There is a reason the classic symbolism of a light bulb over someone’s head is so vivid: It conveys a spark in the ideation process that transcends mere light, a transformative instant that becomes a flowing current.
The potential for these big idea moments exists in all of us. The sooner they are cultivated and encouraged, the faster and more efficiently we can solve the world’s problems.
Limited hand mobility due to arthritis, cerebral palsy, or other challenges is one such problem—especially in a country with millions of aging baby boomers. When a team of 12 students from Ygnacio Valley High School in Concord, California, was awarded a Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam grant worth $7,500 last October to invent a technological solution, their collective spark manifested itself through an exoskeleton hand that can be controlled through a phone app.
Leqi Li, who will attend UC Berkeley this fall, told CBS News that the app uses basic block coding. “We made the control convenient to use, with very easy access since everyone is using their phones.”
The team was one of eight that participated in Lemelson-MIT’s EurekaFest this June. The annual showcase event is the culmination of the InvenTeam program—which aims to inspire youth through hands-on, STEM-based activities for mixed teams that encourage inclusivity for girls. It has reached nearly 4,000 students and resulted in 19 patents.
Joseph Alvarico, Ygnacio Valley High engineering and robotics teacher and the 2024 California Teacher of the Year, said the team won the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Golden Beaver Award that is given to only one InvenTeam each year. The team hopes its proof-of-concept design can evolve into an actual wearable exoskeleton hand over the next year. The invention is now patent pending.
Practical, personal impacts
“Ygnacio Valley High is in many ways the epitome of what the InvenTeams program is trying to achieve,” Eduardo Hernandez, who served as Invention Ed Fellow for the team, told Inventors Digest. “Inventions are born when you address a problem, need, or want. In the case of YVH, the students clearly saw a need for a device that would have a direct impact on members of their own community.”
Paul Fucile assisted the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School team in Cambridge, Massachusetts that addressed crowded rowing conditions in the Charles River by designing a two-way communication and real-time tracking mechanism for boat traffic along the water, minimizing the risk of collisions and improving traffic flow. He reveled in his light-bulb moment.
“Nothing can be more rewarding as an Education Fellow than experiencing firsthand when that light bulb goes off above their head! “I’ve seen the impact that taking an idea and bringing it through a working prototype can have to improve their self-confidence.”
The latter is one of the core competencies promoted by the program and signature event. Avery Fearing, entering her senior year at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, said one of her most important benefits from EurekaFest was “learning how to pitch and present our project, including technical components of our invention and their importance to the function of our device. These skills will most definitely serve me well in my future career as an engineer. …
“It made our work so much easier, knowing we had a great group of people at Lemelson-MIT to back us up.”
Ygnacio Valley High team member Gabrielle Love, also an incoming senior, said being the communications lead “allowed me to do what I love most.
“I got to present and speak with integral parts of our community to let them know what’s happening at our school, and why they should be paying attention. I had the opportunity to present at a city council meeting, at our mid-grant technical review, at the redefining mobility conference, and so much more.”
Re-inventing educating
The InvenTeam program and its signature event embody the innovative spark within us. Its larger mission seeks to maximize that ever-flowing current.
Lemelson-MIT is working to embed a culture of invention in schools through regular courses, ensuring that the next generation is equipped to tackle challenges we have yet to imagine.
Stephanie Couch, executive director of the Lemelson-MIT Program and a career advocate for STEM learning (Inventors Digest January 2018 cover story), said educating the educators is paramount in that quest: “We have to figure out how we grow educators who know how to do this kind of work. And we have.
“When I started, we not only researched kids, we researched the teachers: what they brought in with them already, what it was they were getting from our professional development workshops that we weave into the event here—and then, working with us in that grant program across the year, what they learned and how they came out the other end.
“We’ve just published a paper on it even this year, my colleague and I. That told us how to build a professional development program for teachers.”
The program boldly tells teachers they have to unlearn traditional methods “where they have to know it all before they teach kids and be smart and then download it into the kid’s brain. …
“And we’ve learned we can’t just work with the teacher. We have to work with the school site administrator, like the principal or the superintendent, or at community colleges, the dean. Because everybody has to be bought in that this is a good approach to teaching and learning.”
