Inventions

Resources for Teachers

Check out these interdisciplinary activity ideas and online resources for your classroom.

Sponsored by

Teaching Ideas

Bucky Ball Games

Play is a very human activity and invention plays a large part in many sports and games.

From the PBS NOVA site Building Big, the plans for making a geodesic dome can be duplicated to construct two geodesic domes to be used as the two halves of a giant "Bucky Ball". The design and construction of the domes will follow the guidelines on the Building Big "Geodesic Dome" pages below.

The following questions could be discussed before beginning:

• How much newspaper will be required using the specifications for diameter of tubing?
• How much will this amount of newspaper weigh and can the class teams move this weight or play safely with it?
• How many days of newspapers delivered to the school need to be recycled to collect enough to make the Bucky Ball?
• What is the earliest date we collect enough newspapers, build the Bucky Ball, and schedule the games?
• If 12" of masking tape are to be used to join the sides of adjacent triangle components at two places, how many rolls at 50' of tape are needed?
• How can the total time for construction of the Bucky Ball be estimated with some degree of accuracy?
• Are there any other concerns your group determined that need attention?
• Will it be safe to use in a game?
• What type of rules will the teams use to play Bucky Ball?

Strength may be tested with single-tube, double-tube, or triple-tube-components for construction before taping the ends of the tubular components together to meet the needs of intended play. It would be possible to do this after building a prototype or making a model construction as a reflective activity for improving strength and play-ability needed for the games.

Students may investigate how inventions have allowed athletes to train harder, compete better, and play safer in personal or team sports at the amateur, collegiate, and professional levels. When improvements are made in materials and designs for athletes (such as lighter but stronger running shoes or more aerodynamic bikes), how soon does the general public see similar improvements in their gear?

Related Web Sites:

• Building Big - Educator's Guide - Geodesic Dome
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/educator/dome_ho.html
• Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud
  http://www.thirteen.org/cgi-bin/bucky-bin/bucky.cgi
• Invention Connection: Sports
  http://www.inventionconnection.com/BOOTHS/ByCategory.html#SPRT

Simple Machines Field Trip

Take the students on a field trip to the playground to discover the six simple machines as part of everyday play:

• as they zip up their jackets, the zipper is a wedge;
• the merry-go-round is a wheel-and-axle;
• the see-saw is one kind of lever;
• some slides are inclined planes;
• some slides are screws;
• the flag is run up the flagpole with a pulley.

Return to class and have students make up pictures of the simple machines they have seen on the field trip. What other kinds of equipment did they find and how were these different from the six simple machines?

Students can design new playground equipment of their own, using combinations of the simple machines, such as

• The "See-Saw" Slide
• The Merry-Go-Round Spring-Rocker
• The FlagPole Swings

Create stories to go along with an imaginary field trip to a playground with these new playground inventions.

Related Web Sites:

• NOVA: Pharaoh's Obelisk (levers, fulcrums)
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/obelisk/
• NOVA: Special Effects/Activities/Upper Elementary/Follow the Film
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/specialfx/fxguide/fxuemmm3.html
• ProTeacher: Simple Machines
  http://www.proteacher.com/110064.shtml
• Discovery.com: Inventor's Workshop
  http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/invention-leonardoslegacy/index.html

PBS Online Resources: Sites to See

• A Science Odyssey
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/
• The American Experience : Eastman: The Wizard of Photography
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eastman/
• The American Experience: Edison's Miracle of Light
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/edison/
• The American Experience: Big Dream, Small Screen
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/technology/bigdream/
• The American Experience: New York Underground
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/technology/nyunderground/
• The American Experience: The Telephone
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/telephone/
• Tesla: Master of Lightning
  http://www.pbs.org/tesla/
• Building Big
  http://www.pbs.org/buildingbig/
• NOVA: Lincoln's Secret Weapon
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/monitor/
• NOVA: Special Effects
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/specialfx/
• NOVA: Special Effects, Titanic and Beyond
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/specialfx2/
• NOVA: SuperBridge
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bridge/
• NOVA: Time Travel
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/time/
• NOVA: Electric Heart
  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/eheart/
• Scientific American Frontiers: Affairs of the Heart
  http://www.pbs.org/saf/1104/index.html
• Scientific American Frontiers: Bionic Body
  http://www.pbs.org/saf/1107/
• Scientific American Frontiers: Flying Free
  http://www.pbs.org/saf/1109/
• Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud
  http://www.thirteen.org/cgi-bin/bucky-bin/bucky.cgi
• Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet
  http://www.pbs.org/opb/nerds2.0.1/
• Digital TV: A Cringely Crash Course
  http://www.pbs.org/opb/crashcourse/
• Transistorized!
  http://www.pbs.org/transistor/