Posts Tagged innovation learning
Introducing a New Learn by Doing Component
In our continued efforts to help parents, students and educators, The Henry Ford is providing helpful tips that assist parents in adapting its educational tools for implementation at home and this week we are introducing a Learn by Doing component for our Wednesday Innovation Journey Live!
We’ve been sharing the habits of an innovator from our Model i learning framework for the last few weeks and this week our focus is on how innovators must be empathetic. This Wednesday we will be learning about Caring for the Environment at the Ford Rouge Plant with The Henry Ford’s Curator of Agriculture and the Environment, Deb Reid.
Jessica Stock and Deb Reid will share the Innovation Journey of the Rouge with you and Alex Cavinee will share this Learn by Doing activity. The necessary materials and directions are included here so you can be prepared to join Alex and build your own river system!
Be Empathetic: Caring for the Environment at The Ford Rouge
Materials
- Rectangular baking pan
- Wedge-type object to prop up one side of the pan
- Dirt or sand
- Plastic toys, sticks, grass, leaves that you have at home
- Water
- Cup
Build your own river system!
To help you understand how humans changed the shape of the Rouge River and how these shifts impacted the environment around the Rouge, use household materials to create your own mini-river system. Take it a step further by drawing a map of your river.
Directions
- Fill a baking pan with dirt or sand.
- Use your hands to cut (or dredge) a path through the dirt. Make sure to start at one end of the pan and end at the other.
- Use your wedge object to prop up one side of your pan. Only about an inch.
- Place toys (leaves, pieces of grass, etc.) along the sides of your path – these are your houses, buildings or crops.
- Fill a cup with water. Slowly pour the water onto the start of your river. Watch as the water flows.
- Where does the water go?
- Why do you think the water went that direction?
- Did some of your houses flood?
- Were your crops washed away?
- What can you do the prevent the flooding?
- After making some observations, “dredge” a new path for your river. Try again!
- Once you have made your river, draw a map!
We hope you join us this Wednesday.
We hope you enjoyed this week’s experiences focused on Collaborate. Were you inspired to create or invent something? Please share your story or photos with us on social media using #WeAreInnovationNation!
If you missed anything from our series this past week, check out the recordings and resources below. We hope that you will join us this upcoming week to explore new themes drawn from our Model i Learning Framework, focusing on why innovators need to Be Empathetic.
What We Covered This Week
How can we work together to innovate?
STEAM Stories
Our STEAM story of the week was One Love by Cedella Marley. Adapted from the lyrics of one of her father’s most famous songs, Cedella uses Bob Marley’s One Love to show what can be accomplished when a community comes together to transform their neighborhood.
Then we learned about the many ways we combine Metal and Glass with a lesson from our early childhood curriculum, Innovate for Tots and a coloring page featuring Lamey’s Diner. Watch the video here.
Innovation Journeys Live!
On Wednesday we hope you were able to join us for an Innovation Journey Live and learn the story behind Dan Gurney’s collaboration with Ford Motor Company to design the 1965 Lotus-Ford and win the Indianapolis 500 with The Henry Ford’s Curator of Transportation, Matt Anderson. Learn more about the team who changed racing forever. Watch the video here.
#THFCuratorChat
Associate Curator Katherine White discussed the important role that collaboration played in Charles and Ray Eames’ designs. Learn more here.
Kid Inventor Profile
In our Friday segment we learned about young inventor, Arthur Zhang, a 9th grader at Winchester High School in Winchester, Massachusetts. His invention, AWARE - AI Enabled Web of Sensors for Anticipation of Ruinous Events, is an interconnected network of sensors that uses artificial intelligence to make predictions for natural disasters. Watch the video here.
Learn more below about how our Innovate Curricular activities can keep your child innovating here:
Resource Highlight: Model i Primer+, Invention Convention Curriculum
In our continued efforts to help parents, students and educators during these times of uncertainty, The Henry Ford is providing helpful tips that assist parents in adapting its educational tools for implementation at home.
This week we are highlighting lessons from both the Model i Primer+ and Invention Convention Curriculum:
The five lesson plans from our Model i Primer+, named after the Actions of Innovation, are designed as opportunities for students to practice the Actions and Habits introduced in the Primer. Each lesson includes age-appropriate versions for grades 2-5, 6-8, and 9-12. In keeping with this week’s theme of Collaborate, focus on the Design: Creative Focus activity, found here.
