Inventions and Inventors Teacher Resources

Tomorrow's engineers visit an intriguing website about inventions that have changed the way we live. Biographies of child inventors on the suggested website aren't easy to find, so make sure to find some stories to share in place of...

Use this lesson plan to discuss inventions that have changed your class's world and have impacted society. Middle schoolers investigate important inventions of their time and design an invention in a simulated business atmosphere. Modify...

5th graders will gain an understanding of how, what, and why people invent tools. This PowerPoint provides a complete description of what tools are, types of tools, why we make tools and what impact they have had on society. There are...

Students explore invention and unveiling of world's first Ferris wheel, analyze photographs and poster of first Ferris wheel, and discuss engineering achievements of Ferris wheel, including how it worked, how it was built, and its...

Explore the inventions of the past with a project on ancient tools. After reading an article about hunting during the Archaic period, the Late Prehistoric period, and the Historic period, kids fill in a cause-and-effect chart about the...

3D printers, selfie sticks, smart watches. GPS, self-driving cars, YouTube. Imagine life without inventions. Believe it or not, these items were all invented in the last 10 years. Inventions, and the inventors responsible for them,...

Celebrate inventors all February long with a video that introduces a problem and demonstrates the steps toward solving that problem using the scientific method, and using the resources—especially education—in getting an idea working.

With the help from an interactive timeline, scholars discover the time and order in which inventions came to be—popular items from eyeglasses to the compact disc. 

Can you build a homemade speaker out of a potato chip? Bestselling author and do-it-yourself expert William Gurstelle shows you how in his brief presentation at TEDYouth 2012. He encourages young people to be creative and explore...

Learners examine the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci's flying machines and discuss when they were conceptualized and how they are similar to today's flight vehicles. They collect recyclables such as wood and foam trays and create an...

Students investigate inventions and the impact they can have on people. In this technology lesson, students research Thomas Edison and discuss how the invention of the light bulb impacted others. Students sketch out an invention they...

A scientific video focuses on ten famous inventions and the person credited with inventing each one. Then it describes the bigger picture of each invention and how it relied on those before them and around them. 

A two-part lesson introduces young historians to the work of famous African American inventors. Groups first research and develop a presentation of an inventor that includes biographical information and information about one of their...

Young scholars examine the impact of inventors on our world. In this science lesson plan, students are given a time line of the invention of familiar objects. Young scholars then evaluate some kid inventors...

Students study invention steps and design their own invention. For this invention lesson, students discuss inventions and the process of inventing. Studnets write in an inventor's journal and study various types of inventions....

Learners explore the process of inventing a new product. For this inventions lesson, students explore a timeline that gives a history on significant inventions from ancient times to the present. Learners look at pictures of the...

In this inventors and inventions Internet hunt worksheet, students answer 15 questions by using the links provided for Internet research.  This page includes several links to helpful web resources.

It's no small wonder that a lightbulb has come to represent a bright idea. The light bulb, the bright idea of Thomas Edison, was just one of his over 1,000 inventions. A teacher's guide introduces young audiences to works of the man who...

Students explore inventions and inventors, focusing on the French-Candadian inventor of the snowmobile Joseph-Armand Bombardier. They brainstorm a list of inventions still to be created and then create their own invention from recycled...

Young scholars are be able to analyze primary sources for evidence of Inventors and Inventions from the turn of the 20th century. They identify how these inventions impact their lives today.