Pathfinder: Inventors and Inventions

Step 1: Define your task: Look at the assignment/essential question.

Step 2: What materials might be useful for the project? Books, Encyclopedias, Online Encyclopedias, Websites.

Step 3: Find the material.

Suggestions for finding books:

• General books about inventions and inventors have been pulled and placed on the cart.
• Use the Online Catalog to find books about individual inventors or specific inventions. Be sure to type the last name, a comma, and then the first name when looking for people.
• General Encyclopedias: A great source of information about people and inventions. Don’t forget about the index, which is the last volume in the set Two sets of encyclopedias are on the cart. An older set is shelved at 030 Wor and can be checked out.

Suggestions for using Subscription Research Databases:

• Grolier’s online encyclopedias are a great resource. Use the search box at the bottom right to search all of the encyclopedias at once. Look for entries in Encyclopedia Americana , The New Book of Popular Science , and Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia . INCLUDES LINKS TO WEBSITES!!
• World Book Online Reference Center. Another great online encyclopedia. Search by invention or inventor. Use the word "computer" to find information on computers.
• Gale’s Student Resource Center and Biography Resource Center are great sources of biographical information. The Science Resource Center is a great resource for information on inventions.
• ABC/CLIO Be sure to select a history database. Search by specific invention or inventor.
• e-books
  • Industrial Revolution Reference Library
  • Computer Science The timelines in this product provide a detailed overview of the history of computing.
  • Science and Its Times: Understanding the Social Significance of Scientific Discovery This ebook is arranged chronologically. Use the index or search feature to look for specific inventions.

Look at the following websites for information about inventions:

• National Inventor’s Hall of fame http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/1_1_search.asp
• Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for Innovation and Invention: http://invention.smithsonian.org/home/
• Inventions of the Industrial Revolution http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/bseh/industry/
• Library of Congress, American Memory Collection http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/
• Inventorsand Inventions from KidInfo: http://www.kidinfo.com/American_History/Inventors_Inventions.html
• Inventors from About.com http://inventors.about.com/
• Invention Links from The Science Spot: http://sciencespot.net/Pages/kdzinvent.html

Step 4: Use the material. Read it and take notes. CITE YOUR SOURCES!!!

Step 5: Synthesize the information: Prepare and present the skit, poster, power point, song, poem, or other approved product. PREPARE YOUR BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Step 6: Evaluate: Does the paper you wrote answer the essential question? Have you met the requirements for the assignment?

"This web page contains links to one or more web pages that are outside the FCPS network. FCPS does not control the content or relevancy of these pages."

Web Curator: Les.Jones@fcps.edu

Last Update: May 7, 2007

Web Page Designer: Kathy Noble