Distribute the Classroom Inventions Reproducible (below), which is designed for middle- and upper-graders. Then direct students to the interactive hunt at www.scholastic.com/cyberhuntkids   When they have located all of the answers, invite students to visit more sites with these Internet-based activities.
 
CYBERHUNT ANSWER GUIDE
1. Paper clips.
2. (Compound) microscope. 
3. Ballpoint pen.
4. Crayons.
5. Eraser. 
6. Blackboard.
7. Post-its® 
8. Pencil sharpener.
 
CYBERHUNT ACTIVITIES
Super Invention Timeline
www.ideafinder.com/history/timeline.htm
What was life like 25 years ago? 50? 75? Invite students to explore these questions and more with a supersized inventions timeline. After marking out decades across a wall, have students visit the sites on these pages and choose what they think are the most important simple inventions. Write these into the timeline, then ask students to interview a parent, grandparent, or older relative. What simple inventions do they remember from the decade when they were 10 years old? What's the biggest difference between living then and now? What hasn't changed? Have students record these responses on paper, along with their interviewee's birthdate and a photo. To display, affix the entries to the proper decade.
   -Adapted from an idea in Inventors and Inventions (Scholastic, 1997).
 
Keeping Inventor's Journals
http://kids.patentcafe.com
Invite students to explore this site, then start their own journals to record and organize their ideas. Next, challenge them to brainstorm solutions to various obstacles. For their first invention, for example, try this easy classroom activity: Place a number of objects-such as a roll of tape, a pencil, a ruler, and an empty paper lunchbag-into a box. Have students choose an object, then answer these questions in their journals: What does this item lack? What improvements would make it better? What new use could it have? Extension: Have students choose two objects and brainstorm ways to join them into a single tool or product.
   -Adapted from an idea in Inventors and Inventions (Scholastic, 1997).
 
Rube Goldberg "Inventions"
www.rube-goldberg.com/html/gallery.htm
For a more whimsical approach to inventions, share some of these famous cartoons, such as the “Simplified Pencil Sharpener,” with students. Then invite them to create their own clever, elaborate devices for accomplishing simple tasks, such as getting to school, doing homework, or making a school lunch. Instruct them to begin brainstorming with the task they are trying to do and plan backwards, describing each step on a separate notecard. Invite students to each display all of their cards in sequence. Can the steps be rearranged? After editing, have students copy their final designs on paper. Extension: Challenge students to put the steps to one another's inventions in the proper order!
 
MORE INVENTIONS LINKS
Inventions Change Our Lives!          www.worldalmanacforkids.com/explore/inventions.html
 
U.S. Patent Office Kids' Pages
www.uspto.gov/go/kids
 
Instructor Online Theme Unit http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/theme/inventions.htm
 
 Inventions: From Ideas to Reality http://teacher.scholastic.com/fieldtrp/science/invent.htm
 
Go to Kids' page


Jeffrey Horney is a technology resource teacher at Oregon Middle School in Oregon, WI. He works with teachers and students to effectively integrate technology into the curriculum. CyberHunt © 2003 Scholastic Inc.
 
 
CYBERHUNT SAFETY: All the sites contained in the CyberHunt have been reviewed by our staff. At press time, all links are safe and consist of educational material. However, we are unable to control transfers of URLs after publication. We strongly urge teachers to review all sites before sharing them with students.

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