DESCRIPTION
Invention and Innovation
Intended Audience
7th Grade students (no prerequisite)
Course Overview
Invention and Innovation provides students with opportunities
to apply the design process in the invention or innovation
of a new product, process, or system. In this course, stu¬dents
will learn all about invention and innovation. They will have
opportunities to study the history of inventions and innovations,
including their impacts on society. They will learn about
the core concepts of technology. and about the various approaches
to solving problems, including engineering design and experimentation.
Students will apply their creativity in the invention and
innovation of new products, processes, or systems. Finally,
students learn about how various inventions and innovations
impact their lives. Students participate in engineering-design
activities to understand how criteria, constraints, and processes
affect designs. Students are involved in activities and experiences
where they learn about brainstorming, visualizing, modeling,
constructing, testing, experimenting, and refining designs.
Students also develop skills in researching for information,
communicating design information, and reporting results.
Course Length
18 weeks recommended
Connections
Invention and Innovation builds on K-6 experiences as well
as those in Exploring Technology and develops a student’s
understanding of the scope of technology and the iterative
nature of technological design and problem-solving processes.
Likewise, students participate in engineering-design activities
to understand how criteria, constraints, and processes affect
designs. Students will be involved in activities and experiences
where they learn about brainstorming, visualizing, modeling,
constructing, testing, experiment¬ing, and refining designs.
Students will also develop skills in researching for information.
communicating design information, and reporting results.
Invention and innovation provides the foundation for future
studies in the sequence. Students learn how Technology, Innovation,
Design, and Engineering interrelate and are interdependent.
