Coteaching Reading Comprehension Strategies in Elementary School: Maximizing Your Impact

Pathfinder: Inventors and Inventions

Links selected by: Judi Moreillon, Ph.D.

The following links provide resources to support elementary school students' investigations into inventors and inventions. These resources were selected for the advanced-level main ideas reading comprehension strategy lesson from Coteaching Reading Comprehension Strategies in Elementary School Libraries: Maximizing Your Impact (Chapter 7).

Educators may choose to share these sites with students before, during, or after studying kid inventors. Students may choose to explore these sites on their own as well.

Inventor Information

BKFK (By Kids For Kids)
This site includes a list of kid inventors, their ages, and their inventions. It also has information on famous (adult) inventors. A feature article, information about invention contests, and more are available on the site.

InfoKid: Inventors and Inventions
This site has numerous links about American inventions, including to sites with alphabetical lists of inventions, biographies of famous (adult) inventors, and special interest sites such as The History of Toys and Games. Sadly, some of the links are no longer active.

Kennesaw State University: Inventors
Numerous links are provided for gathering information about inventors and their inventions. The site also offers links to lesson plans.

Madison Wisconsin School District: Student-recommended Inventors and Inventions
This site provides links to information selected by students.

Marcaria.com: Inventors that Changed the World (recommended by a socialstudieshelp.com student - 2/26/13)
The links on this page are maintained by a company that is concerned with trademarks, copyrights, and patents.

Scholastic: The Top Ten African American Inventors
This site includes fast fasts and photos about ten inventors and links for more information on each one.

Interactive Sites about Inventions

Library of Congress: What In the World is That? Ingenious Inventions (This page requires Shockwave.)
The site describes 16 inventions and provides links for more information on each one. It also includes a game in which viewers identify these inventions from historical photographs.

U.S. Patent Office: Kids' Page
The site includes a calendar of famous and not-so-famous patents and trademarks, a number of interactive games, including a patent search activity.

ZipRealty: Appliances that Changed the Home Forever
This site includes information about microwave ovens, television, radio, and more. Site recommended by Ms. Brooke Pierce's student Addy.