MIT-Lemelson Program Awards Grants to Young Inventors

Image Credit: Lemelson-MIT Program.

A program that celebrates inventions from middle and high school students is awarding grants to 42 teams at 39 schools in California, Massachusetts, Oregon and Texas. The Lemelson-MIT Program will award Junior Varsity (JV) InvenTeam grants to help enhance STEM education through inquiry-based learning and hands-on skill building. The teams represent “a diverse group of students in grades 7 to 10 from public, charter and magnet schools,” according to the announcement.

The JV InvenTeam initiative is a spin-off of the original Lemelson-MIT Program for older high school teams. It is funded by the Oregon-based Lemelson Foundation and administered by faculty and experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s School of Engineering. JV Teams can go on to compete in the national program, which awards grants of up to $10,000 to solve real-world problems through invention.

Launched in 2014, the JV InvenTeam initiative provides younger students with invention-based activities, project materials and professional development opportunities for educators. JV teams learn how to safely use tools and work on hands-on projects that range from hydrophobic gardening to designing basic wearable technologies. (All JV InvenTeams Activity Guides and other invention resources are available for free to the public.)

The complete list of 2017 grantees is available here. Further information can be found on the Lemelson-MIT program site.

About the Author

Sri Ravipati is Web producer for THE Journal and Campus Technology. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • hand touching glowing connected dots

    Registration Now Open for Tech Tactics in Education: Thriving in the Age of AI

    Tech Tactics in Education has officially opened registration for its May 7 virtual conference on "Thriving in the Age of AI." The annual event, brought to you by the producers of Campus Technology and THE Journal, offers hands-on learning and interactive discussions on the most critical technology issues and practices across K–12 and higher education.

  • teenager interacts with a chatbot on a computer screen

    Character.AI Rolls Out New Parental Insights Feature Amid Safety Concerns

    Chatbot platform Character.AI has introduced a new Parental Insights feature aimed at giving parents a window into their children's activity on the platform. The feature allows users under 18 to share a weekly report of their chatbot interactions directly with a parent's e-mail address.

  • laptop screen displaying a typed essay, on a child

    McGraw Hill Acquires Essaypop Digital Learning Tool

    Education company McGraw Hill has announced the acquisition of Essaypop, a cloud-based writing tool that will enhance the former's portfolio of personalized learning capabilities.

  • a professional worker in business casual attire interacting with a large screen displaying a generative AI interface in a modern office

    Study Finds Generative AI Could Inhibit Critical Thinking

    A new study on how knowledge workers engage in critical thinking found that workers with higher confidence in generative AI technology tend to employ less critical thinking to AI-generated outputs than workers with higher confidence in personal skills.