THE
Challenge
Inspire
DiversE
Club Participants
to have reason to
Invent
Like
Inventor Mentors
who may not
look like them.
THE
SOLUTION
Make the task
hard
I.D. The mentors Who
Look Like Them
And
Make them epic allies.
Story
Here's the
Challenge
INSPIRE
Children and Adults
to become
inventors
Via Hands-On Activities
Evoking an Understanding of the Complex Science,
Hefty Tech, &
Route to Invention
of
​
NAtional Inventors
hall of fame inductee mentors
I wanted the young innovators to live their own origin stories in my Club.
Research Insights
diverse
particpants
have trouble identifying with
Homogenous mentors
Elder, White, Male
Which Creates a Barrier to Inventive
Self-Efficacy
&
Participants value
ATHLETES, SUPERHEROES, & ROCK STARS
But may not view STEM or invention as either accessible or desirable.
So,
Impacts of Insights on Design Strategies
I Sought Assistance to Dig For
diverse
inventor
mentors
Ages
Ethnicities
​
gender- identifications
and
socio-economic positions
​
Representing
a great variety of
​
With Plans for
A Second Round of Mentors
Extending the Represented Diversity
of
sexual orientation
and
Physical
Challenges
superhero
Inventor
Comics
superhero
Inventor
Comics
superhero
Inventor
Comics
to
Locate
brilliant comic artist
Matt Horak
to
Commission
&
Who Could Live in a World Where
Two Young
Adventurers
Gidge
And Their Flying
Camera Bot
Needed
Help
​
Via Activities
Using Inspiration from the Invention Process
-- the complex science,
the hefty tech,
the human-centered
design thinking --
of Each of the
Superhero Mentors!
​
design help
​
invention help
hands-On
urgent
save the day
help
​
​
​
​
Bypass
​
the Standard Inductee
Photos
To avoid depending upon
the
imperfect
(or intermittent)
video connections
immersive
narrative
immersive narrative
immersive
Narrative
At the Varying Sites
&
To Create for Non-Readers a Visually-Interesting
to
So,
Diverse Participants
Would Need To
​
TRUST THEMSELVES
&
Stand on the Shoulders of
​
diverse mentors
diverse
mentors
diverse mentors
&
to
save
the
day
to
save
the
day
to
Save
the
day
invent
invent
Comic Art:
Matt Horak
The Story of Mark's Dad
When Mark was very young, his dad told him about his dream. "I want to make things, giant things, strong things, like high towers, out of ribbon, so we don't have to cut down trees to build things!"
"I have found a shape, like math, geometry," he explained to Mark, "that is so strong! You could weave a ribbon into that shape, spray it with some kind of resin, like liquid plastic, that hardens the ribbon when it dries, and then make almost anything out of it! A mountain bicycle you could ride off-road. Electrical poles and towers. It is strong in every direction. The shape can be pushed, pulled, twisted. It stays strong from every angle! It is a cylinder made of triangles; powerful from any which way. That's my dream." He told Mark. "You wouldn't need to dig up steel, and cut down trees, to make things like electrical towers. You could just use a bit of ribbon."
​
​
​
The Story of Mark
Mark was excited about his father's dream. He rather liked the idea that math might be used directly to build big things. But then, Mark's father explained that it was too hard. People felt it would be too difficult to make the shape by hand, again and again, the size of a tower. It would take too much time. It would cost too much. So Mark's Dad won an award for his idea, but it didn't get made.
When Mark got into college, he had an idea for a school project. What's missing? He wondered. What's missing from Dad's idea that would make it work? Mark thought about how you might get a computer to weave the shapes, instead of a person. The way you can get a computer to use a calculator to help you with your math. But how do you tell a computer how to make something? Especially something in the real world? Mark thought and thought...
​
​
​
Nothing but ribbons
Thanks, Matt! You rock.
An Interactive, Inventive, Trading Card Game
As a related project, those same inventor comic pictures were used in an invention-based, informal STEM-learning, trading card game, Gamechangers, which never made production.
Co-invented with Ander Pierce, who structured all the gameplay dynamics, the card lay-out was co-designed with the comic artist, Matt Horak; skilled Graphic Designer, Rory Culbertson, and Creative Director, Scott Vollmer. The gameplay featured a three-dimensional building element, and massive end-game and rule shifts with the play of specific cards, both relatively unique in the card game world. The set represented a survey of modern technology and STEM career fields: from living machines to flash charge buses, with scientists and interns mirroring a variety of physical abilities, ages, genders, disciplinary fields, and colors of skin. Featuring challenges, resources, and sites, such as hackerspaces, the game offers young players a glimpse into a very wide, cool, world. My current company, Viv LLC, will be reaching out to Invent Now to see if we can acquire the rights to Gamechangers and begin playtests and reiterations of our original draft.
Wanna Play? Click to See:
Click, Resize,
Drag, Sort, Shuffle:
Card Text, Research:
Myself and GameChanger's Designer, Ander P. Pierce
Graphics: Rory Culbertson
Comics: Matt Horak
The inductee stories had
revived my hope:
Anyone can invent.
Anyone can innovate.
Anyone can recreate the
world they live in.
The systems in which we live were made by people, or by accident, or by organic progressions of context and history.
We're people.
We can plan. We can conspire to develop symbiotic opportunities, to create new contexts, to make history.
I viewed my role at Invent Now as one of empowerment.
I liked it.
It wasn't until Invent Now that I started taking my own invention seriously again, as I hadn't since adolescence.
​
Thanks for
Hearing
Our Stories
THEEND
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If you decide to examine one bit of an inventor's-process translated into a children's activity with minimal materials, click here.
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