CLIL Activity – P2 Inventions

LITTLE-GREAT INVENTIONS Introduction This activity provides a variety of tasks, taking into account the learning purpose and learner styles and preferences. As recommended from a CLIL perspective, receptive skill activities are of the 'read/listen and do' genre. Inventions are new ideas for useful things. We want the students to be aware of the fact that most inventions make our lives easier but there are a few of them that can be dangerous (such as guns, atomic bombs and gun powder). We also want them to learn that every year lots of new inventions are invented to help us in our daily lives. You will need: • A copy of Worksheet 1 and Worksheet 2 for each student. • Optional Activity: An enlarged colour copy of Worksheet 3 or a copy for every pair of students. • A copy of Worksheet 4 for every group. Instructions: 1. Start the activity by telling the students they are going to investigate and learn a bit more about inventions. 2. Then ask the students questions about the topic (do you know what

an invention is? Do you know of any important invention? And the name of a famous inventor?). If they answer, they would probably tend to mention inventions and inventors from the past. Tell them that all the tools we use everyday have been invented by someone in the past and that new inventions are been patented every year. 3. If possible, visit any of the following websites where you will find extra information: http://www.kidskonnect.com/subject-index/15-science/86-inventors-ainventions.html (Fast facts about inventors and inventions). http://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/ (Inventors and inventions by letters).

http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0004637.html (A Guide to Inventions and Discoveries: From Adrenaline to the Zipper). 4. To get the students attention, you can also visit the following website with a list of inventions made in 2004, the year in which most 2nd graders were born. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1940424,00.html 5. Tell the students you are going to read a text with information about different inventions. Ask them to listen as they will have to fill in a table later. Read Worksheet 1 (Little-Great Inventions) and ask the students what they have understood. 6. Give each student a copy of Worksheet 1 and Worksheet 2. Tell them it is time to read the text on their own looking for the necessary information to fill in the table (Worksheet 2). The students should find out the who (inventor), the what (invention) and the when (year) of the invention. While they complete the task, move around helping and praising them for their efforts. 7. Optional Activity: Show the students an enlarged copy of Worksheet 3 (or give a copy for every pair of students) and ask them if they know the names of those inventions and why they are important in our lives. 8. Talk about the inventions in the text and in the optional activity (if you have done it): Are they all important in our daily lives? Which one

do you think is more important? What do you think people did before those inventions were invented? 9. Divide the class in groups of two-three students to make a survey to the teachers in the school or their own families. Give each group a copy of Worksheet 4 and time to ask the questions and write the answers (during playtime or at any other time you may find convenient). 10. Once each group has completed the survey and are back to class, put all the ideas in common and decide which invention has been chosen to be “the most important invention in our daily lives”: Do all

people agree? Do adults have the same opinion as kids? What about the rest of your classmates’ survey? Exchange results and draw a diagram with the information from every group and display it where the students can see it. When the activity is finished, the students

have learnt there are things that can be very important for a group of people and not so for other ones, and to respect everyone’s opinion. ________________________________________________________________Worksheet 1

LITTLE-GREAT INVENTIONS

An invention is defined as a device, method or process developed from study and experimentation. Most of the time an invention is created because of a need, but sometimes a device is invented before there is a need. Some of the most important inventions are considered to be the cotton gin, the automobile, the telephone, the electric light, the printing press, the steam engine, the camera, the computer, the sewing machine and the television. But there are other inventions that have changed our lives. Can you imagine a life with no crayons, paper clips, blue jeans or toilet paper? The first pair of blue jeans were invented in 1873 by Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss, two visionary immigrants, turned denim, thread and a little metal into the most popular clothing product in the world. Ruth Wakefield invented chocolate chips and chocolate chip cookies in 1930. Chupa Chups is a lollipop company founded by the Catalan Enric Bernat in 1958. He got the idea of a "bonbon with a stick" from an angry mother as her child got sticky hands from melting sweets. Dr. John Stith Pemberton was an American pharmacist, soldier, and inventor who invented Coca-Cola in 1886.

The paper clip was invented in 1899 or 1890 by a Norwegian patent clerk called Johann Vaaler.

Crayola brand crayons were the first kids crayons ever made, invented by cousins, Edwin Binney and Harold Smith. The brand's first box of eight Crayola crayons made its debut in 1903. The eight colours were black, brown, blue, red, purple, orange, yellow, and green. The game of basketball was invented by James Naismith, a Canadian physical education instructor who invented the game in 1891 so that his students could participate in sports during the winter. Joseph Gayetty invented toilet paper in 1857. Before his invention, people tore pages out of mail order catalogues - before catalogues were common, leaves were used.

________________________________________________________________Worksheet 2

WHO invented WHAT? WHO?

WHAT?

WHEN?

Joseph Gayetty

CRAYONS

LOLLIPOP

1886

Ruth Wakefield

BASKETBALL

1890

BLUE JEANS

________________________________________________________________Worksheet 3

DO YOU KNOW THEIR NAMES?

There are many inventions that help us in our daily lives. Below there are pictures with some of the most important inventions of the twentieth century. Do you know their names?

____________________________________ ____________________________Worksheet 4

WHICH IS THE MOST IMPORTANT INVENTION? Make a survey to find out which is the most important invention for people around you. Fill in the chart by writing the name of the person who answers your questions and the following criteria: (1) VERY IMPORTANT – (2) IMPORTANT – (3) NOT VERY IMPORTANT – (4) IRRELEVANT – (5) USELESS

__________ __________ __________ __________ __________ Blue jeans Toilet paper Coca-cola Chocolate chips cookies Basketball Crayons Paper clip Lollipop Light bulb Fridge Computer Television Ball pen Mobile phone Telephone Microwave Other (write it)

Survey made by ___________________________________________