As we’ve previously mentioned, The Kiski School became the first school to adapt the exclusive Inventionland Institute inventing curriculum when they began the course with a visit to Inventionland last spring.

Now that they’re back to school, it’s time to kick off the second semester of Inventionland Institute coursework with none other than the school’s brand-new Makerspace!

Earlier this week, The Kiski School featured their new three-room Makerspace in the “Kiski’s Inventionland Institute Makerspace” article in their e-newsletter, Kiski Cougar Connections.

According to the article, the Makerspace supports the school’s “emphasis on doing, creating, and innovating.”

Not only are we excited about The Kiski School’s new makerspace because it is where they will teach the inventing curriculum designed by our friends at the Inventionland Institute; but, our excitement STEMs from the fact that our very own designers helped school administrators to envision, design and furnish the new space, which includes a Maker Space, an Inventor Space and a Storytelling Space.

Highlights of the Maker Space include sound-proofed walls, a laser etcher and various other power tools that are “meant for loud hands-on creation.”

The Inventor Space is distinguished by computer graphics software, a 3D printer and customized work benches that “are fully stocked with every hand tool imaginable.”

Finally, the Storytelling Space is equipped with a green screen that can “visually transport [students] to a virtual background.”

So many hands at Inventionland played a part in bringing this creative makerspace to fruition. Now that The Kiski School students are fully armed with even more cutting-edge technology and tools, we can’t wait to see what new product ideas they come up with this semester!

You can read more about the school’s three-room custom makerspace in the Kiski Cougar Connections e-newsletter here.

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

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Over the last few months, there has been a lot of talk around here about one of the newest ways that Inventionland is using a little STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) to inspire the leaders of tomorrow. Of course, we’re talking about our friends at the Inventionland Institute whose curriculum was included at Mr. Davison’s alma mater, The Kiski School, and the DuBois Business College this semester.

With great pride, we’re excited to announce that the first group of Inventionland Institute students from The Kiski School completed their coursework on Tuesday, May 19th, when they came back to our creative design facility, Inventionland, to present their final products to an expert panel of judges.

Unlike other curriculums out there, the Inventionland Institute offers a new spin on STEM education. Rather than providing the students with a problem, we teach them to identify one on their own and from there; they follow the process and the steps of the Inventionland Institute curriculum to find a solution.

The final presentation event was chock full of innovation! Five teams of Kiski students presented their product ideas that solved everyday problems that they identified in many aspects of life including in the classroom and even in the kitchen!

From there they found Better Ways to do things while eating, shoveling snow and trying to clean their glasses or computer screens!

In 5-10 minute presentations, the Inventionland Institute students from The Kiski School not only pitched their products and answered questions, but, they also debuted the infomercials that they created in order to promote their new product ideas to our panel of judges!

The three-person team of Alena Henderson, James Burke and Isaiah Cofield were named the winners of the final presentation!

The winning team identified a problem with what they saw each day inside of their classrooms… the erasers. They simply were inefficient. So, Henderson, Burke and Cofield researched a Better Way to clean the classroom whiteboards that would be less expensive and easier to do. Their product is something that doesn’t require installation or training and will remain vital despite advancing technologies.

According to The Kiski School representatives, some of the group’s teachers already have tried to place orders for their invention!

This is just the first group of students to complete the innovative Inventionland Institute curriculum, but if their success is any indicator of what’s to come, we’ll be seeing new product ideas coming from this course for a long time!

The DuBois Business College students will be the next to complete their final presentations at Inventionland and we’ll have full details about their presentations when the time comes!

Congratulations to the student inventors from The Kiski School who completed the Inventionland Institute course!

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

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Simply put, quite a few things around here have been gaining a lot of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) lately.

First of all, The Kiski School was on campus at Inventionland yesterday to present their final products to our team of inventing and design experts. That means, their first full semester of the Inventionland Institute course is coming to a close! We’ll be providing their full presentation recap very soon… stay tuned!

While The Kiski School is preparing to close their first chapter with the Inventionland Institute, the DuBois Business College (DBC) is in the thick of their coursework right now. Their semester began early last month and since that time, students have been working away on their new product ideas.

Inventionland Executive Director of Design Nathan Field has been back to DuBois to see the students in action and he says that it’s not just pencils and books that they’re using to make their new product ideas come to life. The DBC Inventionland Institute students are sketching out their ideas and envisioning them with engineering software programs.

Next, they’ll develop tangible product prototypes that they’ll eventually present to our expert panel at Inventionland.

Check back soon for The Kiski School and DBC reports, you can expect some major STEAM to be blowing around here for quite some time!

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

The post It’s Full STEAM Ahead for the Inventionland Institute! appeared first on Inventionland.

The first educational institution to incorporate our innovative Inventionland Institute coursework into their curriculum was none other than Inventionland founder and CEO George Davison’s alma mater, The Kiski School.

As the story goes, after we presented the course, which focuses on S.T.E.A.M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) education, to The Kiski School seniors last fall, they scrambled to sign up for class. To ignite their creativity, they visited our very own invention factory,Inventionland, where they enjoyed a tour of the creative design facility that turns out hundreds of new product prototypes monthly.

