What is Invention Education?
Invention education is an approach to learning which asks students to think creatively, critically, and outside-of-the-box. With this approach, students identify real-world problems, often those that affect their everyday lives or a particular community problem in which they are connected, and ideate creative solutions, developing a new product or process along the way. Like the engineering design process, when students engage in invention education, they cycle through an invention process allowing them to design a prototype, run trials, redesign and finish with a final product that makes an impact on their world.
Why is exposing students to Invention Education important?
When students are given the opportunity to engage in the invention process, they are exposed to new skills that are needed for their future, whether that is as an inventor or not. These skills help students to build confidence in the academic arena in a unique way. For many who excel at invention education, this new approach to learning is often a departure from the traditional classroom which provides new avenues of success for these students. Through invention education students see the possibilities of their future!
How we get started!
In Hillsborough County Public Schools, invention education started with a simple design challenge for elementary students. At the time, our district had a dedicated block of time devoted to STEM apart from the traditional Math & Science block. Teachers asked for ideas, resources and curriculum to use during this time to ensure standards were addressed through an interdisciplinary approach. Our elementary science department created “Engineering Design Challenge Mondays” to use during the STEM block. Each Monday teachers would guide students through the steps of the engineering design process by utilizing the provided scenario-based challenges. While there were appropriate grade level variations, one such design challenge asked students to invent a new toy that would help teach kids something science related. This task allowed many students to explore their creative ideas, and often times, students who didn’t normally find success in the traditional education model, invented the most successful toys!
Since then, our district has taken steps to further integrate invention education into our classrooms and provide more opportunities for our students each year. District staff worked with The Henry Ford Museum in Michigan to create lessons that connect to traditional classroom content as a way to integrate invention learning in the everyday classroom. Over time, and in conjunction with our STEM Department, we created an invention category at the local elementary STEM Fair in which students could submit their inventions for county-wide recognition. Additionally, we identified potential invention projects from our secondary STEM Fair for award recognition. We partnered with our local invention organization, The Florida Inventors Hall of Fame at the University of South Florida, to provide special awards for students whose STEM fair projects showed invention ingenuity. The last few years, students who have won the Top Inventor awards at our local STEM Fair have been given the opportunity to compete at a national level at the Invention Convention Nationals held at the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan. These students not only had the opportunity to interact with student inventors from around the country, but many won additional awards such as patent and monetary awards. From this experience, one of our students is actively pursuing a patent and another started her own business with her invention as a 5th grader!
What started as an engineering design challenge to fill time in the classroom has grown to become a powerful learning tool for the students in our district. Exposing students to invention education not only engages students in learning but transforms and impacts their future.
Resources to get going!
Invent ed (https://inventioneducation.org/): This website has a variety of information and resources on invention education, the impact it can have on students and curricula to classroom and home use.
Invention Convention (https://inhub.thehenryford.org/icw/home): Explore all that the Henry Ford has to offer including the home of the Invention Convention competition including videos of past winners and competitions. Curriculum and resources can also be found through the InHub button at the top of the page.
National Inventors Hall of Fame ( https://www.invent.org/): This webpage has a strong emphasis on providing the youth of today with opportunities for invention. There are resources provided for families, educators and more. Anyone can sign up to receive newsletter emails with invention education information and upcoming events & contests.
Florida Inventors Hall of Fame (https://floridainvents.org/ ): This organization recognizes inventors across the state of Florida in an annual inductee ceremony. All previous inductees’ invention information can be found on this site as well as connections to their outreach programs and museum.
Stay in touch with NCCE by connecting with us! https://ncce.org/

Nicole Tuminella
K-12 STEM Coordinator
Tampa, Florida
X: @MsTumiSTEMSaavy
Email: NTuminella@ncce.org