HIT---> Inventions

[Melba Tomeo <TOMES1@AOL.COM>]

Thanks to all who generously shared ideas for a thematic unit on inventions.
 I have summarized some of these suggestions below.  Please contact me
directly if you have further questions.  (Our teachers were so impressed with
the responses and the "global" nature of the listserv!)
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RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:
The Way Things Work CD-ROM
Weird and Wacky Inventions
Famous First Facts
Grade Expectations:  A Multicultural Handbook for Teachers, newly published
and uses inventions as a vehicle to study accomplishments and contributions
of diverse cultures.
Local Public Library or Speakers Bureau to contact inventors
Invention Convention videos and activities (don't have info on this)
Inventors Hall of Fame supposed to be in Ohio?
Videos from Letterman, etc. when young inventors are on
Discovery Channel series "Invention"

RECOMMENDED ACTIVITIES:
Research papers on inventions and/or inventors (with illustrations, posters,
etc.)
Timeline of inventions
Presentation dressed as particular inventor
Invention museum
Bring in "antique" items and have students guess their past use
Explain how chosen invention has changed our lives
Check current manufacturers (Thomas Register) and write letters
Tie in with local history
Explain researched invention on one side of large index card, illustrate on
other;
  alternately displayed on large library windows
Booktalks such as Freedman's Wright Brothers
Student inventions
Multicultural Hall of Inventors by having students make free-standing
cardboard displays

The multicultural approach was quite interesting and included a list of
inventors from different countries.  Another facet of that research was
tracing the development and impact of an invention like paper--which leads to
ink, printmaking, calligraphy, etc.

Thanks to all of you--I wasn't sure about proper protocol in naming
individuals--but you know who you are.  You are GREAT!

Melba Tomeo
Slippery Rock Middle School
Slippery Rock, PA