New Jersey Inventors
and Inventions Unit
Day 1
Understanding
Invention vs. Discovery
Objective: Today we will differentiate between
a discovery and an invention
Before we start, let’s think...
What is an invention?
Why do people invent things?
What do we know about inventions?
What are some inventions we use often?
Vocabulary
discovery
invention
inventor
efficient
innovation
artifact
exhibit
Let’s sort the words below into these two categories.
discovery
invention
telephone
computer
light bulb
dinosaur bones
electricity
car
machine
penicillin
diamonds
gravity
How did you do?
invention
discovery
telephone
dinosaur bones
computer
diamonds
light bulb
gravity
car
penicillin
machine
electricity
What is an invention?
An invention is something brand new or
created.
What is a discovery?
A discovery is something that already exists in
nature.
New Jersey Inventors
and Inventions Unit
Day 2
Objective: Today we will research well-known
inventors and discuss how their inventions
changed people’s lives.
What do we already know about...
Eli Whitney
Henry Ford
Alexander Graham Bell
Research one of the inventions below. Record
your findings on a T-Chart in your notebook.
Be prepared to share your information with your
classmates.
Eli Whitney - cotton gin
Henry Ford - assembly line, Model T
Alexander Graham Bell - telephone
Let’s share our findings.
Complete the T-Chart with information about each invention.
Invention
How this Invention Changed Lives
What are your
TOP TEN Great Inventions
of all time?
Work with a partner to create a list. Be
prepared to share with your classmates.
Think about all of the inventions we talked
about.
What makes all of these inventions successful?
How would your life be different without these
and other inventions?
New Jersey Inventors
and Inventions Unit
Day 3
What do you know about
Thomas Edison?
Let’s use our research organizer to research Edison together.
Be sure to answer these questions:
Where did he live?
What did he invent? When did he invent it?
How does this invention work?
What problems led to this invention?
How did it change people’s lives?
Would you consider this a successful invention?
What improvements have been made to this?
What are other interesting facts about him?
What did you learn
about Thomas
Edison?