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Invention Lesson Plans for Grades K-12
Lesson 5: I am a Team Player
Plan
Have you ever been a part of a team? What do you like about working with a team? What do you not like when working with a team?
As you watch this video, can you find examples of Good and Bad teamwork?
What animals displayed good teamwork?
What animals displayed bad teamwork?
Why is teamwork important?
Click on image to access document. Also may be done on chart paper whole group.
Have you ever heard someone say, "I am up the creek without a paddle"?
What do you think it means?
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Let's read the book Up the Creek and see how 3 friends find themselves facing a problem and what happens when they disagree on how to solve it.
We will complete this graphic organizer together once we have read the book:
Before we listen to our story, it is helpful for you to understand the following terms:
stern, portside, portage, battered,
current, rapids, raging
Now let's work together as a class to add good teamwork traits under and bad teamwork traits onto our chart. Everyone share their ideas!
It is your turn to practice being a good team player. Remember the good team players traits on our chart and see how many you can do when working with your team.
1. Form a team of 3 students.
2. Get a Lego mat base and Legos.
3. Your challenge is to build a Lego Marble Maze in a short amount of time. Your maze needs to have:
one entrance
one exit
at least 3 dead ends
4. You have 10 minutes to build your design.
5. After the Lego maze is completed, you will be given a marble to test it.
6. Share your maze with another team.
7. Do you need to make improvements? You have 5 minutes to improve your design.
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Entrance
Exit
Dead end
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How were you a good team player in this activity?
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What can you do better next time when you work with a team?
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Who in your group demonstrated good teamwork? How were they a good team player?
Oh no! A bee fell into a beekeeper's honey extractor and got honey all over her wings. If she does not get the honey off, she will not be able to fly and will die. Watch what this team of bees in her hive do for her:
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How did the bees help the bee who fell into the extractor?
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Was it helpful to have a team of bees do this or would it have been better for just one bee to do it?
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Why is it important to be a good team player?
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If you are doing this at home, your parents or an older sibling can record your answers.
Watching this video gives us a small look into the many jobs beekeepers do and the tools they use. Check out these beekeeper inventions. Can you guess what each one is used for?
Click on document to access document
After you have shared your ideas, watch this 5 minute video that explains some of the tools beekeepers use. Did you guess any of the tools' purposes correctly? Would you like to be a beekeeper?
Inventors apply for patents to protect their idea so no one else can steal their design and make money from it. This is what a patent sketch looks like for a beekeeper's mask and a hive. Do you notice the date on the patents? What else does the patent sketch have?
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