High Schools Around Country Receive Grants for STEM-Related Invention Projects to Improve Community

How helpful would a safety device for children in hot cars be? Or immersive interactive learning experiences for special needs students? What about a vacuum attached to New York City subways that picks up garbage on the tracks for our communities?

These inventions may seem challenging to construct, but for 15 groups of high school students, it could be completed in one year. The Lemelson-MIT program awarded 15 teams up to $10,000 each in grant funding for its 2014-15 InvenTeam initiative, according to a press release.

The teams will “represent schools nationwide” and are comprised of students, teachers and community mentors who will “pursue year-long invention projects that address real-world problems,” the release said.

InvenTeam, the release said, is an initiative which “aims to inspire a new generation of inventors by engaging students in creative thinking, problem-solving and hands-on learning opportunities in STEM.”

“Lemelson-MIT Program InvenTeam students often embrace the role of invention as public service” said Joshua Schuler, executive director of the Lemelson-MIT Program. “This year’s teams are tackling barriers to the well-being of those in their own communities; they are solving problems that are right in front of them by addressing safety needs, developing aids for others, and inventing green - sustainable and environmental - solutions.”

At Davenport West High School in Iowa, the group of high schools will make a heat detection bracelet with communication features for children and pets in hot vehicles.

“In the last sixteen years, 632 children have died from heat stroke in vehicles,” the school said in the release. “Since identifying vehicular heatstroke as this team’s issue to address on June 16, 15 more children have died. Davenport became committed to this soaring problem.”

In response, the students at Davenport will create an invention that will “benefit parents, caregivers, and children ages four and younger.”

“The invention is a parent/child bracelet with an app that monitors the child’s temperature as well as the child’s proximity to both the parent and the vehicle,” the school said. “The bracelets will be able to sense the proximity of the parent to child via Bluetooth.”

With this invention, the students at Davenport believe that “parents will never have to worry about their children walking off at events or in department stores again.”

At Coppell High School in Texas, students are creating a training device for students with special needs. The school was inspired to create this invention due to the challenge in its school to provide special needs students with the proper equipment to learn.

“Many of the special needs students at Coppell High School have impairments of syndromes that cannot be cured, but can be managed,” said the school. “Their disabilities may impair speech, motor control, vision and processing. Most people take for granted how simple it is to pick up an object, push a button, or even walk freely.”

So, the team invented a product called, “Gateways,” that will “leverage technology to provide personalized learning experiences for the special needs students of Coppell High School."

“Their device will help improve each student’s motor functions and brain responses,” the release said. “It will accomplish this via an interactive module that will be loaded with each student’s user profile, to guide them through the personalized programs that will help them grow best. The goal for this team is to help improve student’s skills faster while helping teachers track their progress more efficiently.”

A school in New York, Baruch College Campus High School, is creating a detachable “rubbish vacuum” for New York City’s subways for the InvenTeam program. 

“With 40 percent of recyclable trash at the bottom of New York City subway tracks, it is clearly difficult for the MTA to enforce the no food or drink policy that was put into place in 2005,” the release said. “Standing on the edge of the train station, it is evident to passengers that there is too much trash on the tracks.”

In response, the team’s proposed invention, “consists of an add-on unit that contains a strong vacuum to pick up litter and garbage that has accumulated on the tracks.”

“This invention allows the litter to be collected by the passenger trains,” the release said. “There would be a manual on/off switch but the vacuum would automatically stop when the train is stopped. The final product will solve issues such as train delays, spark ignition from friction, and will decrease the rapidly growing rat population.”

Here are the other 2014-15 InvenTeams:

The following schools are participating in the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam program:

Safety First:

• Safety First  Concord High School (Wilmington, Del.): Metal detection system for hospital textile cleaning  
• Davenport West High School (Davenport, Iowa): Heat detection bracelet with communication features for children and pets in warm vehicles
•  Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High (San Diego, Calif.): Animal welfare containment and notification system
•  Hill Country Education Foundation (Austin, Texas): Continuous flow water device for fire fighters
•  South Brunswick High School (Monmouth Junction, N.J.): Proximity sensor and alert system for automobile doors
•  University High School (Irvine, Calif.): Aerial wilderness distress monitor and search system

Aiding Others:

• Coppell High School (Coppell Texas): Interactive training device for students with special needs
• Northampton High School (Northampton, Mass.): Self-feathering rowing oar for people with physical disabilities
• Wahlert Catholic High School (Dubuque, Iowa): Anti-rollback device for manual wheelchairs

Inventing Green:

• Baruch College Campus High School (New York, N.Y.): Detachable rubbish vacuum for New York City subways
• Broken Arrow Senior High School (Broken Arrow, Okla.): Low-cost, sustainable fish food for developing countries
• John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics cience (Roxbury Mass.): Autonomous solar panel cleaning device
• Laguna Beach High School (Laguna Beach, Calif.): Water disinfection system utilizing solar power for developing countries
• SAIL High School (Tallahassee, Fla.): Autonomous weed removal robot for small scale farming
• St. Anne’s-Belfield School (Charlottesville, Va.): Lightweight, low-cost water filtration device for use after a natural disaster

“All of our InvenTeam teachers are inspiring," said Leigh Estabrooks, invention education officer for the Lemelson-MIT Program. "They are professional engineers, master teachers, biological researchers, and award winners...we’re thrilled that these accomplished teachers are igniting an inventive spirit among their students.”

Applications for the 2015-16 Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam is now available here. 

Article by Kassondra Granata, EducationWorld Contributor