Inventions Have Improved Our Lives in Many Ways

Thanks to creative inventors, our lives have been improved in many ways.  What would we do without the light bulb or the automobile?  Inventors have also created things that make life easier or more entertaining such as Velcro and Etch-A-Sketch.  

Life With the Invention	Life Without the Invention

Your Part:

In this project you'll have the opportunity to learn about inventors and their fascinating inventions.  You'll also get to select an inventor to explore deeply and create a booklet page about.  All the pages will be assembled into a class book, which you'll get your very own copy of!  Let's get started!

Project Steps:

1. Do the Inventor Match-Up!  Complete the Inventor Match-Up your teacher gives you by visiting the following inventor hyperlinks.

	National Inventors Hall of Fame http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/1_1_search.asp
	Enter what you're looking for in the Search box at this web site.  It can be either the last name of the inventor or the name of the invention.
	The Invention Dimension http://web.mit.edu/invent/www/archive.html
	Search alphabetically for either inventors or inventions.
	Zoom Inventors & Inventions http://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/
	Search alphabetically for inventors or inventions.  You can also search by category such as food, communication, or transportation.

2. Pick an inventor!  Now, select an inventor to learn more about.  It can be one that you learned about the the Inventor Match-Up, or someone new who you'd like to learn more about.  Try to pick a different inventor than your classmates.  If too many students pick the same inventor then our class book won't be very interesting!  Write your name and the name of the inventor you picked on the sheet that is passed around the room.

3. Research the inventor!  You've picked an inventor to learn more about.  Next, you need to research to learn about the inventor, his or her life, and his or her inventions.  Use the inventor Internet links listed above under number one as well as the search tools below to learn about your inventor.  Fill out the Inventor Research Guide as you find out details about your inventor.

	Ask Jeeves for Kids http://www.ajkids.com/
	The in a question and Ask Jeeves will give you a list of Internet links to help you find the answer.
	Yahooligans http://www.yahooligans.com/
	Type a topic in the Search box and Yahooligans will give you a list of web sites related to that topic.
	Encarta Encyclopedia http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/artcenter.aspx
	Enter the topic you are looking for information about in the Search MSN Learning & Research box and you will be given a list of resources about the topic.

4. Create your inventor booklet page!  Click here to see a sample Inventor Booklet page on Thomas Alva Edison.  Next, download the Inventor Booklet page template by clicking here.  Save it in your H drive.  Then, open up the template in Microsoft Word and begin working on your booklet page.

5. Proofread! Proofread your booklet page carefully for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors.  Ask a classmate to read it also and look for mistakes.

6. Present! Present your finished page to the class.