1. Inventions, Tools, and Technology SOLVE PROBLEMS Third Grade GLE 0307.T/E.1 Describe how tools, technology, and inventions help to answer questions and solve problems.

2. Problems help inventors create inventions and make their inventions the best they can be!!!! To begin please think about your favorite game, sports equipment, computer device, or anything you like to play with at home. How can you make it better, more fun to play with, or more challenging? Please brainstorm and draw your item and how you would make it better on a sheet of paper. Then after about ten minutes we will share it with the class.

3. Inventions Solve Problems Teacher’s example (you must come up with your own): I love my dish washer! It makes it so easy for my dishes to come clean in a fast way after dinner. I hate having to fill it with detergent each time I wash dishes. I wish that I could place detergent in my dispenser that would last months at a time. So my invention would be detergent that lasted three months with out a refill. Wouldn’t that be the greatest invention for moms? I think so…… What do you think?

4. Inventors Must Think This Way Show me how you can think like an inventor. It is just as an important to want to improve an invention as it is to invent an invention. Inventors are always trying to make their inventions better and easier to use. How do you think your play station turned into play station two, and psp3? There are two ways problems can help you in inventing. First, problems can help you figure out what to create. And second, problems can help you figure out how to make your invention the best it can be.

5. Let’s talk about INVENTORS Donald L. Hings was a famous Canadian inventor. He wanted to find a way for people in the military to be able to talk to one another. He tried many times to come up with the perfect invention that could allow military men to talk to one another clearly during war. He created the “pack-set”, that people in the news later called a “walkie-talkie.” He improved his inventions all the way until his death in 2004. His inventions and their improvements, occurred due to him always questioning how he could make the problems with his inventions better and better.

6. More Inventors Dr. Percy Spencer was an inventor who accidentally invented the microwave. He was working on another project and the candy bar in his pocket began to melt. This tube he was testing caused things to cook quickly. He decided this microwave energy when placed in a box would cook food so fast, it would change cooking forever. Unfortunately, the microwave did not sell quickly. The first units were huge and cost up to $5000 each and weighing up to 750 pounds. Dr. Spencer first invented the microwave in 1947 and it took until 1975 for microwaves to catch on. He worked hard on solving the problems of his invention, through this hard work and many years of trying to improve the microwave it was finally the best microwave it could be.

7. Should we lose hope? The answer is NO. Most inventors take many years to solve the problems in their inventions. Problems are one clue to let you know you are on the right path to a great new invention. Remember the 4 R’s of inventions: ReSearch, ReDesign, ReModel, and ReWork

8. Are we ready to go to work? Did you know that kids come up with some of the greatest inventions? Here are some websites discussing children inventors: http://blog.scholastic.com/ink_splot_26/2009/11/how-problems- can-lead-to-awesome-inventions.html http://blog.scholastic.com/ink_splot_26/2009/11/how-problems- can-lead-to-awesome-inventions.html http://www.ideafinder.com/features/classact/young.htm Come up with your own invention! It could be making something you already have better or you could come up with something completely on your own. Use things you already have around the house. The world’s greatest inventions were created by using things the inventors had lying around their homes. You can draw your new invention or create it and bring it to school. Let’s share our inventions with one another. The best way to get a new idea is by sharing with each other.