Sloan Barkin with her paci-mask {Courtesy Park Trails Elementary}
By Jill Fox
Is the next Albert Einstein or Thomas Edison among us? Park Trails Elementary School is trying to find out by persuading students to create inventions of their own.
In their final project of the year, third-graders at the Parkland school were asked to create a prototype to display at their annual Invention Convention.
Students from Corinne Church and Heather Bergan’s classes studied how an inventor goes through to solve a problem and create a solution.
“My son was really creative when he did this project three years ago, and it was fun to see what my daughter came up with,” said Allison Barkin, mom to Sloan, 9, who designed a mask with a built-in pacifier.
“I would see signs that said if you were under two, you didn’t need to have a mask, so I came up with a good way for babies to wear one,” said Sloan.
This year, the students were asked to make their inventions exclusively of recycled materials found at home. Church said the students read about engineering and the design process to create or invent video games, which tied in nicely to inventing something.
Ashton Shaw with his cat scratcher {Courtesy Park Trails Elementary}
The students brainstormed problems, researched, sketched, built a prototype, tested and improved their inventions. In addition, in their study of economics, they learned about producers and consumers and how to market their products.
Some creative inventions included a portable mask disposer, paci-mask, social distancing party hat, hoodie t-shirt and mask, magic scratcher, animal trivia game, cat scratcher, and fidget toys.
Finally, the students presented their inventions to other students and teachers at their annual Invention Convention.
Said Church, “These students continue to wow us with their imaginations.”
Nicolas Patton with his magic scratcher for pets. {Courtesy Park Trails Elementary}
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Author Profile
- Jill Fox is an Emmy Award-winning writer and producer. She has worked in public relations and television for over 20 years. Fox lives in Parkland with her husband and their two children.
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