August is National Inventors Month. Students in grades 3-8 are growing up in a world where new inventions are introduced every day. However many of today's inventions got their start by the work of major inventors of the past.

To get students to recognize the connection between the past and their world, a great strategy would be to compare the work of a famous inventor of the past with the work of an inventor of the present.

Here is a pathfinder that will help students to make this type of compare and contrast.

Try to use your students technology skills to present this report in a PowerPoint format of five to seven slides. Use a Discoverer graphic on each slide that could include a picture of the inventor, the invention, a map of the location of the inventor, etc.

Here's a ProQuest PowerPoint model (MS) that can help give you some ideas for motivating students and teachers.

We celebrate National Inventors Month in August. As our students develop more expertise with technology, teachers and librarians should encourage more research reports to use visual media such as PowerPoint.

To make it easy for students to create these presentations, they should have an outline of what should be included on each slide and then let their research and creativity take over. Here is two-minute model that could work for your teachers and students. Be sure to include a graphic on each slide.

• Slide 1: Your name and the title that will include your favorite invention.
  
  
• Slide 2: Information about the inventor and any other things he/she invented.
  
  
• Slide 3: How you use this invention in your life.
  
  
• Slide 4: How you could improve on this invention and make it better.
  
  
• Slide 5: What you would like someone to invent to make life better and more fun.

Here's our ProQuest PowerPoint model (ES) that can give you some ideas.