HOW TO BE AN INVENTOR

Grades 3+

“How to be an Inventor” is a 9-week course designed to take children from the first steps of coming up with an idea to building a prototype for their invention. The course merges creative thinking techniques with design thinking philosophy for a more holistic approach to innovation. The first half of the course focuses on ideation and brainstorming techniques and in the second half students apply their skills in making their invention. Most teams come up with some original and interesting ideas and we help them prepare applications for a national invention competition "STUDENT IDEAS for a BETTER AMERICA".

Creativity is rapidly becoming one of the most valued skills in the workforce. The 21st century will be the “Conceptual Age” where creative and innovative skills will define success. The goal of this course is to equip children with skills that will help them be more innovative in any career they choose.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Our belief is that children learn best when they don't know that they are learning. Most of the learning happens through games and project, and instructional teaching is kept to a minimum. Our fun games teach techniques proven to lead to innovative thinking (like associational thinking, analogical and narrative reasoning) which children apply to their project.

We recommend children work in small teams, since in our experience it leads to better and more original ideas. If you are joining the course with your friends, and would like to be on the same team, please let us know and we'll accommodate that.

Children also learn tips on how to present their ideas and teams have to pitch their inventions to others. They learn how to give constructive feedback and also how to receive critical feedback.

There is a weekly homework, mostly fun, which should take ~20-30 mins to do.

And by the end of the course, your team would have earned endless bragging rights for your cool invention!