Real-life examples could be used, such as mobile phones and artificial intelligence, alongside examples from stories such as Jurassic Park and Wildspark. Happy reading, imagining and inventing!
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Christmas won't be magical for every child. A special book gift can add sparkle. Home News and features Features November Ideas for school projects about invention — using Wildspark and other inventive books. Ideas for school projects about invention — using Wildspark and other inventive books Published on: 07 November Author: Vashti Hardy Vashti Hardy, author of Brightstorm and Wildspark , gives primary school teachers some brilliant and fun!
Illustration from the front cover of Wildspark by Vashti Hardy Wildspark is shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards Introduction to Wildspark Where Brightstorm centred around a world of explorers, Wildspark revolves around a world of inventors. She heads to the city to become an apprentice at the "Ghost Guild" with the idea that she can find a way to bring her dead brother back… With invention the order of the day in Medlock, here are some ideas for how teachers could use Wildspark and similar books as part of a wider topic or project on INVENTION.
How does it work? Create a Technasium On a visit to a secondary school recently, I spoke to a Dutch student teacher who told me they have a group of students called the "Technasium". Annually, more than , students also participate in Invention Convention Worldwide.
Students are ultimately invited to present their inventions at Nationals by way of local contests. Teams of up to four students may participate, and this year's competition will be held virtually. Find your local Invention Convention program here. We've come up with the inventions listed below that students can use as sources of inspiration when brainstorming their own ideas.
Also, there may be some math involved. The distance, the velocity of the egg, the impact of the hit, all must be considered and noted. Your child will need to understand this every step of the way.
The duct tape craze took over quite some time ago, but it is still one of the more recent inventions on the list. There have been other ideas created out of duct tape, but maybe your child will come up with something even more extravagant. Duct tape projects allow the child to show their inner designer as they can create any item they want, and their originality will still show in the design, the colors that are chosen, the way they build and tape the thing, and much more.
Whether your child has a phone or not, let them borrow yours for this project and ask their teacher to hold it before the presentation starts and to return it once the presentation is over. You will need a cardboard box that is open at the top and cut a hole on one side where you will be taping the magnifying glass or camera lens.
Fresnel lens will work great for this type of project. Those are the flat magnifier sheets you find at ou local book stores. Fold up a small piece of cardboard by taping it, creating a stand for the phone to sit while projecting.
The phone will sit directly in front of the glass or lens. It works best when locked into landscape mode and upside down. Take the flexible star and cut the part that bends and twists off to tape on the side of the tube.
The more creative they get, the more amazing the images they will see. Furthermore, it shows where their heart lies, with their family. One of the best easy inventions for school projects that kids love more than anything is creating their own decorations.
You can create the ornament any way you would like. No matter how big or small, your child has the say-so in the entire creation of this project. Mabe they dream of roamingthat you can roaming world, but for now, they are still at home. Children absolutely love toy cars. Sixth graders at the "Rivka Guber" school asked to leave their mark on the school and to make this process meaningful.
They attended a lecture by Galit Zamler about the entrepreneurial world. This talk inspired them and motivated them to take action.
The students were divided into groups and brought up ideas for ventures, and at a summit event , they presented their ideas in an "elevator pitch" style. They chose one project that they would realize together. The kids used presentations, videos, and demonstration models while presenting their ideas. One group planned an ecological farm at the school. They were inspired by their visit to the "Weizmann Institute of Science. A second group offered to build a park of recycled materials in the open courtyard.
The children thought about the details of the place, such as security, costs, maintenance, etc. The kids also thought of building a complex of sports and wellness at school. This idea meets the need for maintaining a healthy and enjoyable lifestyle.
Another group of students offered to set up a cafeteria at school. It could also serve as a source of fundraising for the needy. Seven students suggested setting up an experiential museum, escape room-style to expose its visitors to the history of the Lachish region. Another group focused on kindergarten children entering first grade, and they offered to prepare surprise boxes for them. The idea of setting up Skate Park was offered by another group of students and was very popular.
A Moment Together is an idea of establishing a relaxation complex in the schoolyard with grass, poufs, and playground facilities for the children's enjoyment. A group of third and fourth graders at the Bechor Levi school in Rehovot participates in a weekly entrepreneurship course, as an elective course led by the teacher Rivka Cohen. The students were given the freedom to think about ideas for ventures from different fields.
All ideas were written in notes and collected in a box:. Also, students from fifth and sixth graders who chose an entrepreneurship course, learn two hours a week with the teacher Mali Ben Simchon.
