Inventing Lab

"[The Inventing Lab workshop] connected with our “Science Technology and Society” unit. We even tied it into Earth Day and discussed the Industrial Revolution (pros and cons) of some inventions.

It showed the students how to be creative with everyday items and think outside the box to find a new use for the item."

Ms. Patricia Duffy, 3rd Grade teacher

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Workshop Overview:  In the Inventing Lab workshop, students will engage in hands-on activities that explore how the scientific method is used to solve problems and create inventions. Using play as learning, children will develop creativity and problem-solving skills, work cooperatively, form hypotheses, and experiment through trial and error.

Inventing Lab Curriculum Guide

Grade Level: 2-5

Illinois State Learning Goals: 4, 5, 11, 12

Workshop Goals and Objectives:
Students will:

Collaborate in groups to design a unique golf ball moving contraption.

Use the scientific method to form hypotheses and test, modify, and retest their inventions.

Build a flying machine and launch it from a 50-foot tower.

Build an alarm clock that wakes a sleepy teddy bear.

Use ordinary materials in unusual ways.

Test the piano slide, a music making invention.

Identify cause and effect relationships between friction, force, gravity, and motion.

See examples of kid-created inventions. 

The Abbott Fund is the lead sponsor of Inventing Lab

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