"Unique Ideas To Put Economic,
Entrepreneurship and Innovations into
the School Classroom"
Presented to
Dr. Fred Carr
Center for Economic Education
The University of Akron
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
Course Ed.590 "Economics and Entrepreneurship
and Innovative Workshop"
Sue Lyons
November, 1989
THE FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM MADE SIMPLE
INTRODUCTION
This project could be implemented in sixth to twelfth
grade. It proposes that a particular class is going to develop
a unit on "Free Enterprise" to teach to younger students. This
project could be done in any subject classroom, but it would
correspond highly with most Social Studies curriculums.
The students who will study and develop this unit will
spend
three weeks researching and planning. Then they will go into
the elementary school and present their unit to a younger
class. These arrangements must be made in advance between the
building administrators and cooperating teachers. GOALS AND
OBJECTIVES
The goal is to have an eighth grade social studies
class research, develop, design, and present a unit on
"The Free Enterprise System" to a fourth grade class.
The four main objectives are:
1.
to have eighth grade students learn all about free
enterprise. (When you must teach about a subject, you
learn it in more depth.)
2.
to assist students in understanding and appreciating
how the free enterprise system really works.
3.
to have students develop plans and various projects
to teach fourth graders about free enterprise in a
simple way.
4.
to provide students the opportunity to share the
knowledge they have just learned.
PROCEDURES AND ACTIVITIES
In the first week students will study and discuss information about free enterprise. This
can be in the form of lectures, films, videos, resource books, guest
speakers, etc.
During the second week, students can work in small groups
solving various tasks. They must decide whether their presentation on free enterprise is going to be in the form of:
1.
lectures and examples
2.
3.
several small projects
one major project that takes students step by step
through free enterprise
Some of the tasks each group will work on might be:
1.
Objectives of the unit they will teach
2.
Which subject matter to actually cover
3.
Activities for the 4th graders
4.
Pre and Post tests
5.
Audio-visual materials
6.
Bulletin boards and displays
7.
Vocabulary lists
8.
Discussions
9.
Future projects the 4th grade teacher may want
to continue
10. Evaluation of the unit (by 4th and 8th graders)
Students will finalize all of their group plans during
the third week. All displays and projects will be completed.
Students will practice role playing their presentations.
These practice sessions could be videotaped so students could
review and evaluate themselves.
The culminating activity will be presenting and teaching the free enterprise unit to a fourth
grade class. The class will meet for one hour each day. Each group of students will make their
presentations that they planned and designed.
EVALUATION
There will be four separate evaluations:
1.
The eighth grade students will be evaluated by the
teacher on the entire four week unit.
2.
The eighth graders will evaluate the unit itself and
also their own performance in the fourth grade
classroom.
3.
The fourth graders will evaluate the unit, which was
presented to them.
4.
The fourth grade teacher will evaluate the presentations
made by the eighth graders to his/her class.
An Inter-disciplinary Unit on
"INVENTIONS"
This inter-disciplinary unit will involve all sixth grades
teachers and students. The unit will last one week.
Purpose:
Goal:
To have students participate in a new movement in
America on inventing. To familiarize teachers with
"Invent America." "Invent America" is a national
contest to encourage students to become involved in
inventing.
To have students become aware of the many
inventions and with the process of inventing.
Objectives:
Evaluation:
1.
Students will become familiar with major
inventions, inventors, and U. S. Patents.
2.
Students will acquire an appreciation of
modern conveniences.
3.
Students will be aware of the scientific
principles behind major inventions.
4.
Students will understand the large scope of
the many inventions contributing to modern
life.
Students will develop their own inventions.
Students will be evaluated on their time line,
news release, math projects, oral book
presentation, and their inventions.
5.
1.
2.
3.
Students will complete 2 appraisals:
a.)
self-appraisal of individual performance
b.)
questionnaire to rate the invention unit
Staff and administrators will evaluate the
invention unit.
4.
Possible pre- and post-tests
Culminating Activity:
"Invention Cenvention"
Resources:
Optional Activities:
All students will create an invention and display it in
one of the following forms:
1. Poster-including diagrams and
descriptions
2. Written report with drawings
3. Physical project with explanations
Sally Patton & Margaret Maletis "Inventors"
1979 Zephyr Press
Dianne Draze "Inventions, Inventors &
You" 1985 Dandy Lion Publications
Don Wulff son "The Invention of Ordinary
Things" 1981 Creative Learning Systems
Steven Caney
"Invention Book 1985
Zephyr Press
Bob Stanish "The Unconventional Invention
Book" 1981 Good Apple
Film "Inventions in America's Growth" K. S. U.
