THE PACKET
Everything the Invention Convention packet asks for, in order, with questions to get you thinking about each one.
The answers are yours. Think it through, then write it in your own words, in cursive.
The rules
Read this first.
How can a real-world problem be changed by an invention you create?
Five due dates
Five parts, five grades.
Research Question page
Part 1 · due Thu Sep 17
Topic and why it is interesting
Two blank lines under "This topic is interesting because."
- •What were you doing the first time you thought "somebody should invent something for this"?
- •What happens to crumbs at your house right now, and where do they end up?
- •What do you want to find out that you do not know yet?
The two boxes
Fill both. A long Need to know box shows you are actually researching.
- •What do you already know about how robots move and steer?
- •What do you know about light, and what happens when it hits something?
- •What do you know about robot cleaners that already exist?
- •How does a robot notice something it cannot see with eyes?
- •What could trick a sensor into being wrong?
- •What happens if the robot goes faster? What happens if it goes slower?
- •How will you know if it really picked the crumbs up?
Write 3 strong research questions
Not yes or no. Good ones start with How, What, or Which and have an answer you could measure.
Weak: "Do plants need light?" The answer is just yes.
Strong: "How does the number of hours of light change how tall a bean plant grows?" Now there is something to change, something to measure, and a number at the end.
- •What would I change in the test?
- •What would I measure, and with what tool?
- •Could the answer be a number?
Design Thinking Plan, page 23
Part 2 · due Thu Oct 1
What will you invent and what is it called?
- •If you had one sentence to tell a friend what it does, what would you say?
- •Where does it work, and what does it do there?
- •Why did you pick its name?
How will you learn more about this topic?
- •Where have you actually gotten information so far? Books, websites, people?
- •Which one taught you the most?
- •What can building and testing tell you that a book cannot?
What does it do and what problem does it solve?
- •What is the problem, in your own words?
- •What do people do about it now, and what goes wrong with that?
- •Why can’t a product that already exists fix it?
How does it make life better or easier?
- •Picture cleaning the table without your invention, then with it. Which steps disappear?
- •Where do the crumbs end up each way?
- •Who gets time back?
Who would use this product?
- •Think of three different places that have tables. Who uses each one?
- •Who has a hard time reaching across a table or cleaning one?
- •Who eats in the same place they work or play?
Three describing words
- •What three words would you want a judge to remember about it?
- •For each word, which part of your design proves it?
Design Thinking Plan, page 24
Part 2 · due Thu Oct 1
Drawing of the invention with detailed labels
Labels are worth as much as the drawing.
- •Which side view shows the most parts at once?
- •Which parts sense? Which parts move? Which parts clean? Which part gives power?
- •Can you point to every part on the real robot and say what it does? Label those.
What is the size and weight?
- •Measure it yourself with a ruler. How wide, how long, how tall?
- •Weigh it on the kitchen scale.
- •What everyday thing is about the same size, or the same weight?
What is it made of?
- •Go part by part from the bottom up. What is each one made of?
- •Which parts did you print, and which parts did you buy?
- •What is PLA plastic made from? Look it up.
Cost per unit
- •Look at the parts list. About how much did the parts for this one cost?
- •Would a factory making thousands pay more or less for each one? Why?
How will it operate?
- •Explain it like recipe steps. What do you do first to turn it on?
- •What does each button do?
- •What is the robot checking while it drives, and what does it do at the edge?
- •How do you get the crumbs out at the end?
Possible Impact on Society
Part 3 · due Thu Oct 8
Eight lines. This is a "what if everyone had one" question, not a "what does mine do" question. Go wider than your own kitchen table.
- •If every house, restaurant and school cafeteria had one, what would change?
- •What happens to bugs when there is less food on the floor?
- •Who has trouble cleaning a table themselves, and how would this help them?
- •Is there a downside? What would someone who does not like it say?
Catholic Connection
Part 4 · due Thu Oct 15
Either a saint your invention relates to and why, or how your invention is a spiritual or corporal work of mercy. The rubric wants a strong connection with an explanation, not just a name.
- •Which saints are known for serving, cooking, cleaning, or using technology to help people?
- •Read about two of them. Which one’s life connects to what your invention does?
- •What is the connection, in one or two sentences of your own?
- •Which corporal or spiritual work of mercy fits your invention best?
- •How does your invention help someone, even in a small way?
Research Resources
Due with the packet Mon Nov 16 · 10 points
A bibliography with slots for two books and three websites. The books are the part that can go wrong, so get them from the library early.
What each book slot needs
Author last name then first name, title, copyright date, publisher. All four, in cursive. The copyright date is on the back of the title page near the little © symbol.
Search the catalog for "micro:bit", "coding for kids", "robotics for kids", and "how robots work". Do not write down a book you did not open.
What each website slot needs
Author if there is one, article title, publication date, website name, and the full URL.
Use three websites you actually read. Find each field on the page yourself. If a page has no author, leave it blank. If there is no publication date, write the date you read it.
The trifold board
Due Mon Nov 16 · the layout must match exactly
- Purpose: why we need it, who it is for, how it helps people
- Why
- How does it work?
- Invention name, big
- The sketch, hand drawn, with labels
- Impact on Society
- Catholic Connection
- Research Resources, the bibliography
The rubric, 100 points
Seven rows worth 10, and the prototype worth 30.
| Criteria | Pts | Full points means |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose of Invention | 10 | A clear strong purpose that is easy to understand. One sentence someone can repeat back to you. |
| Reason for Creation | 10 | A strong explanation of why the invention is needed. The crumbs-onto-the-floor problem, and why a robot vacuum cannot do it. |
| How It Works | 10 | A detailed step-by-step explanation. Sensors, motors, brush, tray, in order, not just a list of parts. |
| Impact on Society | 10 | Thoughtful and clear. Beyond your own house. |
| Catholic Connection | 10 | A strong connection to a saint or a work of mercy, with the explanation. A name with no reason is not full points. |
| Sketch | 10 | Detailed, neat, labeled. Neat counts. Draw it in pencil first. |
| Bibliography | 10 | Complete and correctly formatted. Two books and three websites, every field filled in. |
| Prototype | 30 | Creative, well built, clearly represents the invention. Worth more than any three other rows combined. |
| Total | 100 |
Bibliography and Sketch are 20 points together and neither one depends on the robot working. Do them carefully and early. The prototype is 30 points, and a robot that drives and stops at the edge gets there even if the brush is not perfect yet.