2020 Invent It Challenge
Credit: Cricket Media, Inc.
The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation and Cricket Media have partnered for the past nine years to bring the Spark!Lab Invent It Challenge to students across the globe. The challenge is a free, STEM-focused contest open to students ages 5-18 that inspires them to solve real-world global issues through creativity and exploration. Smithsonian Affiliates are invited to share this opportunity with their visitors and incorporate it into Affiliate programming!
- Use this flyer to spread the word about the 2020 Invent It Challenge to your visitors, school groups, and teachers.
- Post this image across your social media outlets to inform your audience of the wonderful opportunity the Challenge presents for students to use their creativity and knowledge of science to make a positive impact on the world around them.
- Introduce students to the 7-Step Invention Process using this introduction video and challenge them to think of how it can be applied to help create a solution to a wide variety of local, regional, or global issues.
- Set up a whiteboard and have students play this interactive game from Smithsonian called “Pick Your Plate” to stimulate conversation around healthy food and how people across the globe might access it.
- Show this inspirational video for possible ways to help solve the global issue of accessing healthy food and hold a question and answer session with students to get them thinking about what they could invent to address this issue.
- Sharon Klotz, Head of Invention Education at the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation
- Laura Woodside, Senior Vice President of Education Products at Cricket Media, Inc.
- Patricia Genovese, Teacher of Past Winners from California
About the Invent It Challenge
Each year, the Lemelson Center and Cricket Media develop a theme related to an important global issue. By choosing themes that address significant global issues, the Invent It Challenge allows students to realize they can make an important difference in their world by applying their skills, knowledge, and creativity to come up with solutions to the challenges people around the world face daily. The 2020 theme focuses on what students can invent to help improve people’s access to healthy food. The fact that approximately 25% of the world’s 7.8 billion people struggle to access safe, nutritious food illustrates the importance and global nature of this issue.
Credit: Cricket Media, Inc.
To submit an entry, students have to follow the Lemelson Center’s 7-Step Invention Process and document their progress through each step in a PowerPoint or video. To help them get started, students should review the Entry Guide, which includes everything they’ll need:
- A list of Topics and Resources to help them generate ideas,
- an Inventor’s Notebook to help them keep track of their progress through the seven steps,
- and a Rubric to help them self-assess.
Questions before the webinar? Email affiliates@si.edu.
Credit: Cricket Media, Inc.
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