Invention Education Summer Workshop - Massachusetts
The Lemelson-MIT Program, located within the School of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has been celebrating outstanding inventors and working to inspire young people to pursue creative lives and careers for twenty five years. We are now working to share what we have learned with educators across the U.S. as we believe that the development of creative and inventive mindsets is critical to young people’s ability to thrive in today’s technologically driven, rapidly changing world.
Who should attend: Educators of all grade levels, after school professionals, or other educators who want to enrich students' educational experience through invention.
What will you learn: The workshop will develop educators’ capacity to help kids learn to think and act as an inventor while developing a solution to a real-world problem. The workshop includes strategies for the effective use of JV InvenTeam activity guides made available free of charge on our website here.
Why participate with us: We have helped thousands of high school teachers and student teams across the country learn to invent. Case studies and research publications offer evidence that our approach to invention education helps students develop confidence in their ability to engage in STEM and pursue STEM college and career pathways, even if they have had little exposure in the past to STEM. Our evidence-based model also transforms educators’ approach to teaching and facilitating student learning, and helps schools and districts make connections to STEM professionals in their communities and other community supporters. You can read our case studies and published research here.
Cost: Registration is $1,500 per participant and includes lunch and workshop materials. Space is limited to 30 educators at each site. We will maintain a waitlist once the registration limit is reached.
Contact: Email Emily Meehan if you have any questions. You can also contact her directly at 617-253-3410.
Workshop sessions will be taught and faciliated by the Lemelson-MIT Program staff and former InvenTeam educators and special guest speakers.
Helen Zhang
Professional Development Coordinator, Lemelson-MIT
Helen Zhang, the Lemelson-MIT Professional Development Coordinator, has over 15 years of experience in designing and implementing STEM activities in formal and informal settings. She develops online webinars addressing key issues related to Invention Education, conducts workshops to engage teachers in integrating invention projects in their classrooms, and provides practical suggestions to invention educators on how to better support young inventors.
Doug Scott
Lemelson-MIT Fellow, Hopkinton High School Teacher
Doug Scott was an educator on the Natick High School InvenTeam in 2013. He is now an Engineering and Information Technology Teacher at Hopkinton High School in Massachusetts. He was a business undergraduate student at Framingham State University, but was always a lifelong inventor at heart. Doug’s 12 year teaching career sprung from his hockey coaching experiences, which have been instrumental in helping him motivate students through the inventing processes. Doug accompanied two student representatives from the Natick High School InvenTeam to the fourth White House Science Fair in May 2014 and their invention was awarded U.S. Patent 20,140,360,420 in January 2017. Doug was awarded the 2014 Massachusetts STEM Teacher of the Year during a state-wide ceremony on October 22, 2014. Raytheon Corporation and the Hall at Patriot Place presented the award.
Guest Speakers:
Carlos Osorio, PhD
Co-Founder and Partner, Yuken
Carlos Osorio is co-founder and partner of Yuken, the first impact research lab in Latin America that partners with people and organizations all over the world to create positive and lasting change for their innovation, learning and design challenges. His work focuses on innovation processes and innovation in complex socio-technical systems. He has experience in the biotech, finance, telecom, energy, natural resources and utility sectors. He holds a PhD in Technology, Management and Policy from MIT.
María Renard
Co-Founder and Partner, Yuken
Maria Renard is co-founder and partner of Yuken Impact Research Lab, with expertise in developing and mobilizing innovation and creativity skills in children and adults, learning in the innovative design process, human-centered design solutions and strategic visual communication for academic settings. She leads the design and learning teams at Yuken. She has been a professor of design for more than fifteen years, and founding director of the School of Design at Univ. Gabriela Mistral. She is a designer from PUC and holds a master’s degree in Innovation from UAI.
Brian Silverman
Playful Invention Company and Consulting Scientist at the MIT Media Lab
Since the late 1970s, Brian Silverman has been involved in the invention of learning environments for children. His work includes dozens of Logo versions (including LogoWriter & MicroWorlds), Scratch, LEGO robotics, TurtleArt and the PicoCricket. Learn more about the Playful Invention Company here.
Attendees will have the opportunity to learn how inventing can be used to engage youth and support the integration of STEM in the different grade bands.
Day 1: Orientation to Invention Education and overview of the work pertaining to attendees’ grade band
Day 2: Exploration of existing teaching resources and plan new development and activities for the year ahead
Day 3: Attendees share existing resources for each grade band and work plans for 2019-20. Small group meetings with LMIT staff and speakers to address individual needs.