Library
Additional reference books in the Tallmadge
Middle School Library
1. Guest speaker - Ned Oldham, patent attorney
responsible for bringing Inventors Hall of Fame
to Akron.
2.
Future field trip to Inventors Hall of Fame (in 2
years or more).
3.
Create learning centers about
inventors/inventions.
4.
Raise money for the new Inventors Hall of
Fame.
5.
Pre-test and post-test all students.
SUBJECT
SCIENCE
SOCIAL
STUDIES
CONTENT
6th Grade
"Invention Unit"
One Week
Major inventions that revolutionized the world
File - "Inventions in America's Growth"
Scientific principles of major inventions
Future inventions (to modernize schools and
households)
- demonstrations of some inventions
- students will make lists of school, household
chores & everyday activities that could be
improved
History of famous inventors
Modern day inventors
Students will work in small groups (2-4) and
select an inventor to study.
Discussion about future needs and inventions
Future predictions of inventions
News releases on famous inventions
Famous patents
Steps of legal patents (U. S. Patent Office
Info.)
4 groups in each class will work on:
1) History of news releases
2) Elements of news releases
3) History of famous patents
4) Steps securing legal patents
History of number systems - Egyptian, Arabic,
Roman, etc.
Students will work in small groups studying
ancient and modern number systems
LANGUAGE
ARTS
PROCESS
MATH
Biographies of inventors
PRODUCT
Students will
invention.
"Invention Co
Each group wi
inventions.
Time line wil
and predictio
First two com
release for t
Second 2 grou
and awards fo
Convention."
Two projects
Students will select a book from a given list
and read the book within the time limit
1) Create mat
using ancient
classes will
2) Create a n
Students will
first person.
Students will do small individual research
papers on selected invention(s),
Students will also draw the inventions,
Students will compare ordinary inventions with
major inventions in discussion,
Props, costum
Students will
creative mann
first person,
Their researc
a book.
New number systems - Base 2, Computer language
Future inventions of new number systems
READING
I
Books on inventions
Small common inventions
G/T
CLASS
Major inventions
WHAT IS INVENTIVE THINKING?
Inventive thinking is concerned with the creation of unique products. It is the
intellectual operation of one process (or a combination of several processes), which
results in originality. The inventive processes used and encouraged in this book are
REVERSING, DESIGNING, REDESIGNING, FINDING NEW USES, IMPROVING and
INVENTING.
REVERSING means ..................... trying opposite approaches,
............................................................. such as zag before you zig,
. changing things around,
. making the negative positive
. and the positive negative,
. turning things upside down,
. outside in and inside out.
REVERSING, under certain circumstances, may be a viable solution to a
problem or a way of making things work better. It is extremely useful as a device for
generating ideas and gaining information about whatever is being investigated.
REVERSING is a wonderful vehicle for expanding alternatives and gathering data.
"INVENTORS"
5
DESIGNING means ............... Converging and constructing,
........................................................ arranging smaller ideas to form a
. larger idea,
. laying out patterns,
. making things fit,
. mixing things for a blend,
. thinking of a way to do something.
DESIGNING is the act of using what's usable. It is the placement of pieces to
form a statement: the converging after the diverging.
REDESIGNING means... creating new patterns from existing ones by
shuffling parts, by rearranging things,
by making modifications (like making things bigger or smaller), or by
putting things in or taking things out.
REDESIGNING is at the heart of the inventive process because it implies that
there ARE other ways of doing things! REDESIGNING requires manipulation of intellectual
concepts before improvement on something it attempted.
FINDING NEW USES means... putting to a use other than what was
intended,
making things flexible,
thinking across categories, looking at
something in a different way, doing something
in a different way, discovering the "aha!" in
things.
FINDING NEW USES for things requires flexibility. Looking at things from
many different frames of reference and from many different angles will promote and
generate new ideas and will spark new insights.
"INVENTORS"
IMPROVING means... advancing the quality of things by searching for,
reaching, finding solutions through
refinement, finding better ways of doing
things.
The act of IMPROVING things really includes problem-solving processes! It involves
the asking of questions such as: "What is it I want to improve?" "Why do I want to improve it?"
"What's the best way of improving it?" "How many ways are there to improve it?" "How will I
know if I have improved it?" "Am I satisfied with the improvement?"