Check out the activities for Design: Creative Focus and share your experience and follow others as they engage in our digital learning opportunities using the hashtag #WeAreInnovationNation.
You can learn more about our Invention Convention Curriculum, just click on the link. Invention Convention is a program open to students in grades K-12. The lessons teach students skills that will give young innovators the chance to design, build, and pitch an original invention to their peers and judges. Competitions are held at local or regional levels and those qualifying move on to state competition. State qualifiers can then compete at the Invention Convention U.S. Nationals held here at The Henry Ford.
Parents and educators can learn more about Model i at: https://www.thehenryford.org/education/teaching-innovation/modeli/
We hope you enjoyed this week’s experiences focused on Challenge the Rules. Were you inspired to create or invent something? Please share your story or photos with us on social media using #WeAreInnovationNation!
If you missed anything from our series this past week, check out the recordings and resources below. We hope that you will join us this upcoming week to explore new themes drawn from our Model i Learning Framework, focusing on how innovators Collaborate .
What We Covered This Week
How can we challenge the way things are done to innovate?
STEAM Stories
Our STEAM story of the week was The Girl Who Ran: Bobbi Gibb, the First Woman to Run the Boston Marathon by Kristina Yee and Frances Poletti. Bobbi wanted to run in the Boston Marathon but was told she couldn’t. She was told girls can’t run, especially in marathons, but Bobbi didn’t think that was fair. How did she Challenge the Rules to achiever her dream?
Then we learned about the many ways we use fabric with a lesson from our early childhood curriculum, Innovate for Tots and a coloring page featuring the Hanks Silk Mill. Watch the video here.
Innovation Journeys Live!
On Wednesday we hope you were able to join us for an Innovation Journey Live and learn the connection between Women, Weaving and Technology with The Henry Ford’s Curator of Communications and Information Technology, Kristen Gallerneaux. Learn more about the role of women and punch card looms in the development of computer technology. Watch the video here.
Kid Inventor
In our Friday segment we learned how 10th graders Bridgette Castronovo and Taylor McNeal from Kennesaw, Georgia, collaborated to create a Biodegradable Straw. As an alternative to polymer and paper straws, the team created a biodegradable straw by extracting cellulose pulp from corn husks to form a base and coating the base in a chitosan solution. Three different solutions and variations of blending times were tested to determine the best case for straw durability. Bridgette and Taylor were First-Place High School Division Winners at the K12 InVenture Prize Invention Convention. Watch video here.
Learn more below about how our Innovate Curricular activities can keep your child innovating here.
Resource Highlight: Model i Primer+, Invention Convention Curriculum
In our continued efforts to help parents, students and educators during these times of uncertainty, The Henry Ford is providing helpful tips that assist parents in adapting its educational tools for implementation at home.
This week we are highlighting lessons from both the Model i Primer+ and Invention Convention Curriculum:
The five lesson plans from our Model i Primer+, named after the Actions of Innovation, are designed as opportunities for students to practice the Actions and Habits introduced in the Primer. Each lesson includes age-appropriate versions for grades 2-5, 6-8, and 9-12. In keeping with this week’s theme of Collaborate, focus on the Uncover lesson. All you need for the lesson is a computer to access any historical photograph, such as those available on The Henry Ford website under Digital Collections.
Check out the activities for Uncover and share your experience and follow others as they engage in our digital learning opportunities using the hashtag #WeAreInnovationNation.
You can learn more about our Invention Convention Curriculum, just click on the link. Invention Convention is a program open to students in grades K-12. The lessons teach students skills that will give young innovators the chance to design, build, and pitch an original invention to their peers and judges. Competitions are held at local or regional levels and those qualifying move on to state competition. State qualifiers can then compete at the Invention Convention U.S. Nationals held here at The Henry Ford. This week we focused on the Scamper activity.
Parents and educators can learn more about Model i at: https://www.thehenryford.org/education/teaching-innovation/modeli/
We hope you enjoyed this week’s experiences focused on Learning from Failure. Were you inspired to create or invent something? Please share your story or photos with us on social media using #WeAreInnovationNation!
If you missed anything from our series this past week, check out the recordings and resources below. We hope that you will join us this upcoming week to explore new themes drawn from our Model i Learning Framework, focusing on how innovators Challenge the Rules.
What We Covered This Week
How can we learn from our mistakes?
STEAM Stories
Our STEAM story of the week was After the Fall, How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again by Dan Santat. Everyone knows that Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, but what happened after? How did he summon the courage to overcome his fears?
