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Inventions and How They Impact Our World
Students select an invention from a list, observe the invention for one whole day to determine how their selected invention impacts their daily life. They share their observations as a class and describe their experiences.
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Invent on the Spot
The best inventions come from a problem that needs to be solved! Given a container with holes in it, learners must solve how to stop liquid from pouring out. They work together to develop an invention to accomplish this task.
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Thomas Edison: The "Invention Process"
Pupils work in collaborative groups to research the inventive process and create a technological advancement for today.
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Thomas Edison's Inventions in the 1900s and Today: From "New" to You!
Students research types of technology available to Americans at the beginning of the 20th century and compare the style of living to modern times. They identify Thomas Edison's contributions to technology and their own current lifestyles.
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The Art of Simple Machines
Students investigate the inventions of simple machines in our past and how they affect us today. In this engineering lesson, students discover who Rube Goldberg was and his ideas about complicated machines performing very simple tasks....
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A Pill with a View
Students brainstorm a list of potential uses for micro-video technologies. After reading an article, they analyze the development of a new pill-sized camera. In groups, they create a children's book that shows them the various systems of...
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Technological Developments
First graders discuss household tasks, and identify differences between how things are done now, and how they were done when their parents and grandparents were little. Students then predict how tasks will change in future, and visit...
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Innovation of Our Generation
Students identify the innovations that have impacted their lives. In this inventions activity students write and present a speech on the greatest innovation of their generation.
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Simple Machines
Here is an inventive plan that should get your young scientists excited! In it, groups of pupils test out the work done by six different simple machines. The machines are: the wedge, the lever, the inclined plane, the pulley, the screw,...
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Steam Engines
Students investigate the invention of the steam engine. In this technology instructional activity, students investigate the advancement of technology over time. They relate science and technology together.
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Apply Technological Design and Scientific Habits of Mind
Students are introduced to the principles involved with technological design. In groups, they use the Internet to research an important historical innovation and how it changed the world. They discover the barriers that were involved in...
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Inventors of New England
Students examine recent inventions and discuss the steps the inventor had to go through to develop this product. They share their ideas with the class.
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Inventors of New England
Students examine the ways that technology effects our daily lives. Students also identify the processes involved in designing new technology.
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The Origins of Business
Students explore the world of inventions by utilizing Google Earth. In this global geography lesson, students research inventions such as the ball point pen, computer, telephone and typewriter. Students use the Google Earth software to...
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Technology: Past, Present, and Future
Students examine inventions of the past and present and explore how inventions inspire and lead to the development of other inventions.
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Ancient Mediterranean Lands: Greece
Sixth graders explore the processes developed by the Ancient Greeks, particularly olives and olive oil. In this Greek culture and inventions lesson, 6th graders read an article and design a flap book. Students collect the olive oil from...
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What Do You See? What Do You Think?
Students review the implications of the printing of the Gutenberg Bible. Using a page from the Bible, they compare and contrast it with one that was handwritten. They use the internet to discover Gutenberg's model and marketing strategy...
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Invent PCR: You May Win a Nobel Prize
Students gain an appreciation for the simplicity, but also complexity and elegance of PCR. They comprehend all components of the protocol. Students explain exactly how CPR works, and why, after the third cycle, the predominant DNA being...
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Leonardo Lives
Students investigate the concepts of force and motion. They describe how motion is created by force. Also students define a simple machine and the factors of application to creating force or motion. They analyze the plans of Leonardo De...
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Historic Earth Science Innovations
Students research the demands or limitations on Earth scientists. In groups, they design and build a model that would be useful to them in the lab or field. They share their model and their ideas behind it to the class and answer any...
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Search, Discover, Discuss
Sixth graders use the internet to answer questions about Gutenberg's invention. As a class, they discuss their findings about society and technology in the late Middle Ages. They discover the influence of a certain group of people in...
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Connections Between World Events, Geography and the Human Quest for Knowledge
Young scholars examine the relationship between innovations in geography and world events. Using maps, they report different information from a spatial perspective. They develop hypothesis about how man's quest for knowledge has...
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The Air We Breathe
Young scholars discover the cuases of pollution. They investigate different pollutants that exist. Stsudents research technologies developed by engineers to reduce the amounts of air pollution. Upon completion of assigned activities,...
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Robot Turning Lab
Learners design a robot that can turn 90 degrees. In this robotics lesson, students explain the applications of their invention. They present their design in class.