Bring Invention Education into the Classroom with Invention Project

From the earliest civilizations cultivating large fields to support centralized populations, to modern societies continuing to benefit from advances in medicine, technology and more, our history has been defined by continuous improvement.

This desire to improve has in turn helped make the world a better place by increasing the quality of life for millions of people across the world. However, our work is not done. Today, we face serious global challenges that demand creative solutions.

The world needs big ideas, and at the National Inventors Hall of Fame^® (NIHF), we believe the best way to prepare children for our increasingly complex future is to help them embrace their natural creativity through invention education.

What is Invention Education?

Invention education is an approach that taps into a student’s inborn creativity and guides them through the act of invention to develop a mindset that will help them navigate the complexities of their lives.

In contrast to passive learning strategies that task students with reaching predetermined answers, invention education is instead an open-ended approach to learning that challenges children to solve real-world problems by developing unique ideas and making their thinking visible by creating invention prototypes.

For over 30 years, NIHF has developed invention education curricula incorporating the lessons and stories of our world-changing NIHF Inductees. Their inspiring contributions have helped us to provide authentic invention education programming to millions of children all over the country.

The Power of Invention Education in the Classroom

To enable educators to provide essential social-emotional learning (SEL) experiences and help their students recover from pandemic-related learning losses, NIHF is proud to announce a program that brings invention education into the classroom for preschool through grade 8: the new Invention Project^®.

Composed of 25, six-hour modules, each of which includes resources that support easy in-person or virtual implementation, the curricula align with national and state education standards.

Providing developmentally appropriate instruction, the program keeps learners collaborating and gives them permission to take risks and dream big as they explore STEM concepts, solve real-world problems and bring their ideas to life through hands-on invention. Not only does this type of learning help build confidence, but by giving participants the opportunity to build invention prototypes that make people’s lives easier, they are also able to experience the benefits of authentic SEL.

Designed to adapt to the unique needs of your school district, each experience can also be either instructor-led or an asynchronous learning option.

Learn More About How Invention Project Can Transform Your School Year

To learn more about how you can give the gift of turnkey lessons to your educators and invention education to your students through Invention Project, we invite you to visit our website.