Inventors Congress Questions/Information:
1. Please do not stress or allow your child to stress over this project. It is supposed to be fun. We are not expecting or anticipating brand new, amazing inventions. Some of the best inventions have not cost a thing. I have had kids get good grades and their invention stopped working or didn’t work properly when it was at school. It’s about the process and not some big dazzling display.
2. Parents can definitely help and guide, but please don’t do it for your child. You can give ideas and use tools that kids are too young for, but please make sure they are with you throughout the process.
3. Posterboards can be purchased at school for $3.50 on December 22nd or after the break, or you can buy one or provide one on your own. A gate fold type poster board works best. There is not one specific look that it needs to have.
4. A parent packet has been sent home. Please familiarize yourself and your child with it.
5. The poster board format is in the parent packet. We would like the poster boards to look similar to those in regards to the way it is set up.
6. Grades are figured by using the poster board, speech and most importantly the log book. The log book tells the tale of how much effort a student has put into it. We don’t expect every single line to be filled out in the log book, but the large majority of it should be filled out. One or two sentences for each question just isn’t enough. Kids can skip around. I encourage kids to do a little bit each day.
7. A few log book questions usually give kids some problems. Page 1 is just asking kids problems they would like to solve. All inventions have solved a problem or made something easier. The invention your child picks is solving a problem. The 2nd part ( Another problem....) is a problem they would like to solve ( for example one little girl wanted to walk her dog at night. She went on to explain the problems). page 2 are the solutions or answers to the two on page one.
8. Poster board paragraphs should be a minimum of five sentences. The more details the better chance of a top quality project. These paragraphs need to be typed at home. If your child doesn’t have access to a computer they can write the paragraphs at home and we can find time for them to type the paragraphs at school.
9. Your child’s speech will be given the week of the Inventor’s Congress and we will discuss it with them more after break.
10. Getting an idea for an invention is often times the toughest part of Inventors Congress. Combining things that are already invented is often times the best way to go. The little girl mentioned earlier who wanted to walk her dog at night took a dog leash, some Christmas lights and found a way to make it battery powered. None of the things she used were new, but her idea was, and that was the important part. Another student had a Dad who was a poor putter in golf. The student took a putter, glued a mirror to the head of the putter, and a laser pointer to the shaft. The light in turn created a line where to hit the ball. Again, all of the items used were not new and were not invented by the student. One of the best inventions of all time was one of the most simple that I have seen. A student was tired of trying to get straight one dollar bills for the vending machine. He took an old cheese grater, and some tin foil and made an area between the foil and cheese grater that he could run the dollar through to straighten it. Simple, but brilliant. His speech was great with a wonderful poster board, paragraphs and log book.
11. We are asking that there be no recipes or games.
12. We need them to have a working model preferably. One student one year had a clay model of something that would take away world hunger. That’s a great idea in theory, and a bit unrealistic, but the problem was they couldn’t show us how it worked.
13. Failure is not a bad thing. All inventors fail.
14. Most important- Start early - watch for deadlines!!!
15. Important dates.
A. Invention proposals were due December 18th. If your child doesn’t have one by this date there still is time. Parents should check in with them to see what their plan is and where they are at.
B. Inventions, poster boards, log books are due at school January 13th
C. Inventors Congress is at school on Friday, January 22th with the time to be determined later.
If you have any other questions please let us know.
Thanks!