The students suggested the following ideas for inventions and changes in their environment: - A water slide from the window of each classroom - A chef that will prepare food for the hungry children - Elevator at school - Changing the procedure, so there is no need to raise your hand when you have to go out to the restroom or to drink - Boomerang football - Football that comes back to you.
All 4ths graders at the Yitzhak Shamir school in Holon participated in a weekly entrepreneurship class led by Dina Arkin. The students were exposed to different types of ventures, understood the concept of creativity, learned to identify needs, and raised many ideas for entrepreneurship. Some of them are presented here:. Ophir from the fourth grade drew some of his ideas:. Michal from the fourth grade thought about baby glasses that could not be easily removed.
The children learned how to search the internet and see if the idea for the invention they thought of already exists or not , and why we must examine it.
Fifth-Graders at the Ofek school in Ramle. The two fifth-graders at the Ofek school in Ramle participated in a three-day workshop on entrepreneurship and natural resources.
During the workshop, which is described on the "Experiences from the Program" page, the students raised ideas for creative projects that will be explored later during the year in their scientific aspect.
The following is a variety of ideas for creative applications that use natural resources, raised by the young students. The highlighted ideas were chosen as favorites in a class vote. The ideas of the students are hanged in the class:.
The students came up with many ideas for ventures, and some of them were realized. Here is a partial list of the ventures: Yonatan Steiman, a 4th-grade student, thought of an ecological venture named "Water Ball.
The water will condense, and thus there will be an option to use natural resources to provide water to places in need, like Africa. Yonatan created a chart that represents how the Water Ball will work:. At the end of the presentation, Yonatan received feedback and notes from the Science teacher. Yonatan himself asked, how can he progress with his idea?
Yonatan has been advised to create a small model to illustrate its feasibility before moving on. Yonatan's presentation in Hebrew :. A group of social entrepreneurs from 4th-grade suggested an idea for a venture called "Cleaning - The Top Value. The young students concluded that a clean environment must be maintained, and the street cleaners can't complete the job by themselves.
They think the dirt creates a bad mood among the residents. The action plan was to recruit all the school's students, and every day a different class will go outside to clean the neighborhood, put up signs that will encourage maintaining a clean environment and explain the importance of the subject to the community.
The kid entrepreneurs held a poll among the 4th-grade classes, and asked: "Who is willing to join and clean the neighborhood once a month?
Yonatan Pe'er - A 4th-grade student, member of the local basketball club Yonatan decided to promote the building of a new basketball court in Netanya.
As of today, the team's basketball court has few seating spots, there is no decent snack-bar, and it lacks an office for ticket sales.
Thus, the need for a new, pretty, and spacious court with an option to buy tickets was born. Ori Shahaf and Yahli Cotigaru 4th-grade students came up with a venture idea: A laser pen that identifies typos.
The kids wanted to solve a problem that troubles many people. They were very familiar with the typo problem, and they decided to develop a venture idea that will help people with many grammatical errors that want to improve. The base of the idea is a laser pen that can identify typos.
And every time it detects one, the laser will light up. Illustrating the idea:. The students understand that to realize their idea, they must meet experts in development and marketing. Watch the students' presentation in Hebrew :. The students identified the difficulties of their classmates, empathized, and decided to help them.
In this presentation in Hebrew , the students explain the difficulties that ADHD children face, and their initiative to promote activities that will enhance the understanding and tolerance towards these children. Shahar G. The indicator has four states: Feeling bad, sad, fearful, and calm. When you are mad, the indicator will blink and turn red - And that's a sign you need to take a deep breath. When you are sad, the indicator will turn blue.
When you feel fear, it will turn purple, and when you are calm, it will turn green. Shahar's presentation in Hebrew :. The idea to create an emotion indicator came up with different shapes in several schools and even reached the final of the "Move Yourself" contest in the form of "An anti-anger bracelet," an idea created by 7th-grade students in the Yad Giora Junior High in Herzliya.
Guy noticed that soccer games at school induce physical and verbal violence among students. Guy found a solution to the problem with an understanding that kids love to play soccer, but the violence involved is unwanted.
Guy believes that soccer games in the form of a tournament will solve the problem because it will be clear who is playing and who is the winner. Guy's presentation in Hebrew :. At some point, the students raised the need to help the teacher deal with the noise students make in class. The students' ideas to solve the noise problem are brought here as suggested: Noa suggested an alarm that would go off when noise is detected.
