World Intellectual Property Organization
Learn from the Past, Create the Future: Inventions and Patents
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, are...
Micron Technology Foundation
Inventions and Patents
Curiosity gets you everything. With this assignment, inspiring minds come together to create and invent. Learn how and why we invent and what it means to patent an invention.
PBS
Inventions
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...
National Woman's History Museum
Inventive Women - Part 1
While a woman didn't invent the parasol, three women received patents for their improvements to the original design of umbrellas. In the first of a two-part series on inventive women, class members investigate the patent system to...
DocsTeach
Patent Analysis: Alexander Graham Bell's Telephone
Believe it or not, the plugs and wires on Alexander Graham Bell's patent application for telegraph improvements has a direct connection to devices today. Young historians examine the fine details of the patent application. After they...
DocsTeach
Patent Analysis: J.W. Davis and Levi Strauss's Fastening Pocket Openings
Commonplace today, the zipper and button construction of blue jeans was a major innovation. Using the patent for the J.W. Davis and Levi Strauss innovation, individuals comb an image of the fly for clues. Afterward, they discuss its...
DocsTeach
Patent Analysis: Thomas Edison's Lightbulb
Watch lightbulbs go off in learners' heads as they look at a patent for Thomas Edison's most famous invention. After examining the light bulb patent, young historians speculate on how the invention changed life in the 1880s and its...
Curated OER
Inventions
Students study invention steps and design their own invention. In this invention activity, students discuss inventions and the process of inventing. Studnets write in an inventor's journal and study various types of inventions. Students...
Curated OER
Inventions: Third Grade Science
This inventions PowerPoint includes age-appropriate text and information about what an invention is, the planning process for developing inventions, and common factors of successful inventions. Several short biographies with text and...
DocsTeach
Patent Analysis: Joseph Glidden's Barbed Wire
Barbed wire may have made cattle farming easier, but it brought to an end the free-roaming days of the plains. No longer could Native American groups continue their nomadic lifestyle, and the days of cowboys herding large groups of...
DocsTeach
What is Patent Number 1,693,515?
Scholars examine a document from 1928 featuring a mystery invention. Following their observations and discussion, the document reveals the invention of the permanent wave machine by Marjorie S. Joyner. Class members read about Joyner,...
DocsTeach
Patent Analysis: Wright Brothers' Flying Machine
Ideas take flight in an exciting activity exploring the Wright Brothers. Scholars view the Wright Brothers' patent for their flying machine and makes educated guesses as to the purpose of the document. Scholars discuss the purpose of...
Curated OER
Patenting My Invention
Fifth graders learn the importance of a patent for a new invention. They use the internet to practice typing a classroom patent for a compound machine that their class invented. While on the website, 5th graders choose a month and...
Curated OER
Learning About Inventions
This site contains a variety of worksheets and activities to supplement the on-line problem-based learning activity about how imagination and how inventions are created. TheWright Brothers are used as a case study. The links and...
Curated OER
Innovation for Good
Many historical innovations were created for the common good. Get your students ready for life as a critical thinker with this activity which defines the differences between innovation and invention. They will conduct Internet research,...
Curated OER
Eli Whitney's Patent for the Cotton Gin
Students review the U.S. patent laws by researching Eli Whitney's petition for a renewal on his cotton gin patent. They examine documents to assess the impact of the cotton gin, role-play the patent hearing and discuss the effects of...
Curated OER
Do The Research! Inventions
In this researching inventions worksheet, students research and answer questions about patents, cigarette lighter and match, and the first commercial computer. Students write 3 short answers.
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension Worksheet: Inventions
In this inventions worksheet, students read a passage that describes the invention of the electromagnetic telegraph by Samuel Morse. Students answer 4 questions about the text.
Curated OER
Bank On it! Inventions
In this science learning exercise, students complete a cloze activity about inventions. They read an article about Isaac Merritt Singer, who invented the sewing machine. The article includes 9 blanks to fill in.
Curated OER
Inventions Group Creative Writing
In this writing worksheet, students write a short story in groups using inventions vocabulary. Students have 9 words to use and 25 minutes to write.
American Institute of Physics
African American Inventors in History
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...
Curated OER
Thomas Edison: The "Invention Process"
Students work in collaborative groups to research the inventive process and create a technological advancement for today.
History Alive!
Thomas Edison: Inventor, Lecturer and Prankster
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...
Scholastic
It's a Whatchamacallit
Learners formulate new applications for simple machines in an original invention that solves a common problem. They brainstorm ideas for a new product using simple machines and communicate a finished project through an oral, written, and...