Innovation Education is Making Waves Globally as Student Invention from Jordan Earns Licensing Agreement

One shining example comes from Jordan, where students engaged in the Youth Innovation Project, a collaborative effort between Amideast, the Jordan Ministry of Youth, and Inventionland® Education. These students conceptualized and crafted the “Amazing Lid,” emerging as winners in the end-of-course invention contest and earning a real-world licensing agreement.

Recently, the spotlight shone brightly on the “Amazing Lid” as it was showcased at the 2024 Inspired Home Show in Chicago. This prestigious event draws attendees from 120 countries, highlighting the global recognition and potential of innovative solutions like the lid created by Jordanian students.

This groundbreaking initiative underscores the commitment of organizations like Amideast to foster educational and professional opportunities across the Middle East, Western Asia, and North Africa. Partnering with the Jordan Ministry of Youth, Amideast facilitates career development and English language programs, promoting lifelong learning and advancing dialogue between the U.S. and Jordan.

Mr. George Davison, President and CEO of Inventionland® Education, expressed his excitement at seeing young entrepreneurs flourish through the program. “It’s especially gratifying to be doing this on a global scale,” he remarked, emphasizing the universal capacity for innovation regardless of geographical location.

In addition to fostering entrepreneurship, Amideast offers the Arab Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP), further bolstering efforts to cultivate innovation and economic opportunities in Jordan. This collaborative approach, supported by the Jordan Ministry of Youth, promises to transform lives and drive economic growth.

Jordan’s status as an “oasis of stability” amid regional turbulence has positioned it as an attractive destination for foreign investors. With a skilled workforce and a burgeoning science and technology sector, Jordan is on the cusp of significant economic development. Its capital city, Amman, is a testament to the country’s blend of rich history and modernity.

As Jordan continues to harness the power of innovation and education, initiatives like the Youth Innovation Project serve as catalysts for progress, empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs to shape a brighter future for themselves and their communities.

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The curriculum centers around a real-world, proven 9-step method used at Inventionland, one of the world’s largest invention factories. During the class, students work in small groups to find a problem and create an invention to solve it. The course helps students understand the practical applications of what they’re learning in STEM and opens up a world of career possibilities. During the process, students learn crucial soft skills like teamwork, critical thinking, problem-solving, adaptability, and communication, which are essential for success in college, careers, and real life.

One of the unique aspects of Inventionland® Education’s curriculum is the opportunity for students to engage with working professionals through its virtual mentoring program. As a result, students can learn more about various STEAM careers, such as engineering, structural package design, electronics, and communications.

In addition to the valuable skills and exposure to career opportunities, students compete in invention contests before a panel of experts to demonstrate their inventions at the end of the course. Winning teams also have the chance to compete in invention contests at Inventionland’s corporate headquarters each May in Pittsburgh, PA. This kind of recognition can be a huge motivator for students, inspiring them to pursue their passions and continue to develop their skills.

The success of Inventionland® Education’s curriculum is evident in the stories of students who have participated in the course. For example, two eighth-grade students from Grove City Middle School (Mia Mertz and Madison Mulato) saw their invention earn a licensing agreement to bring their product to market after participating in their invention contest. In addition, a team of international Inventionland®students from Jordan participated in the Youth Innovation Project. As a result, they also earned a licensing agreement for their developed product, co-sponsored by Amideast and the Jordan Ministry of Youth. Both sets of products will be available for purchase in 2023.

In addition to its innovation curriculum, Inventionland® Education also designs immersive, age-appropriate Innovation Labs® and maker spaces that inspire creativity and original thought, as well as a complete line of STEM and maker space professional learning, delivered in-person or virtually.

Inventionland® Education is a member of the leadership council of the STEM Education Council, along with other blue chip companies, and has joined the STEMM Opportunity Alliance, a new national initiative to provide equitable access to STEMM education.

