Posted by Developing students’ creativity, inventiveness and problem solving skills
Stephanie Couch, Executive Director, Lemelson MIT Program at MIT Cambridge
Invention education changes students’ lives by helping them learn how to develop problem-solving skills and ways of working with others to invent novel solutions that improve lives. This inquiry and problem-based approach to learning help students develop STEM knowledge, and confidence in their ability to engage with STEM, and helps students gain insights into ways of working on teams and collaborating with others that are valued by employers.
The Lemelson-MIT Program mission is to inspire young people to pursue creative lives and careers through invention, and to support their development as inventors and creative problem solvers through invention education opportunities. The program is focused on helping young people and their teachers learn how to invent technological solutions to problems that students care about. They work with educators and students span all ages and stages of development, providing a pathway to invention for all.
Research & Reports
- Measuring the value of invention
- Researching Invention Education: White Paper
- Where’s the Computer Science in invention?
- And More.
Resources
Lemelson-MIT offers free JV InvenTeams curricula for students in grades 6-10 to hone their hands-on skills and enrich their STEM education through invention-based design activities.
“Bee” the Inventor is a 10-page STEAM activity book that teaches kids (ages 6-8) about invention through the role leafcutter bees play in our environment. Kids learn how to build a bee house prototype for bees, Shagun and Dwij.
Seeing the future: A guide to visual communication
This booklet teaches kids (ages 7-12) how to sketch their invention ideas by creating patent drawings. Activities include drawing 2D lines and figures, creating thumbnail sketches, and using vanishing point perspectives.
Invention and Patent Resources
Invention education is an emerging and trans-disciplinary approach to education with meaningful outcomes for students of all backgrounds, educators and communities. Find out more here.