INVENTING means ...................... taking provocative leaps,
............................................................. thinking laterally', then vertically,
............................................................. trying the unconventional by challenging
............................................................. accepted concepts,
............................................................. visualizing what's behind and beyond
............................................................. closed doors,
............................................................. making the unfamiliar familiar and
............................................................. the familiar unfamiliar,
............................................................. for building up, sorting through, and
............................................................. selecting ideas to make things work.
INVENTING is putting the processes together to form a statement of original
thought. It's the visualization of how something might function and planning a way to make it
function.
'Edward de Bono uses the words "lateral thinking" to distinguish between the "natural
gift-artistic production" concept of the word CREATIVITY and the processes associated with
creative thinking. The implication is that "lateral thinking" generates ideas while "vertical
thinking" (logical thinking) develops them. (See Lateral Thinking, Creativity, Step by Step,
1973.)
"INVENTORS"
7
HOW TO GENERATE STUDENT
INVENTIVENESS
The inventive processes described on the previous pages can be applied to a wide
assortment of tasks. As the teacher encourages these six processes (REVERSING,
DESIGNING. REDESIGNING, FINDING NEW IDEAS, IMPROVING, INVENTING), it is
important to cultivate, as well, the processes of creative thinking. For it is by watching these
that we can measure a student's inventiveness.
These creative thinking processes are as follows:
FLUENCY ...................... the production of a large number of ideas, pro........................................ ducts or plans
FLEXIBILITY .................. the production of ideas or products that show a
. variety of possibilities or realms of thought
ORIGINALITY ................ the production of ideas that are unique or
. unusual
ELABORATION ............. the production of ideas that display intensive
............................................ detail or enrichment
The special classroom activities described on the following pages are suggested because
they will help teachers lead students toward increased creative and inventive thinking. These
eight techniques described should ever be a part of classroom experience. Read them
carefully, keep them in your mind, and incorporate them consistently into classroom activities
within all subject areas!
8
"INVENTORS"
Invention Categories
Name
Engineering
nzrgy
Personal
-
edjcáf
For each category, name at least one invention that has been developed in the last 50 years and one invention
that you would like to see invented in the next 50 years.
Category
Engineering
Food Preparation
Energy
Transportation
Communication
Farming
Medical
Home
Office
Recreation/ Toys
Personal
Entertainment
Last 50 years
© 1985 Dandy Lion PubIications-Inventions, Inventors and You
Next 50 years
27
Headline
Name
Choose one of the following headlines and write the news
story that gives all the facts.
Edison Electrifies Lighting
Light Forms Laser
Transistor Replaces Vacuum Tube
Atomic Power Unleashed
Television Promises New Horizons
Cotton Gin Revolutionizes Agriculture
Fulton's Folly
Tom Thumb Chugs Along
Telephone Will Replace Telegraph
© 1985 Dandy Lion Publications-Inventions, Inventors and You
33
You, the Inventor
Be an inventor! Invent something new and unique!
Use this form to describe your invention.
Name of invention
Description
Purpose
Who will use this?
Why is it needed?
How does it work?
Diagram of invention - Use another piece of paper to make a diagram of your invention. Label all important
parts.
¿) 1985 Dandy Lion Publications-Inventions, Inventors and You
Name of inventor
35
Planning Sheet for Report on an Invention
Name
Invention
Date of invention
Name of inventor
Important contributions that lead to the invention
Invention.
Notebook
How the invention changed the world
Why the invention is important today
How it works
Other topics to research and include in your report:
- Diagram of how the invention works
- How it has changed since it was first invented
- Other inventions by the same inventor
- Forecast for the future of this invention
- Timeline that shows developments that lead up to this invention and subsequent improvements
- List of all ideas or technology that was necessary before this invention could be developed
- Other inventors connected with this invention
• Reasons why the invention is important
• How you could change this invention to make it better
1985 Dandy Lion Publications-Inventions, Inventors and You
36
Planning Sheet for Report on an
Inventor
Name
Name of Inventor
When inventor lived
Where inventor lived
Facts about childhood
Training or schooling
Jobs the inventor held
Important inventions and dates of invention
Interesting or amusing facts or stories about the inventor or about how the inventor made his discovery
Other topics to research and include in the report:
- How was the inventor helped by other people?
- How was the invention accepted by people at the time it was first introduced?
- Were other people working on the same invention? If so, why did this inventor get credit for it?
• Did the inventor get rich on the invention?
• What important lessons can you learn from this person?
