Middle School Invention Convention
On Tuesday, March 5, the Aaron Middle School students participated in the Invention Convention, showcasing innovative inventions for parents, teachers, and classmates to see. From a cloning machine to glitter gloves, and repurposed recyclable items to a volleyball forearm sleeve, the Invention Convention was full of wonderful, original, and unique creations! In science, sixth and seventh grade students learned key words like brainstorm, prototype, hypothesis, and solution in order to complete the five main steps in the invention process.
First, students brainstormed different problems that they experience at home, in school, on the bus, or hear about on the news. Some problems that students came up with were traffic jams, the spread of germs, unhealthy eating, water damage, and fingernail biting. Students were amazed at how many problems – from minor to big – exist in the world!
Next, students thought of ideas that could solve the problems they had listed. Once they had a list of solutions, they began thinking of different inventions that they could produce for their Invention Convention project. After the students chose their solution, they began designing their prototype and how it would work. After designing, students created the prototype of their design. Once the prototype had been built, students completed the fifth and final step, which was to test their invention to see what worked and what needed improvement.
Students did a great job presenting their inventions to parents, teachers, and friends. It was certainly clear how hard all of the students in the Middle School worked on their projects. There were a total of 47 inventions made! Some of the inventions displayed were memory foam dog booties, solar-powered headphones, a nail biting preventative polish, an automatic page turner, a stimpak that cures wounds and chronic diseases, and an automatic exercise television.
Throughout the Convention, students were interviewed. When asked about what they learned from this experience, one seventh grader said, “I learned that I needed to take specific steps in order to successfully invent something. First, I needed to come up with an idea, create something, test it out, write down my results and data on paper, and then write down my conclusion and solution. Basically, I just followed the Scientific Method.” When asking about advice they would give to future inventors, one sixth grader said, “Inventing is a lot of fun, but it takes a lot of determination, effort, and hard work. So make sure you do something that you truly enjoy!”
