Inventions
	Snapshot "And today's designers are... Marty Washington and Mark Eddy from Stratford Middle School, Peter Phaneuf and Bonnie Swart from Worcester Junior High, and Max Sylvestri and Marcia Greenhouse from St. Marks' School. Prepare to show your inventions!" In all three schools, a cheer goes up as the inventors bring their creations up to the cameras. In a moment, they will see live demonstrations of a new mousetrap, a vehicle constructed with plastic milk cartons, and a night light that turns itself off when the room gets light. All were created in the Industrial Technology unit, Inventions. The students were eager to see the inventions and to hear what each designer had to say. As the first inventions were shown, some students were already typing in questions for the designers. UNIT OF PRACTICE Invitation How do middle school students come to understand the creative process involved in inventions? How can we help students gain a knowledge of the role inventors have played in history? How do we use technology to enhance this unit for making personal connections with others via the Internet, collecting information, and solving problems? Situation This unit takes place in a middle school industrial technology class, although it could easily be adapted for other grades. It can also be adapted for science classes, and provides a cross-curricular opportunity for social studies teachers to teach about the role of science, technology, or inventions in history. Most of the activity takes place in the classroom with many of the resources found on the Internet. Tasks Students build up to their project by studying inventors and inventions throughout history. They learn about an inventor and write a short paper about his or her life and contributions. Using the computer, they explore the Scholastic Network, the Ancient Civilizations Web Pack, Encarta Deluxe and The Electric Library. Students create their own inventions to solve day-to-day problems they encounter and develop an illustrated advertising flyer (a tri-fold, using ClickBook) for their invention. These are displayed in the classroom. Interactions This unit lends itself to a variety of interactions. Individual students study inventors and write their papers, individuals or small groups create their own inventions and pairs of students collaborate on inventions. When the inventions are shared in the videoconference, the whole class feeds questions and comments to the students sitting at the keyboard. The teacher's role is guide throughout the unit, the coach who demonstrates new skills as needed and the organizer of the Internet contacts with the other classes. Standards This unit responds to standards set by the National Science Teachers Association, and the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics, as well as other standard-setting groups depending on which areas students choose for their inventions. Science standards call for students to have experiences working like real scientists: developing a hypothetical question, testing hteir hypothesis, publishing their results, and defending their research in front of their peers. Math standards suggest that students be able to relate physical materials, pictures, and diagrams to mathematical ideas; reflect on and clarify their thinking about mathematical ideas and situations; formulate problems from everyday and mathematical situations; develop and apply strategies to solve a wide variety of problems; justify their answers and solution processes; and understand the attributes of length, capacity, weight, mass, area, volume, time, temperature, and angle. Assessment Students are assessed on the quality of their research paper, the invention they create and the degree to which they can explain and defend their work in front of their peers. Tools This unit uses the following tools: ¥ Computers, printers, modems, Internet connection ¥ Internet, the City; ClearPhone; HotLine; Encarta; Scholastic Network; Electric Library Classroom Edition; Ancient Civilizations Web Pack; and Encarta Deluxe Getting Started Planning a parallel problem solving activity and a videoconference with other teachers calls for a lot of planning. If you want to plan a successful project, you'll want to: ¥ Introducing the Internet: Provide opportunities for students to learn about the Internet using the program, Internet, the City. Students should be familiar with the modules on the World Wide Web and search techniques. They can explore Internet, the City independently and as often as needed. It could be set up on a classroom computer, in the computer lab, and/or in the library. ¥ Student Research: In addition to using Encarta Deluxe and the Ancient Civilizations WebPack, students can use the two subscription services, Electronic Library Classroom Edition and Scholastic Network, for information on inventors past and present. The "How To..." section of this guide provides more tips on using the software in this kit to help make searching the Internet safe and efficient. ¥ Finding a Partner Class: Refer to the "How To..." section of this guide for pointers on how to find another classroom for a collaborative project, and how to use the several software titles in this bundle to facilitate a collaborative project. ¥ Publishing: Spend time before the project practicing with HotLine and ClearPhone with your partner teacher. HotLine's News section can be used to post messages back and forth about meeting times, student progress, and the exchange of student reports and plans prior to the videoconferencing date. The success of your online conference depends on careful preparation of the students and the equipment. The "How To..."section of this guide gives specific suggestions for successful videoconferencing and collaboration strategies.