One hundred sixth-grade students at Westside Middle School Academy students displayed their inventions on March 13 at the school’s “Invention Convention.” Ten have been selected to present their inventions at a regional competition in April.
Westside students Timothy Chen, Malcolm Thompson, Kati Kull, Isabella Ferreira, Sebastian Beaver, Erin Bleeker, Mateo Plascina, Jolie Osborne, Brendan Stein, Miguel DeLima and Jacob Williams were selected to move on to the regional competition.
Jacob Williams said his “Safety Garage” opens the garage doors to fresh air after detecting carbon monoxide. He connected the detector to a light so when the detection detects smoke, the light will turn on, which is connected to a battery that signals to open the door.
Sebastian Beaver’s “The Stay Put USB,” is a simple invention using Legos and Superglue that holds the USB cord to the charging cube.
“I got this idea because when I charge my phone the USB falls out often,” Sebastian said.
“Animal Alert” was the brainchild of Sharvs Karthikeyan, whose concern arose after learning that 12 million animals are killed every year on Connecticut roads. His detection system alerts the driver to a nearby animal by turning a light on in the car.
“I’m a vegetarian and I drive with my parents and I see animals all over the road,” Sharvs said. “I thought ‘Why can’t the driver see the animals before hitting them?’”
“I like that my brain really tried hard,” she said. “I tried to think about something that helps everybody.”
The Invention Convention is part of the science curriculum. For three weeks students engage in coming up with ideas and putting them into motion. One of the crucial learning curves for students is to figure out how to solve problems with their inventions and tweak them to perfection. The invention convention fosters interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics learning for students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
The regional competition, which draws students from the area, will be held at the O’Neill Center on the Westside campus of Western Connecticut State University, on Saturday, April 1. Winners will head to the 34th annual Connecticut Invention Convention on Saturday, April 29, at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. More than 130 Connecticut schools and thousands of young inventors participate every year.