© 1985 Dandy Lion Publications-Inventions, Inventors and You
37
Great Moments in History
Think About:
History is full of interesting stories about
inventions. There are stories of dreams or
observations that lead to breakthroughs, accidents
that resulted in innovations, and instances of
individual perservance and cooperative teamwork.
Is Z-)
Something to do: Produce and present a "you are
there" newscast in which you reenact scenes from
the lives of inventors.
Some ideas might be: Goodyear spilling the
compound that lead to the discovery of
vulcanized rubber. Elias Howe explaining his
dream that lead to the development of the
sewing machine Alexander Graham Bell's first
words on the telephone.
Invention Process
Think About:
What steps does an inventor go through? Is inventing a random process? Can people learn to be inventors?
How can the inventing process be applied to solving problems in general?
Something to do:
Make a flow chart that shows the process one would follow from initially thinking about a problem to the final
step of selling the invention.
In What Ways
Might We
Think About:
While we usually do things in the same,
traditional manner, there are many ways of
accomplishing everyday tasks. By thinking of
different ways of doing things, inventors sometimes
think of better ways to do things.
Something to do:
Choose one of the following things and list as many
ways as possible to accomplish this task. When you
have listed all the usual ways of doing these things,
think of usual or creative ways of doing it. open a
can get from here to there sharpen a pencil fasten
tennis shoes entertain a small child lift 2000 ninth
nki
12
Analyzing
an
Invention
2. Make a timeline that shows how it has developed
or changed.
3. Tell what the effects would be if it were to
suddenly disappear.
4. Tell how it could be changed to solve a problem
that exists in our world today.
5. List ten interesting facts about it.
6. Make a "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow"
poster that shows how the invention looked
when it was first invented, what it looks like
today, and what it might look like in the future.
Think About:
An invention is something that is new and
original. Most inventions are attempts to simplify
work or accomplish more work with the same (or
less) input of energy. Many inventions are merely
changes or improvements of existing items.
Something to do: Choose an invention and do two
of the following: 1. Make a chart that shows how ¡t
works.
Patent Pending
Think About:
What is a patent? Where do you get one? Why do you get one? How long does a patent last?
Something to do:
Make a flowchart that shows the procedure for getting a patent.
o
Categories
Think About:
The Patent Office divides inventions into sixteen
areas. Some of these categories are
transportation, communications, power generation,
farming, toys, personal, entertainment, and office.
There are, however, many ways to think about
inventions-useful, frivolous, mechanical,
non-mechanical, life-saving, time-saving, etc.
Something to do:
Find or make a long list of inventions.
Decide on a way to divide inventions into groups.
Use these categories to divide your list of
inventions into groups.
57
INVENTIONS, INVENTORS AND YOU"
you may just describe the function of the machine
instead of how it works in detail.
Inventor's Award
Think About:
Who was the
greatest inventor?
Why was he/she
the greatest?
Think About:
What problems do we have now? What
things could be improved? How can
inventive minds solve problems?
Something to do:
Make an award for the
"Greatest Inventor." Tell
who you would give this
award to. Tell why you
chose this person.
Needed Now!
Rube Goldberg
History:
Rube Goldberg was not really an inventor. He
was a cartoonist who drew inventions or
machines. These inventions performed a simple
task in a very complicated manner.
Something to do:
Study several Rube Goldberg drawings.
Design your own Rube Goldberg
machine to do one of the following
things.
crack an egg
feed your pet
sharpen a pencil
wake you up
extinguish a flame on a candle
bring in the newspaper
Something to do: Make a long list of
problems that we now face as individuals or
as members of a community or as
residents of earth.
Choose five of the problems and describe what
kind of an invention would help solve each
problem. The inventions can be imaginative, and
"INVENTIONS, INVENTORS AND YOU"
Make a drawing of your invention and explain how
it works.
55
Invention Patent
Patent Number
The Office of Creativity and Invention is happy to
issue a patent to
Invention name
for the following invention.
Description The Office of Creativity and Invention finds that this is an original
and useful invention.
The holder of this patent is the sole owner of rights of production and
sales. This patent
is good for a period of 9 months or until the end of the present school
year.
signature of patent officer
Date of issue
Inventions Reference List
The following is a list of inventions, inventors and dates of invention for some of the most important or
well-known inventions. In cases where the invention was a result of a series of developments by several people,
all these have been noted.
Invention
Abacus
Airplane
Inventor
Chinese
Orville and Wilbur Wright
Date
c.500 B.C.
