LET'S BE AN INVENTOR

A WebQuest for everyone



Designed by

Bo Ping

shakiwan@yahoo.com

 

 

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Teacher Page


Introduction (words from United States Patent and trademark Office)

Would you like to be an inventor? Many inventors find things that happen in their daily life that cause them to think of some problem in a new way. The inventor of VELCRO ® thought of his invention while removing burrs from his pet's fur after walking in the woods. Eli Whitney watched a cat pull feathers through a cage -- it was how he thought of the invention now known as the cotton gin. Watch your pet play with a toy. How does your pet move the toy? What happens to the toy? Would the toy be better if it was softer? harder? stretchier? What else could you do with the toy?




Other inventions come about when their inventors try to think of uses for things - vulcanized (heated) rubber for tires came about that way. Have you heard of "yellow stickies" (PostIt ® )? They were the result of a "failed" adhesive experiment which was too weak to market, until the chemist figured out that a weak adhesive had good uses too. Try recycling something. "Invent" another use for a plastic bottle, bottle caps, and rubber bands - can you make a musical instrument?


Many times you can come up with a solution for a problem (or find a problem that fits your solution!) by either "turning a problem around" or selecting two or more things at random and using them to "seed" new ideas. What does "turning a problem around" mean? It means looking at it from a different angle or thinking about it in a new way. Here are two examples of this:
 Example 1 - instead of thinking of shoes as protecting your feet from the ground, think of using something to protect the ground from your feet.

Example 2 - instead of thinking about how you can carry kumquats home from a store, think of how they can come to you - by delivery or growing your own - or do you need kumquats at all?
Carefully define a problem. Focus on what you are trying to do in the first place - instead of simply how to do things. If you focus on methods, "i.e. "I need a way to use a computer to count apples", you may not identify a more basic problem - "I need to have about 1000 apples to sell every week" and miss a better solution. Of course many patents issue on novel uses of things so don't just throw away an idea because it doesn't fit the rules - just how could you use a computer to count apples?

Try changing the question - start it with a different word - who, what, where, when, why, how, etc. Change your perspective on a problem - looking for something is not at all the same as finding it, and putting something away is very different from getting rid of it. How can you keep your socks from getting lost in the wash? What happens to socks when you wash them? Where do socks get lost? When do socks stay together?

Think about something in an unexpected way. Describe doing something in words for something entirely different - search and rescue your toys; turn your closet into a menu of clothes; or feed a thought.
 


 Task  1

You and your partners will research one of the inventions listed below and produce a colorful brochure featuring that invention.

Please take the time to look over these finished products, as you will be voting on which one of these inventions you feel would be given the title the Invention of all time. 

List:

1. zipper       2. safety pin        3. pen        4. (scotch) tape

                                   

   
useful links: 

                     inventions and inventors

                                                             

 Task 2

You and your partners will  choose from a list of ideas and decide a feasible invention plan to make this idea work.  

  Cool Hat    
         
           I think they should make a hat with liquid in it that you can freeze, and then in summer when its really really hot you can have a nice cold head. There could also be other items of clothing with this idea............

  Pencil-pen

         I WISH that someone would invent a pen and pencil that would be put together and instead of two it would be one. Last a long time, what a  great deal!

  Hotel soap

          What happens to the millions of little hotel soaps that are only used once or twice? They are thrown away. Why isn't there a central collection agency that gathers all of the soaps, recycles them into new soaps or distributes them to people in need? The hotels could donate the soaps to the agency, and therefore get a charitable tax break. If the hotel wanted to buy back new (recycled) soaps imprinted with a logo or something fancy, they could pay extra (also to charity).


  New ice cream cone

            Redesign ice cream cones to have a channel leading to a reservoir at the base which would collect any drips.


 Glowing stationary

           You know little kids love to write in the dark, read in the dark, mostly do stuff in the dark. Well my idea is to my books, pens, pencils, paper and other stuff for little kids to do to be made able to see in the dark. I know I love to have glow in the dark stickers, and little stars that hang on my ceiling. I know I would love to have pens with glow in the dark ink, same with pencils, paper, and books. I would buy tons of them. I think that making them and selling them to schools would be a great idea to earn money for fund raisers and even just at a student store. 

      


The Process   (steps described by experts)



   So, you want to be an inventor? Well, hold onto your propeller-topped beanies, because away we go!

 DREAM IT    Got an idea? The first step is dreaming up some wacky ideas about your invention. If you already know what you want to invent, then begin working on your invention description:  What will your invention do?  Who will use your invention? How is it better than other inventions?

 DESIGN IT   Decide what you will use to build it. How big would it be? What materials would you use to make it? Wood, metal, wheels?

  BUILD IT   Inventors build things. Before they make products people might buy, they make mock-ups to see how the parts will work together and to figure out what they need to change. Let's build a mock-up. Inventors make their first mock-up quickly. It doesn't need to look great. They improve the design in later mock- ups. Measure twice, cut once. Confirm your measurements before cutting material. The more expensive the material is, the more important this advice is. For your first mock-up, use tape and a glue gun to hold parts together. You'll probably want to move them around so masking tape is especially helpful.

 TEST IT   Make sure your idea performs up to your expectation.
Results of your test will help you brag about your invention ("My rocking chair canoe paddle pushes my canoe 6 miles an hour. I know because I timed it.") or will suggest that it needs more work. Needing more work is okay - inventors are always making their inventions better.

 MANAGE IT   Sell, market and produce your idea. You can enter it into an invention contest, show it to local inventors club or consider starting your own business.

      Wow! Of the millions and millions of people who have great ideas, only a few get this far. Congratulations.






 


Evaluation

     Each inventor group will present their invention plan or actual products and will be evaluated according to the following standards.  The winner will be picked by voters.
     

needs improvement

1

satisfactory

2

good

       3               

excellent

4

Score

 

 Present research results for task I
(description of an invention)
research group is not able to give the basic facts of the invention.
research group is able to give basic facts about inventor and invention.
research  group is able to present  detailed  facts  about  the invention.
research  group is  not  only able to give  detailed  facts  but   also the  new  development  and future  usage


 

Invention of choice

(task II)

 

 
group has an rudimentary invention plan.
group  has  a detailed plan but  it is hard to implement.
group has a good  plan and  has a  product from it  (may be
ugly).
group has a good product from invention plan and it is economical and feasible.

 



cooperation
of the group
group does not work together and does not have an organized plan.

 group members work together sometimes
 inventors divide jobs among the  members and all contribute ideas.

 group members work together according to each other's strength




Conclusion  (words from Ronald Riley, a successful inventor)     

      Almost everyone invents, but they do not recognize that their idea is an invention. All children invent, children are often more inventive than adults, and a few even get patents.

     Most people's thinking becomes rigid as they grow up. The key to inventing is not becoming rigid in your thinking. As people gain more experience they tend to rule out creative ideas. An inventor strikes a balance between between being practical and being creative.
 
An invention is a new way of solving a problem. Most inventions are made possible by those inventors who have proceeded us.

     You may be able to invent without understanding reading, writing, arithmetic, history and science. But you are NOT likely to PROFIT from inventing without all of those skills. You need to be able to read well to learn new skills. All the good ideas in the world are useless if you do not have the writing skills to be able to tell other people how and why your invention is valuable. You often need math to figure out how to make your invention and you always need math to figure out the cost to make and sell the invention. And you almost always need science to make the invention at the lowest cost. 

     If you want to invent, look at what is wrong with things you use now.



Credits & References
    Thanks to following people, organizations, agencies and you may check their web sites:    

              R. Riley: How I Become a Successful Inventor

                 

              

Last updated on August 1, 2003. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page