Practicing the Critical Part of Inventive Thinking

When your students have some exciting possibilities for their invention projects, they will need to use their critical thinking skills to narrow down the possible solutions.  They can do this by asking themselves the following questions about their inventive idea:

 Is my idea practical? 

 Can it be made easily? 

 Is it as simple as possible? 

 Is it safe? 

 Will it cost too much to make or use? 

 Is my idea really new? 

 Will it withstand use, or will it break easily? 

 Is my idea similar to something else? 

 Will people really use my invention? (Survey your classmates or the people in your neighborhood to document the need or usefulness of your idea.)