Then we learned about the many ways we use rocks with a lesson from our early childhood curriculum, Innovate for Tots and a coloring page featuring the Cotswold Cottage. Watch the video here.
#InnovationNation Tuesdays
Continue Reading
We hope you enjoyed this week’s experiences focused on Taking Risks. Were you inspired to create or invent something? Please share your story or photos with us on social media using #WeAreInnovationNation!
If you missed anything from our series this past week, check out the recordings and resources below. We hope that you will join us this upcoming week to explore new themes drawn from our Model i Learning Framework, focusing on how innovators Learn from Failure.
What We Covered This Week
How can we be brave and do new things to make the world a better place?
STEAM Stories
Our STEAM story of the week was I Will Be Fierce by Bea Birdsong and illustrated by Nidhi Chanani. I Will Be Fierce was a 2020 Southern Book Prize Finalist and is a powerful picture book about courage, confidence, kindness, and finding the extraordinary in everyday moments. Check it out with your favorite online reading service. Then we learned about the many ways we use metal and fabric with a lesson from our early childhood curriculum, Innovate for Tots and a coloring page featuring George Washington’s Camp Bed.
#InnovationNation Tuesdays
We hope you enjoyed this week’s experiences focused on Staying Curious. Were you inspired to create or invent something? Please share your story or photos with us on social media using #WeAreInnovationNation!
If you missed anything from our series this past week, check out the recordings and resources below. We hope that you will join us this upcoming week to explore new themes drawn from our Model i Learning Framework, focusing on how innovators Take Risks.
What We Covered This Week
How can we turn our questions into ideas, and our ideas into actions?
STEAM Stories
Our STEAM story of the week was I Have an Idea by Herve Tullet and then we learned about the many ways we use paper with a lesson from our early childhood curriculum, Innovate for Tots. Watch the here.
#InnovationNation Tuesdays
See this week's highlighted clips below:
On May 14, The Henry Ford recognized the 2020 winners of Invention Convention Michigan through a special awards ceremony hosted on our YouTube and Facebook channels. More than 2,600 students across the state participated in events leading up to the state final this year, with 155 students competing in the final competition. 
Thank you to staff who participated in judging this year, our sponsors, and congratulations to the students listed below who have been invited to compete at Invention Convention U.S. Nationals.
Learn more about the winning inventions from the inventors themselves below along with our virtual awards ceremony.
Grades 3-5
Third Place: Falcon
Saiabhiram Akkaraju, Grade 5, Novi Meadows Elementary, Novi
Falcon (Flying Automated Litter Controller) is a Litter picking drone.
Second Place: Dispens-a-Ramp
Diya Ural, Grade 4, Village Oaks Elementary, Novi
The Dispens-a-Ramp is an invention to help big dogs that are having a hard time getting into cars (especially, SUVs). Dispens-a-Ramp is a bi-foldable ramp with a built-in automatic treat dispenser. When the dog puts its paw on the button, it triggers the treat dispenser to dispense the treat into the bowl. Each Dispens-a-Ramp could have few dispensing units.This encourages the dog to move further onto the ramp and finally, into the car.
The main purpose of the invention is for the dogs to have a positive experience getting into the car. Hence, my motto is "One step to a Dog's Happy Journey".
First Place: Filtere – Water Filtration System
John Tewolde, Grade 5, Brendel Elementary, Grand Blanc
Filtere is a water filter that can be used to filter contaminated water. It uses three types of water filtration methods - Granular Activated Carbon (GAC), Ion Exchange, and UV light. This germ-killing combination gets all 30 of the particles that could end up in water. It can be used in any container of water, and cleans ALL germs within 30 seconds. Water contamination is a large problem in the world that affects more than two billion people. Filtere is an affordable and effective solution to this problem.
Grades 6-8
Third Place: Piezo Power
Samvith Mahesh, Grade 6, Novi Meadows Elementary, Novi
When pressure is applied to some special crystal structure deforms, atoms get pushed around, hence generating electricity and is known as Piezo electric affect. Our project is designing products that uses this science as an energy producer using energy humans exert while doing daily activities.
Second Place: Porch Pirate Preventer (P3)
Akhilesh Shenoy and David Tauro, Grade 6, Novi Meadows Elementary, Novi
Did you know that over 1.7 million packages are stolen daily around the world? Our incredible Porch Pirate Preventer (P3) stops package theft of porch deliveries in a very cost-effective way.
