Go back See all

    Calling All Inventors!

    from

    Subject: STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math)

    Lesson Length: 35 - 45 mins

    Topic: STEM Challenges

    Grade Level: 4, 5

    Standards / Framework:

    Brief Description: In this lesson, students will imagine an invention that would solve a problem at home or at school.

    Know Before You Start: Review the STEM challenge process with students before the lesson.

    Hook:

    • Read and discuss the sample comic.
      • Discuss how the character invented something to solve an everyday problem.

    Activity:

    • Have students brainstorm a list of everyday problems that they face at home and at school.

    • Have students think of an invention that can solve this problem.

    • Using the sample comic as a guide, have them create a six-panel comic including the following:

      • State the problem.

      • Identify potential solutions.

      • Plan.

      • Construct.

      • Test, reflect, and iterate.

    Closure:

    • Have students share their comics describing their inventions with a partner.

    Differentiation:

    • Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature.
    • Allow students to use the voiceover feature to read their comics aloud.

    • Allow students to work with a peer model.

    • Provide sentence frames as needed.

    • Provide a list of everyday problems from which to choose.

    Resources:

    • Comic to print or display: Comic.

    Suggested Content Packs:

    Suggested Story Starters:

    Related Ideas

    There’s an App for That

    In this lesson, students will develop the idea for an app that will solve a problem they encounter at home or at school.

    Global Problem Solvers

    Students will describe an invention that would solve a global or environmental problem, e.g., flooding, waste disposal, pollution, extreme heat, etc.