Inventionland® Education’s recognition as a Top 10 STEM Solutions Provider by Education Technology Insights magazine is exciting and humbling. The focus on developing crucial soft skills and exposing students to various STEAM careers is helping to prepare the next generation of innovators and problem-solvers.

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The Berkshire Local Schools project features unique designs, including kindergarten cabins, Bert’s treehouse, a castle, a pirate ship, a robot maker space, and high school Innovation Labs. The project aims to provide students and teachers with an immersive learning experience that embraces project-based learning approaches. Berkshire Local Schools Superintendent, Mr. John Stoddard, expressed his satisfaction with the new maker spaces and STEM Innovation Labs, stating, “It’s hard to be creative when you sit in a beige box all day long.”

The project was peer-reviewed by a jury of endorsed AIA-CAE, A4LE, and LBD education design professionals and scored on six submission criteria, including Innovation, Community Needs, Interiors, Sustainability, Planning, Functional Design, and Next-generation Learning. The jury of five education architectural design experts applauded Inventionland® Education for meeting or exceeding the vast majority of the six submission criteria.

Inventionland® Education’s work at Berkshire Local Schools is featured prominently in the April 2023 edition of Learning By Design Magazine, reaching over 50,000 education and facility design leaders at all levels of education. In addition, the company has previously been honored with design awards for its work for the Seneca Valley School District, becoming the first public school to achieve an Edison Award in its competition, joining previous winners such as Elon Musk and Steve Jobs.

Inventionland® Education aims to inspire students and educators with immersive learning spaces, a K-12 applied STEM innovation curriculum, and extensive professional learning options.

With its continued commitment to inspiring students and educators, Inventionland® Education is leading the way in creating innovative STEM and project-based learning spaces for the future.

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What would you do if the big game was on the line and you had to nail free throws to win? It’s a movie plot line that’s been with us since the days of Teen Wolf. But…what if you had a team of robots? In this STEAM lesson, students will design a robot to accurately shoot a free-throw three times in a row. This lesson will take approximately 4, 45-minute classes to complete and explore types of levers as well as the concepts of precision and accuracy.

Materials Needed (per group)

• pieces of corrugated cardboard of various sizes
• card stock/file folders
• cups and plates (foam, plastic, and paper; various sizes)
• plastic spoons
• rulers
• string
• pipe cleaners
• craft sticks
• straws
• binder clips of various sizes
• paper clips of various sizes
• craft wire
• skewers
• clay
• scissors
• masking tape
• glue
• various colors of construction paper
• markers
• Materials needed for the entire class: ping pong balls and an empty trash can

Preparation

1. Set up “basketball hoop” (trash can) on a desk with a piece of masking tape six feet away (can be closer or further depending on your classroom size).

Introduction

• Ask a student to demonstrate a free-throw shot using crumpled up paper and your basket. Point out the motion they use in their arms from their elbows to their hands. Ask them what machine this looks like (have student repeat motion while class brainstorms).  Answer: A lever: a rigid bar that rotates on a fixed point (a fulcrum), which moves or loads. The elbow is the fulcrum and the forearm is the stiff bar. This particular type of lever is known as a third-class lever.

Introduce students to Cue, the basketball playing robot:

Inform students that they are going to create their own basketball-playing robot using the science of building levers and that it needs to make three free throws.

Procedure

1. Students will have approximately one hour (over the course of two class periods) to design, build, and test their robots.
   1. Students need to meet as a team (3-4 students per team), discuss the problem they are solving, design the robot, and agree on materials they will use.
   2. Students will need to draw a prototype of their design on a sheet of paper before building it.
   3. Students will build their robots. They may decide during construction to change materials or design. This is okay, but they need to make a new sketch and revise the materials list as they go.
2. Next, each team will take turns trying to make their free throws.
   1. One student will need to be the “recorder” and will place a colored piece of masking tape where the ball first bounces.
   2. As each team attempts to make free throws, they will look at the accuracy of the ball (did it land in the basket?) and the precision of the ball (did the balls all land close to each other?)
   3. If time permits, students can re-design and re-test their robots.

