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Expeditions Through the Imagination

Imagination Station

Brainstorm Inventions

Think about everyday things you do. Can you change them in some way to make it easier? Create a chat room by:

  • Clicking on the Chat icon on the side of this page
  • Click on "Create a chat"
  • type in a name for your room
  • meet with friends to discuss your ideas.
  • Leave your ideas in the chat room for others to see and use as an inspiration
  • If you want a copy of your list, click on the "^Chat Log" button, and then
  • click on "Print" on your browser
  • If you'd like to share your ideas with us, copy and paste your ideas from the Chat room into the Message Center under Chapter Six "Brainstorming Inventions".

Or look at National Geographics "Vision of the Future" page for ideas.

Investigate Inventors and their Inventions

If you would like to be an inventor, you should investigate other inventors. You can click on the Inventors page for links to a timeline of inventions, an alphabetical listing of inventors, and many other links.

Create your own invention

Before you can invent, you should also research to gather data about your invention. Use the search engines and tips in the Scribe's Search Engine Help Page.

Check to see if anyone has already thought of the idea. Visit this page from the US Postal Service about getting a patent for inventions.

Planning your invention

 

Think about the steps your would use to produce your invention. Here are a few links to show how products are made from raw materials to the final product;

How paper is Made - from the Wisconsin Paper Council
What it takes to be an Inventor - some suggestions from the 3M company on what they look for in an inventor
A Trashasaurus - learn how one class created a sculpture from recycled materials and achieved world fame.
Learn how Basic machines work. Then use these machines in your invention.

Advertising your invention
Now that you have decided on your invention, write a short description of it. Click on the vote button on the right, choose the vote topic called "What is the best invention?"

Then write a more detailed description of your invention, trying to persuade others that it is a good idea. Copy and paste your detailed description into the Message Center under Chapter 6 - "Invention Gazette".

OR you can create a POD to sell your invention. Use the skills you learned in Chapter 5 for creating the POD. You can see a sample Invention POD here.

Producing your invention

Now that you have an invention.....You can take the following steps to make it become a real invention:

1. Create a Business Plan with a little help from the Small Business Adminstration.
2. To Apply for a patent start with the help pages for Independent Inventors at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Want more practice with Inventions? Head onto the Transportation Station to create a vehicle of the Future!



Meet the author
Dr. Barbara Boksz

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Email the author
barb@learningbyts.net
cybrscrybe@verizon.net
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