money input
Did the Student Build It?
–But “doing” is not “helping”
–Design
–Materials
–Process
A part probably not designed and made by a 3rd grader
Process: Design & Engineering
Which is more important
the Display or the Invention?
Invention Log A Diary, NOT a Report
–Complete with complete sentences,
not single words or phrases
–When done with any page, student signs and dates
Invention Log
The process, NOT the Answer
Judging Criteria
Judging Rubric
This is to help guide you as you listen to students.
Identifying and Understanding
–It does NOT matter what YOU know
Engineering Cycle
Invention Effectiveness
And Also…..
–Works better?
–Cleaner?
–Faster??
–Safer?
–Less expensive?
Tell me about your invention!
Did you have any problems?
Make any changes?
What tools did you use
to build this?
What did you learn
from building this invention?
If you can’t think of any questions, we’ve included some on your clipboard…...
Probing Questions
1. What is the problem and how does your invention solve this problem? (Identifying and Understanding / Invention Effectiveness)
2. How did you come up with this problem? (Identifying and Understanding)
3. What steps did you take to get this solution? How did you come up with this solution? [Looking for logical progression] (Engineering Cycle)
4. What types of research did you do to determine if your invention is original? (Identifying and Understanding)
5. If there was something already existing that was similar to your solution, what did you do to make yours different/ better? [Looking for uniqueness or creatively making something unique] (Identifying and Undertanding/ Invention Effectiveness)
6. Tell us more about the design of your solution. Did your first idea work? If not, what did you do to change it? (Engineering Cycle)
7. How did you want the invention to work? And why did you choose the materials you did for building the invention?. (Engineering Cycle / Invention Effectiveness)
8. Can you take us through your process of designing, building and testing your solution? Other questions in this category include, what materials did you choose, why did you choose them, did you have any problems, how did you solve them? How did the testing go? Did you want to give up along the way? (Engineering Cycle)
9. Can you show us how the solution works? If it is a prototype, describe how it works. [Looking for how well the invention solves the problem] (Invention Effectiveness / Communication)
10. Who can use this solution? [Looking for understanding of benefits of solution] (Invention Effectiveness)
11. How practical is the invention [not a question for the child – look at materials used, ability for anyone to actually use the solution] (Invention Effectiveness)
12. If you had to do it over, would you have done anything differently? [This shows understanding of the entire process]
13. What did you learn from this invention process? [Understanding the process]
What would you do if you had more time? Anything else you would like to tell us?
What if the invention involves some technology that you don’t know anything about?
What if the invention breaks?
If invention breaks during demonstration…
assume the invention worked at an earlier time!
Source:
Be careful what you say!
You can offer encouragement, but do not make even vague promises….
Avoid comments like these:
If you have time to spare,
you can just talk.
If there are two students in a team, make sure you encourage them to equally participate…...
Have FUN
as YOU help them
invent THEIR Futures
And Speaking of Their Futures:
We will be sending 20 inventions and chaperones to Dearborn MI to compete at the National Invention Convention. The cost per student and chaperone is $2500. We are sending 20 students which will cost between $50,000 and $70,000. If you are a member of a company or organization, or if you are in a position to help, please speak with me so we can discuss how we might partner and work together to help ALL our winners get to Dearborn!
Don’t Worry, Keep Judging!
THANK YOU!