Inventors

Inventiveness Programs

Structured invention programs for children date back to the early 1980s when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office committed to a comprehensive effort to introduce inventiveness thinking at all levels of school curricula (Project XL). Currently, a plethora of invention programs, camps, and contests are available through schools, companies, cities, and states (i.e., Invent Iowa). Although specific invention programs for school-age children do exist, inventiveness programs for children are often submerged under the more familiar school concepts of critical thinking and creativity.

Inventiveness (and invention curriculum) has not become a major part of school and school curriculum. When it does appear, it seems to be more justified by how it positively affects more typically used school concepts such as creativity. Thus, the emphasis on thinking skills and creativity makes inventiveness rather invisible.

Research

Inventiveness is not well researched among children and adolescents because it is not part of the tradition of school. Also, research about inventiveness has typically been focused on adult inventors. Much of what we know about young inventors has to do with whether they win an invention contest. Although the success in such competitions tells us something useful about the skills of the young inventor, it does not inform us about the psychological profile of the inventor, including his or her attitudes, feelings, interest, motivation, and so on.

Attitudes and Perceptions of Young Inventors

A study conducted by the University of Iowa's Connie Belin and Jacqueline N. Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development (Belin-Blank Center) reveals a few things about both the young inventor and his or her invention. For example, it is a stereotype that inventing is a “boy thing.” A look at participation in elementary through high school level (Grades 3 through 12) state invention conventions reveals that boys and girls are comparably inventive and interested in the invention process.

Inventive boys are similar to inventive girls in their attitudes about school and inventiveness. In 1992, Nicholas Colangelo, Barbara Kerr, and colleagues developed the Iowa Inventiveness Inventory, which measures attitudes and perceptions of adult inventors (men only) who held one or more patents. A similar survey was used in the Belin-Blank Center study to elicit attitudes of young inventors regarding the inventive process. Generally, there was little difference between the responses of boy and girl inventors in their reflection on the inventiveness process and attitudes toward school. In contrast with well-established adult inventors, the young inventors (both boys and girls) showed an overwhelmingly positive attitude about school and their academic abilities.

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