Discussion

Give students time to write down their answers to these questions individually and then discuss them as a class:

• Who was the most accurate? The most precise? The most accurate and precise?
• What went well?
• What didn’t go well?
• Were there any compromises you had to make with your teammates about the design? Explain.
• If you had to redesign your robot again, what changes would you make?

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Eric Stoudnour has been teaching at Altoona Area High School for over 25 years. As a chemistry teacher, he’s been showing teens the wonders of science and as a teacher always looking for new ways to inspire his students, he is one of the first adopters of the Inventionland® Education Curriculum. He doesn’t just offer run-of-the-mill science classes, either…he’s also offered courses based around forensics. Let’s get to know a little more about Mr. Stoudnour, October’s Inventionland® Education Teacher of the Month.

ILI: How long have you been teaching the Inventionland® Education Curriculum?

ES: I started teaching with Inventionland® Education in mid-January of 2018.

ILI: What do you find most interesting about the curriculum?

ES: I find the real-life applications fascinating. It gives the students a real-world problem to solve from inception to a working prototype. The diverse amount of different traditionally-taught disciplines that this curriculum touches on is amazing. Anything from science, math, communication, marketing, advertising, engineering, prototyping, business, research, development and so much more.

ILI: What inspired you to start teaching?                                                                                                          

ES: I was studying to become a physician in college when I took a job tutoring other people at Penn State University. At the same time, I got involved with coaching track (pole vaulting) back at my old high school. I found that I loved it! This was followed by a comment from my father who gave me some of the best advice I ever received. He said, “Make sure you love your job because you spend most of your time doing it for a large part of your lifetime.” And that made the difference in why I teach now!  I do love my job!

ILI: What’s the best advice you can give to other teachers at the start of the school year?

ES: Be open-minded and positive with your students. They bring such pure energy, raw enthusiasm and inspiration into the classroom. Sometimes it’s masked behind looks of disinterest and a bit of attitude, but don’t be fooled because they all want to be inspired and successful. It’s our job to help them find it, bring it out of them, and help shape them into a success.

ILI: What’s the best advice you can give to students at the beginning of the school year?

ES: I am here to help you achieve greatness.  Some of you may not know what you are capable of yet or even believe in yourself. But you will! It is my job to do this with you. I will do whatever it takes to help you. What I ask of you is to bring a positive attitude and an open mind and we will achieve greatness together.

ILI: Most memorable experience about the ILI curriculum?

ES: The most memorable experience was the cultivation of the course in the competition last spring. It was wonderful to come to Pittsburgh with our students and my co-teacher Frank Harpster.  After three and a half months of work, it was a humbling experience to be with all of these talented people from such a vast array of different school districts and business disciplines.

ILI: Do you run any extracurricular activities or clubs?

ES: Over the past 25 years of teaching, I have coached football, wrestling, track, weightlifting, and martial arts.  It’s very rewarding to work with kids outside of school in a different environment.  It really helps in understanding them better and working with them.

ILI: What area of study, outside of chemistry, do you think is the most interesting?

ES: After teaching various chemistry courses every year for 25 years, I have also developed an interest in this new Inventionland® Education curriculum. I’m also writing a real estate investing curriculum. Both of these areas interest me greatly!

ILI: Tell us about yourself: Where did you go to school? Any hobbies you’d like to share?

ES: I attended Penn State University and still go to many sporting events there especially football and wrestling events. I have a real estate investing business that I have run for the last 20 years. I’m currently writing a book with my kids on teaching young people how to get started and involved with investing in real estate. I love to travel and have gone cross country several times with my wife Kelli and two kids, Taylor and Hunter. I am lucky enough to work with my wife every day as she teaches across the hall from me.

Last words…for everyone out there with something to share…TEACH! It is so rewarding!

