• Yes! Click the button below for some lesson plan ideas from Lemmelson, MIT.

• Judges are a vital part of the success of the South Bay Invention Convention! Volunteering with a group of co-workers, or as an individual, there are lots of fun opportunities to help our students invent the future! 

• No experience necessary!

• If you would like to judge or volunteer, please fill out this form – we would be honored to have you on our team.

• If you or someone you know would like to sponsor a portion of this event please fill out this form here! 

• Login to your zFairs account. Check the paperwork section. See this sheet for details. 

Confirmed school districts for the 2024 Invention Convention:

• Archdiocese of Los Angeles

• The Archer School for Girls

• Cardiff School District

• El Segundo Unified School District

• Fountain Valley School District

• Hawthorne School District

• Inglewood Unified School District

• Julia Lee Performing Arts

• Lawndale School District

• Los Angeles Unified School District

• Lucia Mar Unified School District

• Manhattan Beach Unified School District

• Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District

• Redondo Beach Unified School District

• Torrance Unified School District

• San Diego County

• San Diego Unified School District

• The Webb Schools

Teams are allowed to participate.

• Please note, if the team is selected for Nationals they will only be allowed to send a team of up to 4 members on. 

• Ask your teacher/school site first. If they are unable to answer your question you can contact:

TUSD Director of Curriculum: Katie Schenkelberg schenkelberg.katie@tusd.org

TUSD Science Resource Teachers: Adam and Marissa at scienceresourceteachers@tusd.org 

• You will think of a problem in your life – or in your parents’ lives – or in your friends’ lives – that is annoying and needs solving.

• You will design a solution to this problem.  Your teacher or your parents or another adult can help, but you must do the work.  That includes research to make sure this invention doesn’t already exist!  Or if it does exist, how does your solution improve the existing invention?

• Along the way, you will keep an Inventor’s Log describing each step in your process.

• You will build the invention (but keep the cost down – using recycled materials etc.).  You can get help from an adult, but most of the work should be yours.

• You will make a display board that tells the story of your invention, what it does, who might use it and you will demonstrate and explain your invention in your classroom.

• You will also have the opportunity to demonstrate and explain your invention at an Invention Convention – at your school or even at the California Invention Convention.

Intellectual property (IP) rights refers to the legal rights given to the inventor or creator to protect their invention or creation for a certain period of time. These legal rights confer an exclusive right to the inventor/creator or his assignee to fully utilize their invention/creation for a given period of time.  From the first public presentation the inventor gives about their invention, they have 1 calendar year to protect their invention. On day 364 the inventor can decide to file a Provisional Patant which will buy the inventor one more year of protection, allowing them time to decide if they want to persue a Design Patent, or Full Utility Patent. After this time has elapsed, the invention is considered to be in the Public Domain and can no longer be protected by the inventor. There are many Patent lawyers in the area, and the California Intellectual Property Alliance can be used as a resource if a full patent is soemthing your inventor may be considering. 

• Fees will be based on district participation.   

• Each student determines the problem they want to solve based on issues they have experienced in their own lives.

• The solution is a real-world, practical invention of their own design.