When introducing students to the concept of innovation, teachers can hook students' interest by discussing the U.S. Patent Office and its role in recognizing true innovation. A brief discussion about the Patent Office can help students understand that some ideas fail, or simply are not innovative enough. Many innovations, however, are successful and do end up as products or ideas that make a difference (about 60% of ideas submitted for patent approval are approved).
Introducing the idea of the formal patent approval process reinforces student understanding of innovation as a response to a need or problem. This approach can be used in different content areas to springboard students' exploration of the innovative process:
- Students studying World War II look at innovations that received patents during that time. Which ones had to do with a response to the needs of the war? Why was innovation important during that timeframe?
- In a unit focusing on water conservation, students explore the history of bathtubs and showers along with attendant water consumption data. They identify innovative ways that bathing has improved over time and determine whether patents were issued for these innovations.
- Students studying fossil fuels work in collaborative groups to identify a specific problem that exists and come up with an innovation to address the problem. They research whether their innovation already exists, and if so, if there is a patent for the innovation.
After students explore the relationship between innovation and patents, they are ready to apply the innovation process to the content they are studying.
Figure 1. The Innovation Process
- Brainstorm possible needs or problems and ways to respond.
- Evaluate ideas to decide which idea is most worth pursuing.
- Identify steps in the process to produce the modification or improvement.
- Identify enablers and disablers of the idea.
- Reflect on the results of the innovation in order to determine if it is complete or needs to be modified.
Figure 2. Innovation Activities Across Content Areas
- Create an innovation that would improve a character's life.
- Create an innovative way to improve communication between two characters.
- Develop an innovative way to solve the problem in the story.
- Suggest an innovative way for the main character to take a risk.
- Determine an innovative way to remember math facts.
- Design an innovative system of measurement.
- Create an innovative way to demonstrate parallel operations using scale and manipulatives.
- Determine an innovative way to demonstrate place value.
- Identify an innovative way to reduce pollution.
- Develop an innovative way to continue space exploration.
- Determine an innovative solution to compensate for the loss of a sense.
- Create an innovative space object using at least two characteristics.
- Create an innovative solution to a problem in our community.
- Describe an innovative solution to the concept of scarcity.
- Create an innovative way to celebrate a national holiday.
- Develop an innovative form of transportation that will be beneficial to society.
Innovation in the creative classroom can take many forms. For example, a 5th grade teacher presenting a unit on the Westward Movement asks students to come up with an innovative way to improve a Conestoga wagon and actually make their new and improved wagon. This assignment requires students to research how the wagons were used, determine what the needs were at that time, and respond to a need. Groups of students use the innovative process to come up with the innovation and move it forward to something they can actually create. They work together to apply math and the scientific principles of movement and mechanisms to create their modified wagon. If time does not permit, students do not have to actually physically create an innovation; simply analyzing their idea for an innovation using the steps in Figure 1 contributes to their understanding of this aspect of creativity.
