As part of their unit on young inventors, fourth grade students in the Wings Program at Clear Springs Elementary have been putting on their “inventor’s eyes” to see the world around them with a new lens. 

“For this project, we focus on processes that foster creative thinking,” said Joy Curran, Advanced Learning Teacher at Clear Springs. “Students are looking for real world problems that they can solve with the tools they have, in the seven weeks of the unit.” 

Students began the process by learning about different thinking frameworks, from “forced associations” to the SCAMPER method (Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Magnify/Minify, Put to other uses, Eliminate, Reverse/Rearrange). The frameworks support students as they ideate in ways they may not have before, shared Curran. “We did a forced association exercise thinking about a chair and a flower. One student had the idea to include vases on the back of the chair, so that the scent could be enjoyed, and it could serve as a decoration.”

With frameworks in place, students began to observe spaces and places in their homes and at school where they encountered challenges, to see if they could come up with solutions. Once they generated their list of ideas, students put each one through a problem-solving grid, asking questions like ‘How likely is it that someone else will use this product?’, ‘Do I have the materials to create this product?’, and ‘Is this cost-efficient and time-efficient?’ to rank their options and determine the idea they would continue with for the rest of the unit.

“Our next step was to research,” said Curran. “We used the Google Patents site to search for other resources to determine whether students’ ideas had already been invented. If they had, students continued to ideate, thinking of ways they could change or add on to the idea to make it new.”

When students’ ideas were solidified, they created their inventions (or prototypes of them) to display in the school’s annual Inventors Fair. They wrote paragraphs explaining their invention process and made poster boards to display their solutions. Families are invited to the fair to hear their students share about their inventions and see their peers’ work in action, as well. 

“It’s fun to see the real-world, hands-on learning in action. Students begin to see so many possibilities and understand that they can become inventors now,” shared Curran. As part of the unit, students also learn about inventions, from the trampoline to magnetic locker wallpaper, that were created by kids and teens. 

From the start of the unit (coming up with an original idea) to its finish (presenting final projects at the fair), students are building skills in inquiry, problem-solving, research, communications and presentation. “I saw a lot of growth in students’ self-confidence and self-esteem,” shared Curran. “They were zoned in and taking the process very seriously.”

This year’s inventors have an exciting next step, too, if they wish to pursue it. One of the fourth grade parents is a patent lawyer and will be presenting to students about the patent process.

Way to invent, fourth graders!