Title: Inventors – A Multimedia Presentation

Grade Focus: 3, 4, 5

Subject: Social Studies

Technology Integration: Discovering the Internet, PowerPoint Presentation

Recommended Time to Completion: 2 weeks

INTRODUCTION:

Have inventions changed the world? Students will research inventions and their inventors to explore how these inventions have changed society. Students will create a multimedia presentation on an inventor and the inventor's contributions.

PREREQUISITE EXPERIENCE:

Students should be familiar with using kid safe search engines to research. Students should know how to do research on the Internet. Students should have a basic knowledge of PowerPoint.

TEACHER PREP TIME: 1-2 Hours

Students should be familiar with how to use the Internet before starting this project. If not, you would need to add a couple of days to the beginning of this project to teach those objectives. Gather invention/inventor information resources to familiarize yourself and to guide your students in their exploration. Consult your media center; potentially your media specialist could do a presentation on accessing school library resources and/or (your preference) create an Inventors display or cart for your class. Search out Internet resources, for example:

Review these training videos from Nortel LearniT

  • Discovering the Internet,

If you have access to United Streaming, these videos may be used to increase the students’ understanding of inventors and their importance on society.

  • Elementary Video Adventures: Inventors and Inventions. DiscoveryChannelSchool. 2001.
    unitedstreaming. 29 March 2008
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  • Animated Hero Classics: Benjamin Franklin: Scientist & Inventor. NEST. 1993.
    unitedstreaming. 29 March 2008
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  • Animated Hero Classics: Alexander Graham Bell. NEST. 1995.
    unitedstreaming. 29 March 2008

“Discovery Education streaming is a digital video-on-demand and online teaching service to help improve students' retention and test scores; it is aligned to U.S. state and provincial standards.” If you do not have access to United Streaming, you can sign up for a free 30 day trial at

MATERIALS:

  • Folders
  • Computers with access to the Internet and PowerPoint software
  • A variety of books about inventors

PROJECT: Students will work in pairs to research different inventors and inventions. They will select one inventor, complete more research, and organize what they’ve learned through a PowerPoint presentation. Students will present their slide shows to the class on the last day.

ASSESSMENT/GRADING:

The PowerPoint length can vary depending on student ability. There will be at least 5 slides in the presentation:

  1. Title with name of inventor and student names.
  2. What is the invention and what does it do?
  3. How would your life be different without this invention?
  4. Interesting facts about the inventor and/or invention.
  5. Resources (name of web sites and/or books where students got their information)

TIME MANAGEMENT TIP:

Students can work in groups if pairs are not conducive to your environment and can speed up the research time.

Engage

1. What are some ways that people have changed the world? How have inventions changed the world? Do you know anyone who has made a significant change to the world through inventing something? Describe some of these changes.

(Examples: 1. Orville and Wilbur Wright-airplane 2. Henry Ford-car 3. George Washington Carver-discovered 300 uses for peanuts 4. Chester Greenwood-earmuffs.)

2. Brainstorm with your table group discussing some of the inventions that have changed our lives?

3. You will be working in pairs (or groups) to complete this project. You and your partner/group will investigate an inventor. You will discover facts about the inventor and create a PowerPoint slide show with at least 5 different slides.

Explore

1. As you research different inventors, think about how your life would be different without the invention. Over the next few days, you are in charge of working together with your partner to find the information for your project. This is best completed with books and Internet resources.

Here are some suggestions to help you locate some research.

  • Start your exploration by creating questions you have about your inventor and then categorizing the questions into topics.
  • Find Printed Materials: Look for books and articles to start answering your questions. The local or school library is the best source for this task.
  • Find People: Books can only tell you so much, so make a list of people you could speak with and find out more information. Science teachers might be a great resource for this.
  • VisitMuseums and Sites: Sometimes your local library will have artifacts for you to view. You might look into a local museum for inventions and information on an inventor.
  • Internet: Utilize the Internet to research different inventors. A couple of suggestions are: and

Discovering the Internet,

Explain

  1. Use this time to finish your research and prepare and present your multimedia project.
  1. A key step in your work is sharing it with others. Take some time and share with your class the information you have found each day.
  1. Although you may not be finished with your research, share with your class some of the information you have learned about your inventor. Based upon the information you learn, decide as a group whether you need more time for additional research.
  1. Once you have completed your research, begin to plan your presentation.
  1. Use a storyboard to help organize your work.

Elaborate

1. Use Microsoft PowerPoint to create a slideshow with text and graphics that highlights what you’ve learned about your inventor.

The presentation should include at least 5 slides:

  • Title with name of inventor and student names.
  • What is the invention and what does it do?
  • How would your life be different without this invention?
  • Interesting facts about inventor and/or invention.
  • Resources (names of web sites and/or books where students got their information)

You can refer back to Nortel LearniT for a tutorial and help about PowerPoint.

2. Use the PowerPoint Storyboard to organize your slides.

3. Prior to presenting your PowerPoint presentation to the class, have a friend review it to check for errors and/or make suggestions to help finalize your PowerPoint.

4. Now that you have completed your PowerPoint presentation, you will present it to the class.

If you finish early, you can add animations, sound effects and transitions to their slides. You might want to take a look at a Nortel LearniT video tutorial and get some good tips and tricks on making a great presentation.

Be prepared to present your work to your class. The teacher will assign you a time for your presentation. You should also spend time practicing presenting your presentation to the class.
PowerPoint Storyboard

Name:

Title of Presentation:

Slide #1 Slide #2 Slide #3

Text: Text:Text:

Main Idea: Main Idea: Main Idea:

Slide #4 Slide #5 Slide #6

Text: Text:Text:

Main Idea: Main Idea:Main Idea:

Evaluate

Work will be evaluated using the attached project rubric.

PowerPoint Project Evaluation Rubric

Criteria / Unsatisfactory / Needs Improvement / Satisfactory / Exemplary
Research / Limited research, from limited sources / Somewhat well research from somewhat varied sources. / Well researched, from various sources / Thorough research from varied sources presenting different points of view
Storyboard / planning / Limited planning evident / Some planning evident / Planning evident / Thorough planning evident
Content / Lacks detail / Some detail / Good detail / Excellent detail
Technology Use to Demonstrate Understanding / Technology use with little purpose / Technology use with some purpose / Technology use with purpose / Intuitive technology use with specific purpose
Overall Final Project / Inconsistent and inappropriate aesthetics and technical functionality / Somewhat consistent and appropriate aesthetics and technical functionality / Consistent and appropriate aesthetics and technical functionality / Consistent, creative and appropriate aesthetics and technical functionality

Extend

Consider these suggestions for extending your lesson.

1. Think of something you need that could help your day go more smoothly and try to invent the needed item.

2. Make a model of your invention and advertise your invention to your classroom.

3. Complete these Webquest activities

Related Resources

Harcourt Horizons – grade 3 pp. – Henry Ford

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