1903
Aqua-lung
Atomic reactor
Automobile engine
Balloon flight
Ballpoint pen
Barbed wire
Battery
(electric)
Bicycle
Braille
Calculating machine
Camera
(Kodak)
(Polaroid)
Cement
Compass
Computer
(digital computing machine)
(automatic digital)
(electronic)
Cotton gin
Cyclotron
Diesel engine
Dynamite
Electric power system
Electron microscope
Elevator
Eye glasses
Fireworks
Fluorescent lights
Frozen food
Gasoline engine
Gears
Glass
Glue
Hearing aid
Horse shoe
Ice cream
Ink
Jeans
Jet engine
Knife
Laser
Lightning conductor
Linotype
Mass assembly method
Cousteau and Gagnan
Enrico Fermi
Daimler and Benz
J. Montgolfier
Laszlo Biro
Joseph Glidden
Luigi Galvani
Alessandro Volta
Karl von Sauerbronn
Louis Braille
Blaise Pascal
Niece arid Daguerre
George Eastman
Edwin Land
Joseph Aspdin
Chinese
1942
1942
1887
1783
1935
1873
1786
1800
1816
1822
1642
1822
1888
1947
1824
c.1000
Charles Babbage
Howard Aiken
Eckert and Mauchley
Eli Whitney
Ernest Lawrence
Roudoif Diesel
Alfred Nobel
Westinghouse
Vladimir Zworykin
Elisha Otis
Italians
Chinese
Alexandre Becquerel
Clarence Birdseye
Jean Lenoir
Chinese
Asians
prehistoric people
Miller Hutchinson
Romans
Romans
Chinese and Egyptians
Levi Strauss
Frank Whittle
Stone Age people
Theodore Maiman
Benjamin Franklin
Otto Mergenthaler
Henry Ford
1823
1944
1946
1793
1931
1897
1867
1888
1939
1853
c.1200
1000
1859
1925
1859
c.3000 B.C.
c.1500 B.C.
1902
c.100 A.D.
c.100 A.D.
c.2500 B.C.
1850
1930
1960
1752
1886
1896
62
"INVENTIONS, INVENTORS AND YOU"
Match
(safety)
Microscope
Movable type printing press
Money (metal)
Money (paper)
Motorcycle
Nails
Paper
Phonograph
Plow (steele)
Potato chips
Radar
Radio(triode)
Radio telegraph (wireless)
Reaper
Refrigerator
Revolver gun
John Walker
Gustave Pasch
Zacharias Janssen
Johann Gutenberg
Chinese
Egyptians
Chinese
Edward Butler
Middle Eastern people
Chinese
Thomas Edison
John Deere
George Crum
Young and Taylor
Lee de Forest
Guglielmo Marconi
Cyrus McCormick
Ferdinand Carre
Samuel Colt
1827
1844
1600
1450
c.1040
c.2500 B.C.
c.1200
1885
c.3000 B.C.
c.100 A.D.
1877
1837
1853
1933
1906
1895
1834
1858
1836
Rocket
Roller skates
Rubber (vulcanized)
Safety pins
Safety razor
Screw (water raising)
Sewing machine
Soap
Steam engine
Steam boat
Submarine
Telegraph
Telephone
Telescope
Television
Typewriter
Transistor
Vacuum cleaner
Vaccination
Vacuum tube (triode)
Velcro fasteners
Washing machine
Wheel
Xerographic copier
X-ray
Zipper
Goddard
Chinese
Joseph Merlin
Charles Goodyear
Walter Hunt
King C. Gillette
Archimedes
Elias Howe
Thomas Saint
Middle Eastern people
James Watt
Thomas Newcomen
Robert Fulton
Nautilus
John Holland
Samuel Morse
Alexander Graham Bell
Isaac Newton
John Baird
Vladimir Zworykin
Paul Nipkow
Philo Farnsworth
C. L. Sholes
Shockly, Bardeen, Brattain
Cecil Booth
Dr. Edward Jenner
Lee deForest
George de Mestral
Hamilton Smith
Asians
Chester Carlson
Roentgen
Whitcomb Judson
63
"INVENTIONS, INVENTORS AND YOU"
1926
c.1100
1760
1839
1849
1895
c.200 B.C.
1846
1790
c.3000 B.C.
1765
1712
1787
1954
1898
1836
1876
1608
1926
1923
1884
1930
1867
1948
1901
1796
1906
1956
1858
c.3000 B.C.
1948
1895
1892