Following their Inventionland tour, Executive Director of Design Nathan Field gave the students a booster talk on what to expect throughout the inventing course.

“I’m kind of smiling right now… They were definitely enthusiastic to get started,” said Field.

Just a few months into the course, it was Field’s turn to visit The Kiski School campus to check in on the Inventionland Institute students’ progress.

Like so frequently happens during the inventing process, Field said the students were working diligently on various parts of their projects.

“One group was finishing packaging; one was doing engineering and getting ready to send their project to the 3D printers; one was getting ready to test their prototype,” said Field. “It may seem like one group was further along than another; but, some went back to engineering to tweak parts to make them better.”

During Field’s Kiski visit, the students also got a jump start on the final portion of their Inventionland Institute course when they gave mock product presentations.

By design, the Inventionland Institute course comes to an end when the students head back to Inventionland to pitch their new product ideas to an expert panel for review.

For The Kiski School’s inaugural class of Inventionland Institute students, that course culmination is happening at Pittsburgh’s Inventionland today!

See how the first class of Inventionland Institute students has put their full set of S.T.E.A.M skills into creating innovative new products.

Check back soon for an entire recap of The Kiski School’s final Inventionland Institute presentations.

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

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With an April 7th start date, the DuBois Business College is preparing to launch a fully-credited Inventionland Institute course into their curriculum.

“We could not be more excited. The students have shown a keen interest,” said DuBois Business College President and CEO Jackie Syktich. “We look forward to seeing how our students will apply their newly learned and state-of-the-art problem solving and entrepreneurial skills.”

To help kick off the innovative new course, Inventionland Executive Director of Design Nathan Field has been working closely with DuBois Business College instructors. Recently, Field traveled to the DuBois, Pennsylvania campus to tour their facility. During his tour, Field also took the opportunity to generate even more interest in the entrepreneurial class.

“I talked with one class and the instructors quickly pulled me into others,” said Field. “Since then, the students have been visiting the Inventionland website and asking how they can sign up for the course. It definitely created quite the buzz!”

Following Field’s late February visit to the school, Inventionland Institute instructors came to Inventionland for a pre-course prep class of their own.

“We gave them a little homework assignment before they came and that was to review the online portal,” said Field. “Not only were they impressed with the curriculum, but they said they were ‘blown away’ by the additional teacher notes and overall ease of use. Really, I didn’t have to do too much for them!”

Though he may not have had to guide the instructors through much of the Inventionland Institute material while they visited Inventionland, Field said that seeing their excitement was a great payoff for all the work that everyone already has put into the curriculum.

“It is such a good feeling to have others see the class value and just get excited about it,” said Field.

The DuBois Business College is the second educational institution to adopt the Inventionland Institute curriculum. As we previously reported, The Kiski School, has already adopted the coursework!

According to Field, he has already been back in touch with Kiski students on their class progress.

“We did phone interviews to discuss their ideas and how they’re moving forward,” said Field. “You could hear their enthusiasm on the phone as we discussed their models and I gave some manufacturing tips.”

The next steps for the Kiski students will be to pitch their products to our panel of experts at Inventionland near the end of the semester, which is also a step that the newly-enrolled DuBois Business College students eventually will complete.

As the Inventionland Institute moves forward, Field said that there are plans to add new class modules. Currently, he is working to develop a module devoted to 3D-printing technology. Beyond new content development, Field is working to take the Inventionland Institute to other area schools and far beyond.

“It is a big, big opportunity for many people,” said Field. “And, it is just so much fun to work on!”

We look forward to seeing more from this inaugural class of Inventionland Institute students and will be sure to report on their continued class progress!

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

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The Kiski School students visited our creative design facility to kick off a new class that they’ve enrolled in… the Inventionland Institute. As you can tell by the name, we’ve got a personally-vested interest in their classroom success!

Now that students are enrolled, their first assignment was to check out Inventionland and learn about the inventing process.

While at Inventionland, the students listened to a booster talk that followed their tour to get them on the right track for the Inventionland Institute.

The Kiski School is piloting the Inventionland Institute with 11 seniors currently enrolled. As part of the course, students are registered into a class portal that we’ve created. There, they’re able to review and upload information, complete assignments and submit work for grading. Their instructors are able to add notes and grade students based on the work that they submit.

The students’ progress is recorded through paperwork that includes identifying a problem and coming up with a solution. The students will follow our 9-step inventing process to actually build a product sample. They’ll also follow Mr. Davison’s ABCs of storytelling to create an infomercial for their new product. Finally, they’ll pitch their product to a panel of judges at Inventionland!

The Kiski School students enrolled in the Inventionland Institute shared our enthusiasm when they recently tweeted after their tour… “Now it’s our turn to invent!”

We’ll keep you posted on The Kiski School students’ progress with the Inventionland Institute. We’ve also got even bigger news about an area college that’s planning to adopt the Inventionland Institute curriculum for their spring or summer semester! Stay tuned!

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

The post Inventionland Institute Kicks Off with Kiski School Inventionland Visit! appeared first on Inventionland.