Our device, which is made up of a chip, an accelerometer, a Piezo buzzer and a numeric keypad, uses a loud alarm to prevent thieves from taking delivered packages. The chip is programmed using Python to make the accelerometer and Piezo buzzer work with each other.
Once the package is placed on the homeowner's porch, the delivery person uses the keypad on the package to activate P3. He/she then sends a message to the package owner to let them know that the package is delivered and activated. Only the package owner can deactivate P3 using the keypad on the package. If the package is moved or a wrong code is entered, a loud alarm is set off.
Just as bottle returns work in many states, P3 is fully refundable for the package owner when returned to participating merchants. The company can then reuse P3 on future deliveries. So it's a win-win all around!
First Place: Reinnervate
Suhani Dalela, Grade 8, Independent Inventor, Saline
Reinnervate is an alternative medicine based instant fatigue reduction device. Using World Health Organization's standardized meridian points, this device provides instant energy to the user without disrupting the activity they are doing.
Grade 9-12
Third Place and Howard & Howard Patent Award: EcoRinse
Elizabeth Li, Grade 12, Huron High School, Ann Arbor
EcoRinse is a robust, redesigned showering system that aims to reduce water waste in the shower. It redirects cold water that sits in pipes into the water heating system so that the cold water can be reused as hot shower water instead of flowing down the drain while the user waits for water to heat up in the shower.
Second Place: Perceive the Puzzle
Jayden Smith and Siena Smith, Grade 12, Huron High School, Ann Arbor
Perceive the Puzzle is a portable EEG for autistic individuals. The device allows caregivers to monitor brain activity, helping them to address episodes of stress quickly and easily. This is something that you can't find anywhere on the market and hits close to home for us. Our project was inspired by our Uncle Mark who was diagnosed with autism with he was four so we wanted to make something that would help him!
Grand Prize and First Place: AstroTrack: An Efficient Approach to Minor Planet Recovery, Detection, and Characterization
Anirudh Cowlagi, Grade 12, Huron High School, Ann Arbor
Advances in the field of planetary science, particularly concerning our own solar system, have been dramatic over the last few decades. These advancements owe largely to developments in observing technology and more comprehensive astronomical surveys across the world. However, with these copious amounts of new data comes a need for more effective methods of analysis. This project offers a solution to the issue by presenting an efficient Python-based approach to aid with the detection, recovery, and characterization of minor planets in the solar system (asteroids, trans-neptunian objects, Kuiper Belt objects, etc.).
21st century, 2020s, Michigan, inventors, Invention Convention Worldwide, innovation learning, events, education, childhood
We hope you enjoyed this week’s experiences focused on Being Empathetic. Were you inspired to show empathy? To create or invent? Please share your story or photos with us on social media using #WeAreInnovationNation!
If you missed anything from our series this past week, check out the recordings and resources below. We hope that you will join us this upcoming week to explore new themes drawn from our Model i Learning Framework, focusing on Stay Curious.
What We Covered This Week
How can empathy, or understanding the needs of others, help us solve problems
STEAM Stories
Join us for a reading of Get Up, Stand Up by Bob Marley and Cedella Marley and then learn about wood and fabric using a lesson from our early childhood curriculum, Innovate for Tots. Watch the video here.
#InnovationNation Tuesdays
See our Wright Brothers Cycle Shop segments here.
Innovation Journeys Live!
Join us for an Innovation Journey Live and learn how innovations in hearing and speech technologies provide accessibility options for many during our interview with Kristen Gallerneaux, Communication and Information Technology.
#THFCuratorChat
Get a feel for what Curator of Transportation Matt Anderson shared during our most recent #THFCuratorChat, highlighting our partners at AAA.
Kid Inventor Profile
In our Friday segment we will learn how empathy for others inspired this Invention Convention US Nationals winner to develop software to help doctors screen for cancer. This week we feature Vidya Srinivas, Invention Convention Michigan’s grand prize winner and first place winner in the 12th grade category at Nationals last year. Her invention, AutoImage is a cell-counting and identifying software that is intended to minimize the amount of time that researchers spend on manual labor during the cancer research process, enabling faster, more accurate, and more cost-effective cancer research. Watch video here.
Learn more below about how our Invention Convention Curriculum activities can to keep your child innovating here:
Resource Highlight: Innovate Curriculum
In our continued efforts to help parents, students and educators during these times of uncertainty, The Henry Ford is providing helpful tips that assist parents in adapting its educational tools for implementation at home.
