The inventions CD-ROM is unique.  There is no product on the market like it.  See the IEEE review
for an independent review of how part of it has been used with very little prior classroom preparation.

Having said this, the CD-ROM has some unique features that go beyond this initial glorified slide
show application.  Click here for more details.

Schools with limited resources make overhead projectors, slide projectors and VCRs available to teachers from check-out pools. This approach is also possible with computers. You can sign-up for a computer from a limited check-out pool too or you may have a single or a few computers permanently setup in your classroom.

The INVENTIONS CD-ROM was designed to run in this one computer classroom environment. 
 

• All the images are full screen. 
• All the animations are full screen. 
• All the videos are full screen. 

The entire class can view the images from one screen. 

INVENTIONS presents a set of hands-on projects that explore basic concepts in electricity and magnetism. In going through these projects the student is reviewing the central concepts in primary education electricity and magnetism and applying and extending these very basic ideas to making real working devices. 

We have designed these materials in a layered approach. 

Our ElectroWiz books and kits on ELECTRICITY and MAGNETISM cover these very basic concepts at a K-3rd grade level. 

The materials in the INVENTION's kits (4th and up) can be used to do or re-do these early primary experiments as needed. The CD-ROM contains a delightful set of animations and questions that review and consolidate the content covered in these early ElectroWiz books/kits. Our goal is to weave a fabric of science learning, where concepts that are explored early (K-3rd) are reviewed, revisited and extended in 4th-6th grade. 

INVENTIONS, the CD-ROM, when used in conjunction with the ElectroWiz set, was designed to facilitate this progression in science education.

INVENTIONS involves EXTREMELY LOW COST* projects that allow each student to build their own working devices and take them home.

> Telegraph - $1.00 / student.*

> Motor - $1.50 / student.*

> Generator - $2.00 / student.*

> Radio - $4.00 / student.*

In many schools, this "low cost" is still not low enough. One way to make these projects become "self funded" is to ask those students who wish to take home their projects to bring in the replacement costs for the materials and recycle the materials that are not purchased.

Part of our intent in the design of these projects was to avoid the over-extended use of the concept of "cooperative learning" which has been mis-applied to justify the purchase of severely overpriced materials rationed among too many students at the expense of learning.

Beyond providing a step-by-step set of instructions that direct the class through the INVENTIONS projects, the CD-ROM utilizes the computer to aid the class in exploring experimentally how these devices actually work. See the excerpts from the Scientific American Review of INVENTIONS, for a discussion of the power of this approach to extending hands-on building experiences into a more general understanding how things work.  Finally, in a one computer classroom environment, the "gray matter quest" makes use of animations and quizing to extend, explain and reinforce the scientific concepts being explored with the selected hands-on activities.  Simple rewards (positive reinforcement) can be used to turn these group quiz sessions into a favorite part the the science program.  

Of deep emotional concern to any primary age student lab is the idea of succeeding with each project. These projects have been carefully designed and classroom tested over many years to provide a high level of success within a classroom environment.  See the IEEE review for further information.

Having said this we wish to convey something very important about ALL STUDENT LAB EXPERIENCES. It does not matter if a student succeeds with every project, every time. It only matters that they learn the basic idea of how to do it and how it works and to persevere until it does work. Remind your students about DOCTORS. DOCTORS do not begin to perfect any surgical procedure until they have done it about 100 times! So there is no reason why anyone doing anything for the first time should be guaranteed success.

The INVENTIONS CD-ROM can be used in a number of different ways in a classroom. 

• To direct an entire class (from 20 to 35 students) through hands-on activities

WITH ONE COMPUTER. 
• To run a station, with 4 to 12 students at a station. 
• Within a computer lab environment, with each student or pair of students working at a computer. 

*Prices subject to change without notice.