As students approach pre-adolescence, they begin to question the world around them in ever greater ways each day. It is important as children grow that they continue to see how the imagination that has been part of their childhood has been crucial to a large number of adults, inventors. This social studies unit, “ Who Gets to Invent and How do Inventors Change Our Lives”, will emphasize the importance of creativity to people’s lives. The students will focus on American inventors; who they were, and how their inventions changed our lives.
This curriculum unit will be taught to fourth graders, and can be adapted to second to sixth grade. This unit will be a three month study of Inventors and Inventions. This social studies unit will be fully integrated into all parts of the curriculum. Important to the success of this unit is giving the students an open forum to discuss their ideas. Children will form their own opinions about the information they learn about inventors. They need to have opportunities to question the who’s and what’s about inventions and inventors.
Without inventions, humans would never have advanced from the days of the cave men. In fact, the cave men, themselves, invented simple tools. Even so, inventions often bring problems, as well as progress. With each benefit that a new invention brings, it is arguable that it also has some negative effect on some people and their environment. Students need to be informed about the importance of inventions in a clear honest way.
As well as teaching students about the positive and negative effects of innovations, it is important to educate students about the role racism has played in preventing some people from having opportunities to invent. Furthermore, when some people became inventors, they faced difficulty gaining recognition and profit from their inventions. Credit and acknowledgment for inventions has often gone to white men, leaving other inventors completely out of history. Women and non-white inventors have long been ignored in the chronology of great inventors throughout history.
As this unit begins, the issue of diverse inventors will be addressed and be discussed throughout the entire study. Children will research an inventor of their choice and write a book report on their inventor. They will need to answer questions about their inventors in the report. Some of the questions will be factual questions, such as where and when were they born, and what was their schooling like. There will also be reflective questions, such as what were the challenges the inventor faced in his or her lifetime.
These reports will be shared with the class orally and children will listen and take notes on each report. After each report, we will discuss what the students have learned about how someone becomes an inventor. We will discuss what characteristics are common among these inventors. We will further discuss the differences of the circumstances each inventor had experienced in order for their inventions to become a reality.