Invention Activity

Overview

The Why

Reinforced Values
Freedom
Passion
Responsibility
Sound Judgment

There are many ways you can foster creativity in your students and the Invention Activity is one of them. In the Invention Activity there is no right or wrong, no impossible. There are no lines to color in. No box to stay in. You get to allow your students to be as innovative as possible while using the supplies you have provided. There are countless possibilities when it comes to the Invention Activity. This lesson will provide some of those to you but we want you to think outside the box just like we want the kids to.

Intro

• Ask students what an inventor is. Ask them to name some inventors. Ask them what they think makes a good inventor. Hopefully, you will get something along the lines of innovative, creative, unique, different, risk-takers, etc.
• Tell students they will be inventors during the activity.
• Just like in the marketplace where there are “winners” (people who solve problems for profit), there will be winners in this activity.
  • You can decide how you will handle this aspect of the activity. Some options are:
    • Allocate to each student a specific number of virtual YE dollars and let them decide before the activity begins how they want to distribute those dollars among their classmates.
      • If they decide that each student will be able to distribute their virtual YE dollars to more than one classmate, you will need to use a product like Google Sheets to track how they distribute their currency. 
      • Or, they might decide that each student can give all of their virtual YE dollars to only one classmate of their choice. You can track this by having students post their distributions in the chat.
      • To ensure that students don’t award themselves virtual YE dollars, you could apply Be Principled and discuss it before pitches are given or simply tell students they cannot award themselves virtual dollars. 
  • Consider inviting YE staff, school administrators, or volunteers into your virtual classroom to be judges. If you decide this idea has value, be sure to consult with your administration about any compliance issues that need to be considered,
  • You could have your students pitch their products to another class and allow that class to decide who should win.
    • If you choose this option, speak to that teacher ahead of time. Make sure that teacher and class understands what your expectations are for their participation, including judging. 
    • Additionally, you will need to decide if you want to take your entire class into this other virtual classroom or to have them go in one at a time to pitch and then leave.

Social and Emotional Skills

Self-Management – Working creatively with minimal guidelines and expectations may be a lot of fun for some students and potentially stressful and overwhelming for others. Students participating in this activity will need to engage in self-management techniques such as self-motivation, self-discipline, and impulse control. They will be given a limited amount of time to create their invention with the materials they have available. Students that are able to remain focused and on task during this open-ended activity will likely meet the challenge. However, students that are self-confined by the lack of detailed direction will likely struggle to stay motivated and regulated because they will likely be combatting their fear. Stress management, self-motivation and self-discipline will be important concepts to address in your debrief in order to enhance their ability to manage these feelings during future activities like Invention Activity.

Pro tip: If you conduct this activity multiple times, see how students rate their transformation around these concepts as they become more familiar with these kinds of activities.

Preparation

• Decide how students will have access to the materials needed for the activity. If you do not want to mail students the materials listed in the guide or if your school does not have a designated “supplies pick-up day,” consider what materials they may have at home – construction paper; scissors; colored pencils/crayons/markers, etc. Or you can designate one room from which they can gather materials (e.g. bedroom, kitchen, etc.).
• Determine which platform you will use to engage students in the activity.
• Determine how much time you will allocate for students to create their product. 
• Review the activity guide’s instructions and debrief questions.
• Determine how you will engage students in the debrief following the activity.

Directions

• Tell students they will invent a new product within the designated timeframe. Tell them they will pitch their new product to others. Let them know there will be a winner (or two, depending on how you decided to do the activity). Encourage them to think outside the box. Nothing is impossible in this activity.
• Rules (You can modify the rules depending on the nature of your virtual classroom.) 
  • The product MUST have a name. 
  • The product MUST be school appropriate. 
  • The product MUST be legal. 
  • They may only use the supplies you provided or those they found in the room at home you designated.
• Ask if there are any questions. After answering these questions, tell them that when you say “start” the timer will begin and when the time expires they must stop.
• After the allotted time has expired, tell them to stop. 
• Now it is time to pitch their products.
• If you are having your students listen to the pitches and select the winner via virtual voting poll, you can ask for student volunteers to unmute and pitch. Depending on the platform you are using, select the function that will enlarge students’ images when they are pitching so that they and their product are clearly visible.
• There are NO questions or feedback time during or after the pitches.
  • If you are having guests vote, you should have students state their name before they begin pitching in order for judges to remember students and their products. After all pitches have been given, the guest judges will share who and why they selected the winner(s).
• Pay the winner(s) with virtual YE dollars based on how many winners you decided will be chosen and how your students decided to allocate their virtual YE dollars.

Debrief

Students can complete the debrief in many ways. Some options include on paper, in a group setting via any virtual call platform, or by recording their feedback using EdTech tools and sharing with their classmates.   

• How did you use Opportunity and Sound Judgment when deciding which product to create? What about Freedom?
• How are you solving a problem?
  • Is there already something like your product available?
• What is your comparative advantage to the product that is already available?
  • Did you create value for anyone? If so, who? If not, why not?
  • How does Passion influence your comparative advantage?
• Why would someone buy it if it isn’t going to create some sort of value for them?
  • Did you consider who would buy your product?
  • Is there a market for your product?