This week we are again highlighting a lesson from the Innovate Curriculum. Designed to accelerate core discipline performance, Innovate helps middle and high school students connect their subject matter to real-world applications through innovation understanding and skills development, unleashing every student’s potential to develop groundbreaking ideas. Students journey from learning the habits and actions of innovators to unleashing the innovator within.
Create your free account today to access four interactive courses featuring:
- Primary source digital artifacts from The Henry Ford’s Archive of American Innovation
- Dynamic lessons with real-life stories
- Learn-by-doing activities and interactive content that helps prepare students and their prototypes to participate in competitions
- Exclusive interviews with past and present visionaries
- Celebrity-led tours of today’s most exciting start-ups
- Facilitator guides that help educators and parents guide their students through the courses
Keep in mind that these courses were designed to be completed in a classroom setting, so feel free to adapt the courses for home use. These courses can be done on their own or in any order, but the recommended sequence is as follows:
INNOVATE 101: Inspire Our Future as an Innovative Thinker
Students learn about the unique qualities that make an innovator, and how innovative thinking can not only solve problems but create world-changing social transformation.
INNOVATE 102: Solve Our Problems
Students learn how innovators uncover insights, define problems, design prototypes and optimize solutions.
INNOVATE 103: Unleash Your Ideas as You Learn to Think Like an Entrepreneur
Students discover how to move ideas forward by identifying customers, what to do to protect their ideas, how to communicate with an audience and how to pitch to investors.
INNOVATE 104: Activate Your Potential
Students get to apply what they have learned and turn an idea into action. They will uncover an issue, come up with a solution, identify the users and create a unique prototype that they develop, showcase and pitch to others.
If your child is inspired to create an innovation of their own, check out Innovate 102, Lesson 2: Learning What People Need. Use the Innovate 102 facilitator’s guide and the tips below to guide your experience.
To prep for Lesson 2, you may want to first look at Innovate 102, Lesson 1: Uncovering a Need.
Begin by discussing what “innovation” means. You can use Innovate 101, Lesson 1 to help frame the conversation.
Spend some time talking about the Actions of Innovation and the Habits of an Innovator – which ones have you used before? Which ones are less familiar? See page 2.
Encourage your child to start keeping a “design journal” – see page 1 of the facilitator guide for more details.
Talk about why it is important to talk to people who will use your innovation.
Think about the difference between closed- and open-ended questions. Why are open-ended questions more valuable when trying to find out what people need?
In this lesson, entrepreneur Will Allen demonstrates the power of open-ended questions. Can your child think of times when they asked open-ended questions? Closed-ended questions? Was there a difference in the types of answers they received?
Practice asking open-ended questions with your child. Learning how to understand what people need is an important skill for all ages!
Parents and educators can learn more about Model i here.
Thanks to AAA Auto Club Group for sponsoring this week’s events.
We hope you enjoyed this week’s experiences focused on Power and Energy. Were you inspired to create or invent something? Please share your photos with us on social media using #WeAreInnovationNation!
If you missed anything from our series this past week, check out the recordings and resources below. We hope that you will join us this upcoming week to explore new themes drawn from our Model i Learning Framework, beginning with Be Empathetic.
What We Covered This Week
Power & Energy: How is power created?
STEAM Stories
Join us for a reading of Wind by Marion Dane Bauer and then learn about wood and metal using a lesson from our early childhood curriculum, Innovate for Tots. Watch the video here.
#Innovation Nation
Watch segments related to power and energy from The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation here.
Innovation Journeys Live!
Join us for an Innovation Journey Live when Jessica Robinson, our Entrepreneur in Residence, and Matt Anderson, our Curator of Transportation, talk about electric and autonomous cars. Watch the video here.
Our Friday segment will be a little different this week as we hear from Attorney Michael “Max” Sneyd, an attorney at Kerr, Russell and Weber, PLC in Detroit, Michigan all about patents, copyrights and trademarks. This is a great opportunity for all of our invention convention participants to learn the difference between each, what you might need and what might not apply to your invention, what to consider when developing your invention, how to apply for a patent, copyright, or trademark, how long it takes, and how families can support their inventors in the application process. Watch the interview here.
Learn more below about how our Invention Convention Curriculum activities can to keep your child innovating.
Resource Highlight: Invention convention Curriculum
In our continued efforts to help parents, students and educators during these times of uncertainty, The Henry Ford is providing helpful tips that assist parents in adapting its educational tools for implementation at home.
