submitted by Dawn Wetmore
A team of student inventors from Berlin High School, one of only 13 high schools nationwide selected to receive a Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam grant for $6,305 in the 2010-2011 school year, recently completed its Adaptive Sports Device (ASD) for the deaf or hearing impaired. This ASD will alert the user to traffic approaching from behind when participating in a sporting activity such as skiing or snowboarding.
The Berlin High School InvenTeam will travel to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA, to exhibit and demonstrate its invention at the InvenTeams Showcase during EurekaFest, a multi-day celebration of the inventive spirit, June 15-18. EurekaFest is an annual event presented by the Lemelson-MIT Program, a non-profit organization at MIT that inspires youth to pursue creative lives and careers through innovation.
EurekaFest empowers a legacy of inventors through activities that honor role models and encourage creativity and problem solving. The festivities will also provide the Berlin High School InvenTeam with the opportunity to meet fellow student inventors from across the country, past and present Lemelson-MIT Program award winners, MIT alumni and staff and leaders in the science, technology and engineering communities.
“The InvenTeam initiative shows students that they are capable of being inventive and teaches them how to embrace the challenges that accompany technical solutions for real world problems. This hands on, team driven learning experience also provides them with the tools they’ll need to be successful,” said Leigh Estabrooks, the Lemelson-MIT Program’s invention education officer. “Someday these skills can transfer to careers in scientific and technological fields but are also useful in management and other leadership roles.”
During the InvenTeams Showcase, the Berlin High School InvenTeam, led by Dawn Wetmore, Technology Education teacher, will join a community of inventors at the MIT Stata Center. In addition to discussing its research and design processes and showcasing its invention, the Berlin High School InvenTeam will gather feedback to advance its prototype.
On June 18, the InvenTeams will wrap-up EurekaFest at the Museum of Science in Boston. The Berlin High School InvenTeam will join more than 200 high school students from across the country, along with the general public, in hands on invention activities.
More information about Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams is available at http://web.mit.edu/inventeams and a detailed schedule of EurekaFest can be found at www.EurekaFest.com.
