LESSON PLAN OVERVIEW | ACTIVITIES | VIDEO SEGMENTS

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GRADE LEVELS: 4-8

TIME ALLOTMENT: Two to three 45-minute class periods

OVERVIEW:
In this lesson, students will explore the process of inventing. The lesson will begin with a fun hands-on activity where students will match current day inventions with similar inventions from the past. Students will discuss the process involved in creating an invention and view segments from the public television documentary Through My Eyes: The Charlie Kelman Story to explore the process that Charles Kelman went through to create procedures and tools related to cataract surgery. As a culminating activity, students will create their own inventions using common objects.

SUBJECT MATTER: Social Studies; Science

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will be able to:
• Discuss the process involved in creating an invention;
• Identify some famous inventions from the past;
• Discuss some of the changes that have taken place to well-known inventions over time;
• Explain who Charles Kelman was and describe his process of inventing;
• Explain what a cataract is and describe what Charles Kelman contributed to the field of ophthalmology and science in general;
• Plan and create their own inventions by modifying tools designed for one purpose and using them for another.

STANDARDS

History Standards for Grades K-4
Content Standards
Topic Four: The History of Peoples of Many Cultures around the World
• STANDARD 8: Major discoveries in science and technology, their social and economic effects, and the scientists and inventors responsible for them.

o Standard 8A: The student understands the development of technological innovations, the major scientists and inventors associated with them and their social and economic effects. Therefore the student is able to:

• Identify and describe the significant achievements of important scientists and inventors. [Assess the importance of the individual in history]

History Standards for Grades 5-12
Historical Thinking Standards

• STANDARD 2: The search for community, stability, and peace in an interdependent world.

o Standard 2E: The student understands major worldwide scientific and technological trends of the second half of the 20th century. Therefore, the student is able to:

• Assess the social and cultural implications of recent medical successes such as development of antibiotics and vaccines and the conquest of smallpox. [Interrogate historical data]

National Science Education Standards

Grades K-4

Content Standard A: Science as Inquiry
Fundamental abilities and concepts that underlie this standard include:

• Understandings about Scientific Inquiry:

o Scientific investigations involve asking and answering a question and comparing the answer with what scientists already know about the world.
o Simple instruments, such as magnifiers, thermometers, and rulers, provide more information than scientists obtain using only their senses.
o Scientists develop explanations using observations (evidence) and what they already know about the world (scientific knowledge). Good explanations are based on evidence from investigations.
o Scientists make the results of their investigations public; they describe the investigations in ways that enable others to repeat the investigations.
o Scientists review and ask questions about the results of other scientists’ work.

Content Standard E: Science and Technology
Fundamental abilities and concepts that underlie this standard include:

• Abilities of Technological Design:

o Identify a simple problem. In problem identification, children should develop the ability to explain a problem in their own words and identify a specific task and solution related to the problem.
o Propose a solution. Students should make proposals to build something or get something to work better; they should be able to describe and communicate their ideas. Students should recognize that designing a solution might have constraints, such as cost, materials, time, space, or safety.
o Implementing proposed solutions. Children should develop abilities to work individually and collaboratively and to use suitable tools, techniques, and quantitative measurements when appropriate. Students should demonstrate the ability to balance simple constraints in problem solving.
o Evaluate a product or design. Students should evaluate their own results or solutions to problems, as well as those of other children, by considering how well a product or design met the challenge to solve a problem. When possible, students should use measurements and include constraints and other criteria in their evaluations. They should modify designs based on the results of evaluations.
o Communicate a problem, design, and solution. Student abilities should include oral, written, and pictorial communication of the design process and product. The communication might be show and tell, group discussions, short written reports, or pictures, depending on the students’ abilities and the design project.

• Understanding about Science and Technology

o People have always had questions about their world. Science is one way of answering questions and explaining the natural world.

o People have always had problems and invented tools and techniques (ways of doing something) to solve problems. Trying to determine the effects of solutions helps people avoid some new problems.

Content Standard F: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
Fundamental abilities and concepts that underlie this standard include:

• Science and Technology in Local Challenges

o People continue inventing new ways of doing things, solving problems, and getting work done. New ideas and inventions often affect other people; sometimes the effects are good and sometimes they are bad. It is helpful to try to determine in advance how ideas and inventions will affect other people.