This week we are highlighting a lesson from the Invention Convention Curriculum. The program is open to students in grades K-12. The lessons teach students skills that will give young innovators the chance to design, build, and pitch an original invention to their peers and judges. Competitions are held at local or regional levels and those qualifying move on to state competition. State qualifiers can then compete at the Invention Convention U.S. Nationals held here at The Henry Ford.
Our Invention Convention curriculum takes young inventors through the complete process of inventing. The activities in our curriculum take young inventors through the seven steps of the invention process. These 7 steps provide the framework for the heart of the Invention Convention curriculum. The lessons are organized by step:
- Identifying
- Understanding
- Ideating
- Designing
- Building
- Testing
- Communicating
Entrepreneurship lessons are also added. We have designed the activities to build skills in invention and engineering while supporting the creation of your students’ very own inventions. You can learn more about the Invention Convention Curriculum Link here. Parents and educators can learn more about Model i here.
Janice Warju is Coordinator, Learning Content Development, at The Henry Ford.
Additional Readings:
- Made in America: Power- Maudslay Production Lathe, circa 1800
- Behind the Scenes with IMLS: Batteries Included
- Test Tube, "Edison's Last Breath," 1931
by Janice Warju, Invention Convention Worldwide, power, educational resources, innovation learning
We hope you enjoyed this week’s experiences focused on Information & Communication Technology. Were you inspired to create or invent something? Please share your photos with us on social media using #WeAreInnovationNation!
If you missed anything from our series this past week, check out the recordings and resources below. We hope that you will join us this upcoming week to explore Power & Energy.
What We Covered This Week
Information & Communication Technology: How can a problem be inspiration for finding a better way of doing things?
STEAM Stories
Join us for a reading of What Do You Do with an Problem? by Kobi Yamada and then learn about plastic and metal using a lesson from our early childhood curriculum, Innovate for Tots.Watch the video here.
Innovation Journeys Live!
Join us for an Innovation Journey Live when Diana Nucera shares how her organization, the Detroit Community Technology Project, is helping kids connect to their virtual learning experiences. Watch the video here.
Kid Inventor Profile
Alex Knoll, 15-year-old student from Idaho developed Ability App, a global app that will help people with disabilities and caregivers search for specific disability-friendly features at locations around the world. Explore these Invention Convention Curriculum activities to keep your child innovating. Watch the interview here.
Resource Highlight: Innovate for Tots
In our continued efforts to help parents, students and educators during these times of uncertainty, The Henry Ford is providing helpful tips that assist parents in adapting its educational tools for implementation at home.
This week we are highlighting, Innovate for Tots. These interdisciplinary, hands-on activities are designed for curious preschoolers, and focus on themed materials that are experienced through storytelling, project-based learning, science, discovery, artifact viewing and home/neighborhood exploration.
Our goal is to provide standards-based learning opportunities introducing our littlest learners to the habits and actions of innovators and the language of innovation through our stories from history. Each lesson includes fine and gross motor skills, science, social studies, literacy and the arts to accomplish this goal. We explore materials used in artifacts from the vast collections of The Henry Ford, as well as our own homes. Our innovating tots will develop their understanding of materials and the ways we have used them, hopefully inspiring their desire to Stay Curious, Collaborate, Empathize, Uncover and Design the artifacts of the future.
The lessons are designed to provide tremendous flexibility. The various components can be completed indoors or out. We have designed them into series of five activities, divided into Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM), English, Language Arts and Literature (ELA/LIT), Social Studies and History (SS/HST), focused on one material or one combination of materials. Each includes the related artifacts from the collections at The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation which can be shown digitally as well as instructions, pictures, or links for projects. Additionally, A Family Connection provides the family an opportunity to participate in the learning and a coloring sheet are also attached to each material.
Each Innovate for Tots Lesson Plans for Toddler/Preschool teaches the following age-appropriate parts of our Model I – the Habits and Actions of Innovators:
Model I:
Help your tots practice the Habits of Innovators:
-Stay Curious: Ask questions like what, why, how
-Collaborate: Talk about helping, work together
-Learn from Failure: Talk about “trying again," what's another way to...
-Empathize: How did the characters in the stories feel? How might it make others feel
Help your tots practice the Actions of Innovators:
-Design: Make, build, and create
-Uncover: What do you see? (characteristic/properties); What problems does this material help us solve?
Parents and educators can learn more about Model I here.
communication, technology, Model i, innovation learning, educational resources