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Raise your hand if you can remember sitting in a row of desks while silently memorizing passages from a textbook or listening to a 40-minute lecture. Go ahead and put your hand down now. Even that is an outdated method of getting your point across.

Education is constantly evolving as we whittle down to the core of how we learn and understand. Some things never go out of style. Some things can’t go out fast enough, like the aforementioned “factory style” classroom learning. Through it all, we learn and develop best practices in education so that our students can develop intellectual maturity and the ability to think for themselves, while also being open and respectful to the thoughts and ideas of others.

Enter collaborative learning, or co-learning.

Co-learning is a manner of group learning that enhances communication skills, cultural awareness, thinking skills and so much more. Working in a group also allows students to provide checks and balances of their work on the spot, rather than finding out later, to make the workflow more efficient. The cool thing is we all need these attributes. It’s safe to say that learning from one another while being able to communicate effectively will never go out of style. In fact, we could be trending more and more in that direction in the future.

In David Grossman’s “The Cost of Poor Communications,” a survey of 400 companies that had 100,000 or more employees estimated that the annual cost of poor communication resulted in the loss, on average, of $62.4 million. The cost for smaller companies employing 100 or more people was an annual average of $420,000. In order to stop hemorrhaging the losses, we need to emphasize the importance of communication early on. It may be a soft skill, but there can be hard lessons learned as a consequence of poor communication.

Also consider this: A whopping 96 percent of executives that participated in a Salesforce survey cited a lack of collaboration skills that led to poor communication among employees.

Let’s connect the dots: The inability to collaborate effectively due to a lack of communication skills can equal a loss of business, money and jobs. It is imperative that we enhance these abilities in our workforce by instilling it in them while they are students through collaborative learning activities.

For example, the Inventionland® Education Innovation Course enhances soft skills by embracing hands-on, project-based learning. Students work in small groups of three to four to identify a problem and then create a solution by developing a practical invention. After a working prototype is created, the students must tell the story with graphic and design and packaging, as well as a product pitch to potential investors (OK, so this might be people at the school, such as a principal or superintendent).

Working together towards a common goal develops the much-needed collaboration and communication skills, as well as critical thinking and creativity, which make up the rest of the 4 Cs. According to the Journal of Educational Psychology, students working in small groups like this are prone to reach a higher level of achievement. It’s really proves the old adage that we are stronger together than apart.

“There are many strategies in education,” said Burgettstown Area School District elementary teacher Alissa Nardone. “In my opinion, critical thinking, reasoning, analysis, creativity, perseverance, problem-solving, and collaboration are at the forefront of what I believe should be prevalent in a 21st-century classroom.

The challenge is integrating these skills while maneuvering through rigorous learning standards and curriculum. Project-based learning provides an alternate way to address these skills. Students embrace meaningful projects. Parents have expressed that their children can’t wait to get to school when they know a project will be waiting to provide a good challenge.”

While teachers are still an integral part of the discovery process, classes are student-led and teacher-facilitated. This allows the students to learn from an instructor, as well as each other.

“Some students just want to be able to do things,” said Burgettstown Area School District high school teacher Laura Wells. “They enjoy a class that is more student-centered and allows them to take charge of their own learning.” For their part, the teachers also get in on the co-learning and discover hidden attributes in their students.

You might never find out who is a natural born leader or who is destined to become an engineer if you never give them the chance to put their talents and skills on full display.
That is one of the biggest difficulties in education. Students still need to learn, however they don’t always need to be taught. It may sound counterintuitive at first, but letting go of the steering wheel can actually steer students in the right direction.

“Choice and control inherently foster excitement and engagement,” said Avonworth School District middle school teacher Mike Lincoln. “Our Inventionland®course is a perfect example of this type of experienced learning.”

As adult professionals, we are typically assembled into organizations, teams, groups, etc. Whatever you call it, the mission is clear: To work collaboratively as a cohesive unit. It makes sense then to learn in a collaborative way as well.