This new way of teaching is part of an assessment system that tracks more than academics. “They have subject matter tests, but we have now created a new system where they can document evidence of the growth of their technical skills—tools they can use that they couldn’t use before, like CAD drafting. And then the human skills: teamwork, collaboration, ability to engage with community, and identify unmet needs.
“We have come up with these competencies that are key to inventing, and rubrics that students and teachers can use when they’re looking at evidence to say, ‘How far up in that skill have I gotten?’
“And so the big ‘aha’ for our year ahead, now that we’ve kind of put a prototype of this new assessment system together, is to start piloting it and building the resources that make that easy for teachers to use.”
Call to action: Reshape policy
The assessment system is part of a larger effort to reshape policy for schools. Making invention education part of the daily curriculum is a tentpole; Ygnacio Valley High and Cambridge Rindge and Latin School are all in.
YVH’s Hernandez said, “Technology teachers know that the best way to engage students in their own academic development is to work on something that interests them. By incorporating the invention process and mindset into a school course, you are creating multiple opportunities for students to see the connection between academics and real-world applications. YVH’s invention was in many ways a natural way to leverage their experience in robotics—precisely the sort of ‘jumping-off point’ that the LMIT experience fosters.
“YVH will likely begin by incorporating that project-based ‘end-goal solution or invention’ in traditional STEM classes. LMIT does offer an invention course curriculum called Inventing Smart Solutions, which is currently being piloted by Greenbrier County Schools in West Virginia. In the end, YVH will develop their own path to invention education.”
As for CRLS, Lemelson-MIT will team up to start an invention education class for ninth-graders.
Linda Radzvilla, executive director at Rindge School of Technical Arts, said, “We want to introduce and support curious young people into identifying and understanding the ‘how’ on solving a problem.
“By introducing ninth-graders to the invention process, it will inspire them to pursue sciences and introduce them to engineering concepts, as well as the opportunity to be exposed to a university partnership and experience campus opportunities.”
Fucile, the CRLS Education Fellow, said LMIT providing support for an invention education program “is very timely. With many students at that age beginning to think about career paths, the skills that invention often requires can take many forms beyond engineering out a problem: marketing, understanding human factors, business, or communications—all majors they could pursue.”
Couch said those two schools’ commitment to daily invention education is part of a larger call to action.
“It’s great that we can give grants to a handful of kids and get girls interested,” she said. “But it’s not OK that we’re only reaching eight teams.
“This needs to go in the school day. And so that’s where we’re going to go. And we’re going to need inventors and others who understand the value of this stuff. We’re going to need them as champions.
“We’re going to need them to lend their name and tell policy makers that this is important for America.”
Other EurekaFest InvenTeams
- Battle Creek (Michigan) Area Mathematics and Science Center
- Colegio Rosa-Bell (Puerto Rico)
- Edison (New Jersey) High School
- Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science
- Nitro (West Virginia) High School
- Southcrest Christian School (Lubbock, Texas)
Part of a Broader Mission
The Lemelson-MIT Program, a national leader in advancing invention education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is funded by The Lemelson Foundation.
The foundation, a private 501 (c) (3) philanthropy founded in 1993 by Jerome H. Lemelson and his wife, Dorothy, invests in helping young people become inventors and in helping inventors change the world.
Foundation Executive Director Rob Schneider said:
“Lemelson-MIT, born from the vision of our founder Jerome ‘Jerry’ Lemelson, embodies Jerry’s unwavering belief in the power of invention to change the world.
“Through their activities, and in alignment with The Lemelson Foundation’s broader mission, we are dedicated to providing opportunities for every young person to engage in invention education—to discover problems that matter, craft innovative solutions, protect their intellectual property, and bring their creations to life.
“It’s a privilege to continue Jerry’s legacy, helping diverse minds transform their groundbreaking ideas into tangible impact and shape a better future for us all.”
For more on the 2024-25 InvenTeams: lemelson.mit.edu/inventeams
