Students develop awareness of constraints. In the early grades, children may be inclined to go with their first idea with little testing. Therefore, students should be encouraged to reflect on the practicality of their designs. However,...

Students investigate the various uses of a paper cup. In this scientific inquiry instructional activity, students investigate various ways to use a paper cup by identifying its characteristics. Students sketch their discovery.

Explore the African American inventor Jan Ernst Matzeliger and create a "sole" painting.

Young scholars study the history of the paper plane.  In this design activity students create several types of paper planes and determine if there is a difference in mean flight distances.

Students discover how chickens are hatched and cared for.  In this hands on instructional activity students get to watch baby chicks be hatched. They explore the chicks needs and how long they take to hatch. 

Students create "sole people" using tempera paint, drawing paper, and shoe prints in this multi-level art lesson plan. The lesson plan can be combined with a brief history of the African-American inventor Jan Ernst Matzeliger, who...

A number of worksheets and lessons on inventors and inventing are available here to non-subscribers. There are also many links to other sites with additional materials, including to biographies of well known inventors.

A number of worksheets and lessons on inventors and inventing are available here to non-subscribers. There are also many links to other sites with additional materials, including to biographies of well known inventors.

Children's imaginations are infinite - so could they help draw up the ambitious projects that we need to fight the world's challenges? A group was asked to design inventions to make society a better place. Here's how they responded.

Look at these ancient inventions. Compare these inventions with ones we use today to see if you can find any similarities. Take a tour of the museum or click each invention to find out more info.

This article profiles a young woman named Ann Makosinski who has been hailed as a 'child prodigy' for her toy inventions that use renewable energy. She earlier invented, for example, a flashlight that is powered by heat from the hand and...

In this stills collage adapted from the National Science Teachers Association/Craftsman Young Inventors Awards, see several inventions by students in grades 4-7 and read about some of the challenges they faced during the design process.

After discussing important flying inventions, young scholars explore technological design by making paper airplanes.

Part of the Real Stories series from "Martha Speaks," this read-along story teaches young children how easy it is to be an inventor.

In this interactive story, learn how animal abilities have inspired inventions over the years.

Brief article reports on the creation of the most waterproof material in existence.

Elizabeth Lee Hazen and Rachel Fuller Brown, inventors in New York state who developed the antifungal drug Nystatin, are featured in this brief biography.

At this site from Enchanted Learning, you can learn all about China, view a map, and try some of the activities provided. Activities include printing out China's map and coloring it and learning Chinese numbers from 1 to 10.

Brief biographical sketch of Thomas Alva Edison, inventor of the light bulb and phonograph.

Marconi tells the story of how he sent the first wireless signal across the Atlantic in 1902.

Learn how to make bubble gum from scratch using a bubble gum making kit.

Illustrated article discusses Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin, and how the cotton gin works.

Otis Boykin invented electronic control devices for guided missiles, IBM computers, and the control unit for a pacemaker.