On the third, the students got to work in their Invention Convention Logbooks! The started by adding a Statement of Originality that says that the work in the book is all their own and any outside help is credited in the logbook. 

The first section of the logbook is Identifying and Understanding the Problem. Last week they learned that an invention is created to help solve a problem, so they brainstormed a list of problems that they care about. They then researched their problem of choice to get more background information on its impact. 

An optional, but encouraged, research step is for the inventor to interview/survey 1-3 people that could give them further insight on the problem they have selected.

This week, the students finalized the problem that they want to tackle and identified the desired outcome. Then it was time for the Ideating step of the process! In this step, they brainstormed as many solutions to their problems as possible, even if they were silly. Sometimes, silly ideas lead to ingenious solutions! Next, they picked their favorite idea and researched whether anything similar to their invention has ever been made. If so, they had to justify how their solution was different enough from the established solution.

After that, some students had to time to start the Designing step. This is where they draw a detailed diagram of their invention and explain how it works.

Some students have missed days over the last couple weeks. You can always reach out to me, and I can pass on the needed information for them to stay caught up at home, or they can just do their best to catch up when they return, though that might be a bit stressful.