INTRODUCTION

People invented many products used today with creative, and sometimes, not so creative minds. There are different reasons why people are led to make discoveries or invent things. Some discoveries are made accidentally while others may come about using a more formal process. I think it is time for you to explore your creativity so that maybe you can see how it relates to science.

TASK

You will invent, create/manufacture and market a creative product, which you feel will be useful to a large population whom you will describe. Your goal is to establish a monopoly on this product in order to generate enormous wealth for you and your investors/partners for a long time. You will be responsible for determining the most cost effective methods for mass production in order to keep your production costs low and your profits high. Your product can be for entertainment/pleasure, a food, a health/beauty product, educational or sport but it must be original in design and purpose. In other words, it cannot be something that is already marketed.

This project should be fun, exciting and interesting. Enjoy and let your creative talents flow. You will find below a few websites that you may find useful in your project.

1) Describe and name your product providing as much information and detail as possible. Remember to state the purpose or function your product.

2) If there is a particular age group this product is designed to attract provide a statement to this affect and explain why this population was targeted.

3) List the materials needed to develop your product and briefly describe how they will be used. Include the unit cost of each material and total costs for production.

4) Explain the steps you will use to determine whether your product is marketable to the audience you have selected (i.e. graphs, charts, surveys should be included).

5) Explain how you will determine the unit cost of your product so that you are making a sizeable profit. If you have supporting data include it.

6) Investigate the concept of monopolies and laws governing them.

7) Investigate the concept of competition in business.

8) Since you want an innovative and original product how will ensure that your product has not already been created? Are there any products around similar to your invention?

9) Draw or make a model of your product. Label parts in your diagram and write an advertisement or commercial to attract perspective customers.

10) Group members will compile a written report that includes all elements of steps 1 through 9 above which can be used as a reference for the oral report which will be presented by the all group members and should be about 20 minutes long.

PROCESS

You will each generate a list of 5 possible ridiculous inventions to create. Based on consensus by the group, you will decide which invention is the most innovative, useful, feasible and original. Each group member will select a job, which will allow for the completion of each task. Groups will consist of 4 members taking on the roles of writing specialist, research specialist, scientist, and legal specialist interchangeably. You will probably need to meet after school in order to complete this assignment. You should exchange telephone numbers in case you need to clarify various aspects of your assignment.

The websites below have been selected to provide you with assistance. Feel free to search for additional sites and include them in your final report.

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/ppae/ppae1.html

http://www.discovery.com/stories/history/toys/FRISBEE/birthday.html

http://www.discovery.com/stories/history/toys/BARBIE/shoulda.html

http://www.discovery.com/stories/deadinventors/deadinventors.html

http://www.thetech.org/exhibiats_events/traveling/robotzoo

http://www.bergen.org/ECEMS/class/welcome.html

http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcshome

EVALUATION

4 – Students completed steps 1 through 10.

Written report was completed to include information related to the Task.

All students participated in the oral presentation, included visuals such as

graphs, charts, survey questions/survey results, and a model/detailed sketch of

the invention. Highly motivated, organized, creative, and confident.

3 - Students completed 7 to 8 of the 10 steps.

Written report was completed but failed to include information or important details

because they did not complete the 10 steps.

Most of the group members participated in the oral presentation and provided less

than 4 visual aids or no model or a fair representation of a model. Fairly organized,

lacked motivation, creativity and confidence.

2 - Students completed 5 to 6 of the 10 steps.

Written report was partially completed and lacked important information and details.

Group members were not prepared for oral presentation and lacked visual aids,

an appropriate model or drawing was not labeled or, model did not reflect invention.

Lacked organization, questionable efforts in creativity, effort, and motivation.

1 - Students complete 4 or fewer steps.

Written report poorly written, had little or no relevance to project, was incomplete or

lacked organization and structure.

Group members were not prepared for oral presentation, had less than 2 visual aids or

made no attempt to present. Showed no motivation or incentive, effort or creativity.

CONCLUSION

Many of today’s inventions were the result of what some might consider to a “crazy” idea. With confidence, imagination and some organization, these ideas became useful tools for civilization. You cannot just invent things without thinking of how they might be used and by whom. You will sometimes find that people will doubt you and criticize your ideas. Inventors can be creative people who are able to see the benefits of a useful tool more easily than the average person. Curiosity, creativity, determination, organization, and research may someday lead you to invent something useful. Maybe you might even use a few surveys and random samples to help you adapt your ideas for perspective consumers! It could all start with a simple hypothesis and testing some of your ideas as well as a little more knowledge in the sciences!