Grades 5-8:

Content Standard G: History and Nature of Science
Fundamental concepts and principles that underlie this standard include:

• Nature of Science

o In areas where active research is being pursued and in which there is not a great deal of experimental or observational evidence and understanding, it is normal for scientists to differ with one another about the interpretation of the evidence or theory being considered. Different scientists might publish conflicting experimental results or might draw different conclusions from the same data. Ideally, scientists acknowledge such conflict and work towards finding evidence that will resolve their disagreement.

o It is part of scientific inquiry to evaluate the results of scientific investigations, experiments, observations, theoretical models, and the explanations proposed by other scientists. Evaluation includes reviewing the experimental procedures, examining the evidence, identifying faulty reasoning, pointing out statements that go beyond the evidence, and suggesting alternative explanations for the same observations. Although scientists may disagree about explanations of phenomena, about interpretations of data, or about the value of rival theories, they do agree that questioning, response to criticism, and open communication are integral to the process of science. As scientific knowledge evolves, major disagreements are eventually resolved through such interactions between scientists.

Students should understand the difference between scientific and other questions and what science and technology can reasonably contribute to society.

• History of Science

o Tracing the history of science can show how difficult it was for scientific innovators to break through the accepted ideas of their time to reach the conclusions that we currently take for granted.

MEDIA COMPONENTS:

Video:

Clip 1:

“An introduction to cataracts and cataract surgery”

Clip 2:

“The search for a tool”

Clip 3:

“Charles Kelman’s first human surgeries”

Clip 4:

“The critics”

Clip 5:

“Acceptance”

Access the streaming and downloadable video segments for this lesson at the Video Segments Page.

Web sites (Optional):
o Invention Process Flow Chart
This flow chart on the NASA SCI Files™ Web site could be used in the Introductory Activity to help illustrate the invention process.

o Tinker Ball Game
This online game from Invention Playhouse on the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovations’ Invention at Play Web site challenges students to position objects in order to successfully get the ball from one point to another. This could be used during the culminating activity to help give students ideas about how they can use common objects to create their own fun inventions.

Related Web sites:
o Which Came First? Game
This quiz on the MIT Web site challenges site visitors to compare various inventions and identify which came first.

o Goldburger to Go Game
This online activity challenges kids to make adjustments to a machine that is designed like a Rube Goldberg contraption, where simple tasks are made more complicated. The goal of the game is to try to fix the machine so that the Zoom cast and crew can get their lunch.

MATERIALS

For the class:
For the class:
• Computers with internet access (if using any of the optional Web sites listed in the “Media Components” section )
• Computer, Projection screen, and speakers (for class viewing of online/downloaded video segments)
• One copy of the “Inventions of the Past and Present” Answer Key (download here)
• A variety of common objects for students use in the Culminating Activity to create an invention. Some possible objects: paper clips, rubber bands, paper, plastic or Styrofoam cups, plates and/or utensils, water bottles, pieces of paper, popsicle sticks, toilet paper &/or paper towel rolls, shoeboxes and other cardboard boxes, pencils, pens, crayons, a compass, a protractor, rulers, string, ribbon, small balls, marbles, etc.

For each group of 3-4 students:
• One “Inventions of the Past and Present” Game Board and one set of “Inventions of the Past and Present” Game Cards (download here)

PREP FOR TEACHERS
Prior to teaching this lesson, you will need to:

Preview all of the video segments used in the lesson.

Preview the optional Web sites listed for this lesson and decide if you want to use any of them in this lesson.

Download the video clips used in the lesson to your classroom computer, or prepare to watch them using your classroom’s Internet connection.

Bookmark any Web sites that you plan to use in the lesson on each computer in your classroom. Using a social bookmarking tool such as del.icio.us or diigo (or an online bookmarking utility such as portaportal) will allow you to organize all the links in a central location.

Make one copy of the “Inventions of the Past and Present” Game Board and Game Cards for each group of 3-4 students. Cut the game cards along the dotted lines to create 9 squares. Attach the pile of 9 cards to a corner of the game board with a paper clip.

Print out one copy of the “Inventions of the Past and Present” Answer Key.

Create an “invention station” somewhere in the room, where students can view and select different items to use to create their inventions in the Culminating Activity. The “invention station” should include a variety of common objects, such as: paper clips, rubber bands, paper, plastic or Styrofoam cups, plates and/or utensils, water bottles, pieces of paper, popsicle sticks, toilet paper &/or paper towel rolls, shoeboxes and other cardboard boxes, pencils, pens, crayons, a compass, a protractor, rulers, string, ribbon, small balls, marbles, etc.

Next: Proceed to Activities

Local support provided by: Astoria Federal Savings and Ophthalmic Consultants of Long Island.