Student Inventions, 0520 COBJ, Vol. 49, No. 5 Pg. 22
| Author | BY MARK LEVY |
| Position | Vol. 49, 5 [Page 22] |
THE SIDEBAR
BY MARK LEVY
For the last quarter century, I've been involved with the Invention Convention program for students between kindergarten and eighth grade. We ask them to solve a problem in a new way. Some 20,000 youngsters have participated in the student invention program, creating invention models from mousetraps to ozone layer repair kits.
Life is Messy
One kindergarten student lamented the lack of mud during hot summer days, mud being the main ingredient in mud pies, as it happens. So the 5-year-old inventor mounted an inverted bottle of water and one filled with dirt onto the bathroom wall. Now he can concoct a batch of mud in the comfort of his parents' bathtub.
Another student was faced with the problem of walking his dog every afternoon. He invented a virtual reality helmet for his pet that can now walk around the living room imagining it is encountering fields, flowers, and, of course, fire hydrants. Perhaps the inventor, like Alfred Nobel, can be excused for not anticipating unintended consequences of the invention.
The Devil is in the Details
The youngest children, having less science and engineering education and being less worldly, tend to ignore the details that would make their inventions enabling, as patent examiners are fond of saying.
The youngest kids often invent machines consisting of push buttons: "a button to make me pretty," "a button to mow my lawn," or "a button to groom my horse." One second-grader invented a "Wishing Pill" to be ingested before making a wish. Once the pill is swallowed, she said, "then it will come true." Another second-grader invented a "Dream Maker" hat with a dial to select the type of dream he desired. He suggested four categories: good dream, bad dream, no dream, or random dream.
One student decided to "fix the hole in the ozone layer" by creating a patch that astronauts could sew onto the remaining ozone.
A seventh-grader created the single invention that appealed to most adults over the years. His grandfather was stopped for speeding by a police officer. The observant grandson noticed the officer requested Grandpa's license and registration. But suddenly an urgent radio call directed the officer to the scene of a hold up. The officer told Grandpa he had no time to write the speeding ticket. As the frustrated officer prepared to leave, he warned Grandpa to slow down...
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