Invention is described in the Merriam Webster dictionary as “productive imagination.” From medical breakthroughs to computer advancements, we are forever in search of fresh ideas in science, technology and engineering.
Yet with high schools facing their budget cuts, it is often difficult to find the tools, the teachers and the time to inspire our next generation of inventors. If it doesn’t happen at some point in the classroom — what’s lost? Is invention something that can be taught or will people become inventors for other reasons?
We talk with two of the nation’s top high school inventors, recipients of the Lemelson-MIT grant, and one of MIT’s experts in robotic research. Who invents the inventors, anyway?
Guests:
Andrew Esther, junior from West Salem High School in West Salem, Oregon and Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams grant recipient
Genevieve Garris, senior from Gulf Coast High School in Naples, Florida and Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams grant recipient
James McLurkin, PhD candidate in Computer Science at MIT, 2003 winner of the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize and inventor of robotic ants and swarmbots.