What makes a good invention?

The start of the quarter delivered a new group of students to Math Literacy. The Invention Design Challenge Project has been incredibly successful the last two quarters and students today were excited to be able to get the project started after what their peers have shared. Students are always the best avenue for advertisement :-) I even had a few students who already had invention ideas ready to go for today!

Today's entry event: What makes a good invention?

1. Students brainstormed five characteristics of good inventions on their own.
2. Students broke up into groups of three each with a specific role: manager, reporter, and speaker.
3. Students shared their five ideas with each other and discussed common themes.
4. Students collaborated to determine a group list of the top five characteristics of good inventions.
5. They used their new group list to evaluate a cell phone and then a magnet using a Likert scale for each characteristic. The cell phone earned mostly 4's while the magnet earned mostly 3's.
6. The discussion evolved into what makes an invention useful.

Tomorrow we'll further evaluate the concept of a "good invention" and then watch the "Smart Wheel" invention pitch from "Shark Tank."

Individual evaluation vs. overall team score

One group working to create a new top five list

Second quarter project: Mars Miniature Golf Design Challenge

This was one of the original ideas for first quarter, but didn't quite fit.  After obsessively playing miniature golf online on www.mini-putt.org, I decided to research ways to incorporate designing a miniature golf course into a project.  I found a gem online with exactly what I was looking for: it included the common core standards, mathematical practices standards, and an exemplary detailed possible solution for reference. A hole in one!  See the link below to view the drafted details of the project or click HERE.

Project Planning Form - Mars Miniature Golf Design Challenge
Mars Miniature Golf Challenge

First quarter project: NASA Rover Challenge

Over the past several weeks I've been brainstorming ideas for the 1st quarter project involving integers and the coordinate plane with an aerospace flavor.  I partially filled out project planning forms for a few initial ideas: "Mars Urban Planning Challenge" and "Mars Mini-Putt Design Challenge."  After continued research and brainstorming, I encountered a rover game on NASA's website and decided to turn it into an extended project.  I borrowed some ideas from the GTT teacher for the project sheet.  I'm still finalizing the project planning form.  Click on the "NASA Rover Challenge" link below to view the project record sheet or click HERE.

Here are the drafted forms for the project:
NASA Rover Challenge
Command Sequence Record Sheet
Terrain Budget Record Sheet
Collaboration Rubric
Sojourner Rover Model
10 x 10 Coordinate Grids (for possible solutions)
10 x 10 Grid - Final Terrain Design