Yotam suggested that the teacher would have a bell; she can ring and make the students realize the noise in the class is disturbing the teacher. Idan suggested the teacher should bang on the desk when students make noise. Daniel suggested that the teacher should play music, and then the students will listen to the music and stop making noise. Yair suggested all the children will sit in class with headphones, from which they will hear the teacher and will not hear the noise.
Moria suggested that the teacher should make a sign with her hand that indicates the students to stop making noise. Students from the Osishkin school in Ramat HaSharon are participating in entrepreneurship classes led by Miri Molcho, who is conducting the program for the last two years. The students toured their city, watching what is going around them with a goal to identify needs, problems, and nuisances.
Following the tour, the students came up with many ideas for ventures, wrote them down, illustrated those using drawings and sketches. They then presented them to their classmates. The students were asked to write the pros and cons of each idea positive and negative reasons.
In class, the students received notepads in which they mentioned ideas they liked, and in their opinion, have the best chances to be realized.
The students were asked to write for every idea the resources needed and what needs to be done to realize it. The teacher had her venture idea: In the play yard, the students noticed an abandoned book for children. The students discussed that kids love when stories are read to them, but usually, the parents or the babysitters do not bring books with them to the garden.
This was when the idea of a public library in playgrounds was born. The books will be donated by the people to serve the community. The students liked the idea, and they all decided to realize it. Ideas of Students in Sixth-Grade at the A.
Gordon School in Kfar Saba. Since the academic year , A. Gordon school has been an incubator for entrepreneurship. Students in fifth and sixth-grade, with the help of the entrepreneurship curriculum for kids, raised ideas for initiatives, tested if they have already been realized or not, checked how capable they are bringing them to life, and prepared business plans and models for the initiatives. Galit Zamler was invited to the school in order to observe the outcomes and assist the students in progressing to the next stage with their entrepreneurial ideas.
A microwave that adds seasoning to food. The idea came from the feeling that food does not always come out appropriately spiced. The children Eliran, Tamir, Omri, and Ben, created a business plan to realize the idea and presented it to the class.
Their slogan: "Buy the Spicer, and you won't be disappointed! Ladder-Shelf - A removable ladder that allows you to reach high cabinets. The young entrepreneurs Itay, Ariel, Barak, and Rotem, explained the benefits of their solution: easy to store, very efficient to access the high spots of the cabinet, a safe and simple replacement for people who climb on furniture or an unstable chair to reach high shelves.
The child entrepreneurs presenting their idea and answering their classmates' questions:. An anti-slip, protective shoe sole. The student entrepreneurs prepared a model of the sole and explained the benefit of the product:.
Lunch Break - A social initiative that allows children who forget their lunch at home to have a sandwich. The kids planned it as follows: "Every Monday, children from each grade will bring another sandwich to school, and the sandwich will have a sticker with the ingredients of the sandwich. There will also be sandwiches for children with allergies.
The idea was presented later in the entrepreneurs' convention:. A solar charger for electric bikes. Class6B Shower Helmet - A hair machine Shower Helmet is a helmet that works on the same principle as the washing machine, but instead of cleaning clothes, the helmet cleans the hair. Shower Helmet makes hair care easy. It washes the hair, conditions it, and combs it. The helmet suits people who allow themselves luxury, and the entrepreneurs have also taken disabled people into account.
The device will enable them to wash their hair without someone's help. This helmet also helps hairdressers by saving costs on workers, allowing them to focus on their customers. The kids said: "Our vision is to go far with this invention; we think that if it succeeds, we will develop it like this: The helmet will come in many colors, and every color will be suited for a different headdress - straight, curly, wavy, dyed, etc. A safe-to-use iron - Tal came up with this idea when he thought of the number of house fires caused by a turned on iron.
His idea is to add a chip to the iron that will sense the cloth temperature and adjust itself to it, and if it detects a dangerous temperature, it will turn off automatically.
Tal, the young entrepreneur, who stands behind the idea, explained first to his class and then to the convention audience at his school, how the iron becomes safe to use:. Crazy Bottle - A special bottle for cyclists. A set of glasses on the table , at the bottom of the glasses, there is a magnet that will stick to the other magnet that is underneath the table, so that the glasses will not fall over.
Safe Cook - A sensor for the stove that will set off an alarm when the fire is burning for too long pointlessly; it will spray water and put out the fire. The young entrepreneurs, Roi, Yonatan, and Matan, explained their idea:. At the convention held at the school, the students presented their venture idea:. A plate that turns into a bowl , and also into a cutting board. Class6C A personal heating sweater with a protective layer against water.
The children prepared a presentation and introduced the concept of their class:.
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