Thinking Outside The Box

Resource Ideas

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Description (from Crossroads Series)

To "think outside the box" means to think creatively, to be innovative, or to make a change in the established way of thinking about things. This unit gives students the opportunity to explore people's ideas and inventions that have affected the world. Students can reflect on their own ways of thinking and how they approach problems and issues.

In this unit, students should read articles, profiles, stories, and poems and view photos and sculptures. They should have opportunities to make oral presentations, take photos, write a myth, analyze artwork, and discuss issues.

Major Integrated Resource (MIR)

• Crossroads 7 Series available from Nelson Publishing Company

• Inventions that Changed Our World - from Scholastic comes this series of four mini-lessons introducing students to the amazing world of inventions — they'll learn about famous inventors, explore everyday inventions, discuss the "Top 10" inventions of all time, and even imagine a new invention for the 21st century. Each mini-lesson provides a step-by-step activity with links to the best online resources for kids.
• Online Activity: Inventions that Changed the World - Modern inventions have certainly changed the world. In this project, you will take a closer look at how times have changed. Let's get started!
• Project: Lunch Box Design - Students will experience the creative process inherent in designing a product. Students will practice the skills of team thinking, the relationship between form and function, the ability to think through a product from concept to production, and practice a visual and oral presentation of the concept to a group.
• Great Canadian Scientists - This Web site allows students to meet some fascinating Canadian scientists.
• MIT Invention Dimension - See student innovations at this site from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• Inventors' Club - Students discuss how machines help people do things, then "invent" machines that can help them do something they need help doing.
• Changes and the Individual - Students will evaluate the social effects of inventions and other developments on the lives of ordinary individuals.

Web Quests

• Inventors Who Have Changed the World - A Web Quest where students learn about the lives of great inventors and how they achieved their goals.

Related Novel Sets Available from the Curriculum Materials Centre

• 2041: Twelve Short Stories by Jane Yolen - Twelve fictional stories about school life, fads, inventions, and cultural activities in the future by such authors as Connie Willis, Peg Kerr, and Bruce Coville.

Do you have a lesson plan, resource or web site you would like to contribute to this page? Contact us at: Online Learning Centre

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