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In 2023, pupils from Calistoga Junior/Senior High School in California engaged in a year-long innovation initiative administered by the Lemelson-MIT Program. Asked to identify challenges to address in their community, the pupils focused on a creation aimed at keeping firefighters and agricultural laborers comfortable in sweltering working environments.

Throughout the subsequent 12 months, the pupils gained deeper insights into the issue from the workers, devised a prototype cooling mechanism, and submitted a patent for their invention. After showcasing their solution at the program’s culminating Eurekafest event at MIT, the pupils were invited to the California State Capitol to present their work to lawmakers, and they were subsequently chosen as finalists in the student SXSW Innovation Awards.

For two decades, the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams Grant Initiative has motivated high school pupils nationwide by providing support through an extracurricular innovation program that culminates in presentations on MIT’s campus each spring. The students identify their own challenges and develop their own solutions, receiving $7,500 in grants from Lemelson-MIT, in addition to mentorship, technical guidance, and further resources to bring their concepts to fruition.

To date, high school InvenTeams have been awarded 19 U.S. patents since the program’s inception, with many more groups, including the one from Calistoga, pursuing their inventions after completing the program. Students frequently report a heightened sense of self-assurance and enthusiasm for STEM subjects following their InvenTeams participation. In certain instances, this newfound perspective alters students’ future paths.

“In a conventional educational environment, students don’t always have the opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities,” remarks Calistoga High School educator Heather Brooks, who mentored the 2023 team. “I was astounded by the students’ ingenuity and drive.”

Transforming students into inventors

The Lemelson Prize initiative commenced in 2004 with a single $500,000 award bestowed upon a prolific inventor each year, alongside smaller rewards for inventor teams from MIT. In 2006, subsequent to a National Science Foundation report on the most effective means of nurturing and supporting inventors, the program began granting smaller funds to teams of high school pupils nationwide.

“[Program founder] Jerome Lemelson aimed to inspire youth to become inventors and held a profound belief that America’s strength and innovation were propelled by invention,” states Lemelson-MIT Executive Director Stephanie Couch. “He wished for young people to honor inventors in the same way they celebrate rock stars and athletes.”

Upon Couch’s arrival at MIT nine years ago, her research indicated that providing small grants to younger students was the most effective method for increasing students’ engagement in STEM subjects.

Every year, the InvenTeams program receives between 50 and 80 applications from student groups around the country. From these, 20 to 30 teams are chosen for Excite Awards. These selected teams submit a detailed application, explaining the issue they aim to resolve, conducting patent research, and sharing initial concepts for their solution. They also outline strategies for community involvement, budget management, and additional background research.

Judges with varied expertise choose the finalists, who provide monthly updates throughout the year. Teams also regularly engage with the community members for whom they are devising solutions.

“We view invention as a practice in empathy,” asserts Edwin Marrero, the interim invention education manager of the Lemelson-MIT program. “When you’re inventing, you’re creating for someone — and we like to say you’re innovating with someone. Students learn to communicate and collaborate within their communities. It’s a valuable skill to acquire early in life.”

The final event at MIT, known as Eurekafest, occurs every June. It includes live demonstrations at the Stata Center that are accessible to the public and provide students an opportunity to display their inventions. Students stay in MIT residence halls for a few days leading up to the presentations and engage in a series of networking events.

“The presentations are my favorite aspect because people are bombarding students with inquiries, and the depth of understanding they show, along with the confidence they exude, is unlike anything you’ve ever witnessed from a high schooler,” Couch notes.

This year’s teams demonstrated methods to detect contaminants in drinking water, assist visually impaired individuals in communication, treat groundwater for agricultural use, and more. Finalist teams came from Lubbock, Texas; Edison, New Jersey; Nitro, West Virginia; and — for the first time in the program’s history — MIT’s own Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Cambridge team created a communication device for rowers so they can receive instructions from their coaches. They filed for a patent for their creation.

“Our research has shown that this year-long program truly alters the students’ self-perceptions, what they believe they can accomplish, and what they will pursue next,” Couch states. “Moreover, by empowering them to choose the issue they want to address and for whom they want to solve it, we grant them agency and tap into that intrinsic motivation to seek meaning and purpose in life — how often in school does one get to select a problem instead of being directed to work on a specific one?”

Expanding invention education

There are numerous narratives about the impact of the InvenTeam program on students. In 2016, a group of students on the autism spectrum created a treadmill device and application to identify lameness in cows on dairy farms — a method to detect injury or illness in the animals. The students secured a patent for the device, which was significantly more affordable than alternatives available in the market.

In 2018, a team from Garey High School in California designed a sensor device to assist in monitoring foot health in diabetic patients to avert amputations.

“Our school ranks among the lowest academically, and 99 percent of our students come from low-income backgrounds,” explains Antonio Gamboa, the former science department chair for the school district. “Prior to receiving the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams grant, district officials claimed they lacked the funds to support science. Once they witnessed what these students could achieve, the situation reversed — not only in our school but throughout the entire district.”

The InvenTeams program has been so effective that the Lemelson-MIT program established a membership initiative titled Partners in Invention Education, aiming to assist numerous additional schools in adopting invention education. The curriculum spans from kindergarten through the first two years of college.

“As a middle school mathematics educator in New York City Public Schools, I observed that children start losing interest in STEM subjects at an early age,” remarks Marrero. “I believe a significant reason for this is that it’s often not taught in a manner that resonates with them. Lessons frequently lack real-world applications. Lemelson-MIT’s invention education makes STEM disciplines pertinent for students. They drive their own learning. They might realize they need mathematical or scientific skills to tackle the problem they are addressing, which fosters a different level of motivation.”

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