Invention

 

 

Welcome to this online activity designed to accompany the AHA! Science @ Your Library series at the Carroll County Public Library. We hope you enjoy your virtual tour of some fun and informative websites that have to do with invention. Kids, you may need an adult to help with reading some the material on some of these sites.
Have fun!

 

 

What does it mean to invent?

 

According to the Encarta online encyclopedia, to invent is to create a new device or way of doing something. The process of invention is related to discovery and can happen intentionally or by accident. For a more complete answer to this important question, check out the entire Encarta entry on invention.

 

 

Invention involves putting ideas or components together in new ways.

 

These two websites from the Boston Museum of Science illustrate several components and how they can fit together to make a new device. Take a look at the simple machines profiled in the Inventors Toolbox, then go to the Gadget Anatomy and test yourself to see if you can determine which elements were used in each gadget:

 

Inventors Toolbox          Gadget Anatomy

 

 

From Caveman times to Today: Invention Through History

 

Invention has been going on as long as there have been people around to think up new ideas. Let's visit some places that will show you great inventions from the distant and more recent past.

 

•         The Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. has many important objects from America ís past in its collection. Included among these are sample inventions that were submitted to the United States Patent Office for consideration. Click on the images on the Smithsonianís American Inventors and Inventions page to learn about why they are significant to our history.
  
  
•         Here are two A-Z lists from About.com that outline inventors and inventions from many places and time periods. These lists are long, so click on a letter of the alphabet along the top of each page to jump to another section. Click on the name of the entry to find out all about it, then use the back button on your browser to return to the list.

 

Famous Inventions A-Z

 

Famous Inventors A-Z

 

•         If you have a high speed internet connection and Windows Media Player, you can view these three short videos from National Geographic about American inventors whose ideas started a chain of innovations that have changed the world forever. Wait through the short channel commercial before each video begins.

 

 

Thomas Edison and sound recording

 

Alexander Graham Bell and live voice communication

 

The Wright brothers and flight

 

 

 

 

Inventing -- NOT for Adults only

 

Kids can be inventors too! Anyone of any age can think of a new and useful idea. Some kids have even been granted patents for their inventions.

 

 

• Here are twelve modern kid inventors and their real-life inventions, profiled on the By Kids for Kids website. Click on an invention name to see what it does, or scroll down to see them all.

 

Products created by kid inventors

 

• Kids coming up with inventions is not a recent trend. Visit this page from The Great Idea Factory to find out about other young inventors throughout history and their contributions. Follow the links for each to learn more about them. The lower part of this page contains many links to more sites of interest to young people.

 

A Class Act -- Young Inventors

 

• Kids can get patents too. Check out this link to questions frequently asked by kids about patents (and their answers) at the kidsí pages of the U.S. Patent Office website.

 

whowhatwhenwhyhow

 

• Did you know there are camps for kids that encourage invention? One of these is ' Camp Invention ', sponsored by Invent Now and the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation. The camps programs are conducted at various locations in Maryland during the summer. Click on this link and then click on the bouncing boxes in the middle of the page for further information.

 

Invent Now's Camp Invention

 

 

Fun and Games

 

These last sites will help you learn even more about invention,
while having fun along the way.

 

 

 

• Take this short matching quiz from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Kids Pages.

 

Inventor IQ

 

• This site from Circle Media comes with a whole collection of interactive games created to inspire kids to invent. Click on any of the boxes to get started.

 

Inventive Kids Gameboard

 

 

• Check out these real-life goofy inventions that were actually given patents. Scroll down a ways to see the list of links.

 

Totally absurd inventions

 

 

• Try this 10 question quiz from The Great Idea Finder. The answers are provided if you get stumped.

 

Invention Trivia Quiz

 

 

• A man named Rube Goldberg was a famous cartoonist known for his funny pictures of pretend 'inventions' that he thought up. His name became associated with any device or process that is more complicated than it needs to be. Click on entries in this list of Rubeís cartoon 'inventions' to check them out.

 

Rube Goldberg Gallery

 

 

 

We hope you have enjoyed this web activity, brought to you by Carroll County Public Library in connection with the AHA! Science @ Your Library program.

 

 

This page was created in January 2006 by Karen L. Dulany, graduate student at
the College of Library and Information Science, University of Maryland , College Park .