How Inventive Kids Started
Several years ago, a curious 12-year old girl in one of my art classes asked me if women invented. I answered, “Yes,” thinking there had to be lots of female inventors, but the only name I could come up with was “Marie Curie,” the discoverer of Radium. I could think of no other female inventor. At a staff meeting later that day I asked the same question. Guess, what the other teachers said. “Marie Currie.” Clearly, our knowledge was severely limited.
Her question sparked my curiosity. A year later, I initiated the Inventive Women Project. The Canadian government and four provinces provided partnership funding, and the project received support from dozens of noteworthy individuals and organizations including Girl Guides of Canada.
Following three years of cross-Canada research, my team produced two on-line educational resources – www.inventivewomen.com and www.inventivekids.com, and the children’s book Canadian Women Invent!. All three introduced previously unknown science and technology achievements by Canadian women to the public. Canadian Women Invent! was awarded an “Our Choice” designation by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre.
Since then, the Inventive Kids site has expanded to include both male and female inventors, and inventors from other countries.
The site has received many accolades, including a “Ten Best Sites for Kids, 2006” designation by the American Library Association, a “Ten Cool Sites – Invention Category” award from the Exploratorium, Museum of Science, Art and Human Perception in San Francisco, and a “Digital Dozen, exemplary web sites for educators” designation from the curriculum arm of the United States Department of Education.
We hope you enjoy your time on the site and come back often to see what we’ve added.
And, keep on inventing!
Annie