“Employers are looking to hire people that can think on their own, be resourceful, and have soft skills, like communicating and working with a team,” said Carmichaels Area School District middle school teacher Brittany Phillips. “By my students working hands-on, they are finding and fixing their problems, working with people who all have different personalities and work ethic, and taking pride in their work.”

Why is it important to develop effective co-learning skills like communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity? For starters, the professional world is changing and adapting to advancing technologies. Because we are all connected to each other by phones, tablets and computers, the modern office could be a cubicle or a spare bedroom in your home. Statistics show that nearly 9-million people are working from home. The likelihood of that number continuing to climb is high, as millennials and younger generations enter the workforce. That means co-learning skills are paramount to this generation of learners, as well as the next ones.

“Hands-on, project based learning teaches students to manage their time, work in a group with other people and build off of the ideas and work of others to create a final product,” said Propel Charter School high school teacher Mayada Christiansen. “Students in the class learn to compromise, learn to hear others’ opinions and see the value in others’ perspectives. Those team-oriented skills are priceless in the workforce and very important to develop.”

Simply wanting to stay at home in sweatpants is not going to work out. The misconception about working from home is that it is easy with little to no supervision. This could not be further from the truth. Soft skills need to be sharper than ever so that ideas and concepts can be translated from one person to another through emails, texts or phone calls. If anything, being apart adds another layer of difficulty to the work.

So how can you transition from traditional learning more of a co-learning approach? Here are a few tips to alter your educational offering for the better:

• It’s time to close the factory. Yes, those “factory style” classroom setups have been around for a while. So were rotary phones, but we all moved on. Let’s do the same with a classroom layout of rows of desks staring at the teacher. Instead, try using either round or square desks with the chairs situated around them. This will allow your learners to face each other while they are listening or talking to the group.

• It’s OK to talk in class. Sure, you don’t want your classroom to turn into a cacophony of noise, but silence can be just as detrimental to the co-learning process. Encourage your students to keep the ideas flowing and the conversation going. Don’t let them be afraid to put their ideas out there, even if they don’t seem like winners. Products like the Snuggie, Rubik’s Cube, Slinky and Pet Rock are just a few of the many examples of ideas that could easily have been shot down by negative attitudes.

• Get your hands dirty. Foster collaboration with a project or challenge that is nuanced and layered. Some of the challenges in the Inventionland® Education’s Innovation Course include a pipe cleaner or sticky note challenge in which the team must build the tallest structure possible. This requires group brainstorming and collaboration during the construction to ensure each member of the team is engaged throughout and practicing productive co-learning.

• Be a collaborator, too. Practice what you preach and get other departments involved in the fun. Let’s say you are teaching a lesson about ancient aqueducts in your history class. Collaborate with the art teacher to have your students actually build one of these aqueducts based off of the knowledge that you gave them. Incorporate the math teacher to see what kind of an angle it will take to get the water moving quickly, but not out of control. This will set an example for your students that co-learning is a lifelong commitment.

As much as we’d like everything to be perfect, the fact of the matter is things don’t always work out as planned. You may have some students who want do just enough to get by and then carried the rest of the way by the more ambitious ones. Co-learning can be counter productive at this stage.

“Something that causes me concern, however, are the students who come into class and are discouraged by the fact that they are responsible for their own learning,” said Laura Wells. “I’ve had some otherwise gifted students who don’t want to put in the effort required to get started in this course. They would rather be in classes where content is set by teachers and they complete those specified concrete tasks.”

Ownership can be a tricky thing. The proposition of taking control of what you learn can be a daunting challenge to a student. After all, they have probably spent most of their education being given more concrete tasks.

Chances are, this is more of a “sticker shock” sort of reaction. Students could experience an immediate dust up of emotions that cause a panic. But once that dust settles, they can embark on the process of co-learning along with their friends and classmates. Doing it together within a group will let them know they aren’t alone. You will be amazed by what your students can achieve. Just let them do it.

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