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An invention to change the world

Inventions to change the world

We have learnt about the importance of inventions and machines along the history. Once something was invented a concrete part of our daily life was easier, because most of the inventions or discoveries were done to facilitate people's life. 

For example: When the wheel was invented, it was easier to go from one place to another. And also it was easier to move very heavy weights. 

A person wondering and having ideas.
mohamed_hassan. Idea (Public Domain)

Task

Duration:
4 lessons
Grouping:
Pairs

Now it is time we are going to become inventors. We are going to create an invention with the following characteristics:

  • It should be a complex machine.
  • It may have at least two simple machines. 
  • It should be something new. It shouldn't be copied from other inventions.
  • We need to explain how it works and how it improves our daily lives. 
A man following a rocket
Peggy_Marco. Modelo 3D (Public Domain)

If we follow the following steps it is going to be easier to achieve our final aim:

  1. Try to design your invention into a piece of paper. It is going to be a first draft so don't worry about erasing or changing whatever you think you can improve later. 
  2. It is time to start creating a 3D model of the invention. It would be great if you reuse materials like plastic bottles, a box you are going to put into the paperbin, ...
  3. Once you have finished the model, you are going to prepare a short presentation to explain:
    • How it is made (materials, simple machines it includes,....)
    • How it works (explain the process)
    • How it improves our daily life. 
    • You can use the following paragraph to guide your explanation: "Hello, my name is .......................... I would like to present my invention. I called it................... It is made of  .............................................(different materials). It includes  .................................................. (the simple machines included). It starts working when...................................... Then it ......................................................................... This invention is important because ...................................... (the improvements it offers to our daily life)"
  4. You are going to record a video about the invention.
  5. Finally, we can organize a Science Fair in which each group introduce its invention.  
A bulb above a blackboard with a design
markmags. Science (Public Domain)

TIPS FOR RECORDING: There are lots of tools for recording, just in case we need any help we propose to use Flipgrid.

Thinking about my learning

It is time to reflect about our learning today. Remind that everyday at the end of each lesson we will write on our Learning Diary asking the following questions:

  • Date.
  • What have I done?
  • What problems did I have? How did I solve these problems?
  • What have I learnt?
  • How can I improve my learning for the next lesson?
  • Do I want to learn a bit more about something?

Our teacher will check it and give us some feedback to help our improvements. 

There is an special document to reflex about all the process of learning we have done along this project. With the following document we will be able to think about what we have done and how we will use it for.  

How does my knowledge grow? The ladder of metacognition (download in editable odt format, download in pdf).