Parkway’s Invention Project Ignites Innovation

Parkway students are off to the races thanks to the Invention Project!

In a partnership with the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF), and made possible through a grant from the Overdeck Foundation, Parkway’s Gifted & Talented Facilitator Lauren Clegg is empowering students to use creativity and critical-thinking to solve real-world problems. The partnership and grant allow all first, third and fifth-grade students at Parkway to participate in activities that align closely with traditional G/T learning, and provide an opportunity to explore concepts in a unique and collaborative way.

“Going through the engineering and design process teaches you perseverance and pushes you to create things that you didn’t think were possible,” said Clegg. “This is an opportunity where they get to show their creativity, critical-thinking and problem-solving in new ways, and it’ll help all students show progress in the classroom and continue taking on new challenges.”   

Clegg’s students were tasked with designing and building a vehicle with a specific set of guidelines. Each vehicle needed to be lightweight and able to move on land, be inspired by several living organisms and have at least one detachable part. Students also needed to think of a fuel source that their vehicle would theoretically run on. After ideating and designing their vehicles, students constructed prototypes with kits provided by the NIHF.

Jessica Fiew, part of the NIHF’s Camp Invention team, has been a long-time collaborator with LISD and the district’s Camp Invention and Club Invention offerings. Working with Clegg and LISD Elementary G/T Services Administrator Koby Stringer, Fiew was excited about bringing the Invention Project to Parkway.

“[Invention Project] is our break-off activity, it’s more for in-school and after school and helps extend learning outside of summer,” she explained. “It has such a huge impact on learning – it gives them hands-on experiences that also embeds math, ELA and STEM concepts into the projects. It really helps synthesize the information because they’re doing these activities that are relevant to their learning.”

The Invention Project has proven to be a hit with students.

“It’s cool to learn how to design and program cars,” said third grader Chloe O.

“This is so cool, my cheetah car is going to be the fastest,” classmate Chase M. agreed between test runs of his design.

Clegg is excited to see students excel with the Invention Project, and hopes the experience has made an impact.

“We’ve talked a lot about inventors that have created things for our world. I want these students to know that they can shoot for the stars and they’re capable of anything, and that we’re helping them create a better future.”