Inventor, author, and entrepreneur Arlyne Simon believes creative problem solving should be the cornerstone of every child’s early education.
A biomedical engineer at Intel Corporation says failure is part of all successful inventions, and to succeed you must learn how to fail.
she is the creator of Abby Inventis an acclaimed series of children’s books about perseverance, the power of learning, and the process of invention told from the perspective of a young black girl.
In Episode 7 of Season 2 of his podcast Understanding IP Matters, Bruce Berman interviews Simon about the importance of representation, his motivation as an invention educator, and his career as a professional inventor.
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How long does it take to start telling the story of an invention or creator? Early in education?
“As soon as the kids can read, before they can! Abby invents unbreakable crayons Book. She knows she can be an inventor before she can read her book.
I don’t think you need to ask children at what age they should start talking about inventions.It should be as early as possible. Then you will grow knowing that you can be anything you really want to be: an athlete, a musician, a dancer, an inventor. you can be both. You don’t have to choose one or the other.
When I was a kid, I loved making dresses for my dolls. I had a toy sewing machine. If I had been a seamstress, or had dabbled in sewing today, I might have invented something that made sewing a little more efficient. rice field. “
Is that one of the motivations behind the Abby Invents series?
“Absolutely. Like I said, it wasn’t until my mid-twenties that my advisor told me I could be an inventor. Knowing it was a possibility I guess I didn’t have to wait so long for….
Abby Invents literally means joy in discovery. Because there is joy in discovery! It is absolutely magical. That was the real motivation. To let more kids, girls, and kids of color know that inventions are really just problem-solving.
Sometimes we use these big words. We call him STEM without really categorizing it as science, technology, engineering, mathematics, but kids he doesn’t know what STEM means. Sometimes you have to keep it simple when talking to children. Inventors are problem solvers, and that’s what Abby really does in this series. “
The respect for invention and individual creativity, regardless of its economic value, is not taught much in schools, is it?
No, I can assure you, it wasn’t taught the entire time I was in school. This is a very useful point. You need to show your students the importance of intellectual property. Not only for ownership, but also for protecting the uniqueness of your ideas and those of others, and the uniqueness of your thoughts.
This is really easy to teach in K-12. You mentioned copyright — whatever we put out into the world is our copyright. I don’t think it needs to be specially taught in a class called intellectual property education. ”
Other highlights
Listen to the full episode to learn about the value of invention education, how to make intellectual property more relevant, and Simon’s perspective on engineering diversity.
- How she can use her love of literature to effectively communicate her scientific ideas.
- What she is currently working on as a Solutions Architect at Intel.
- Experience as an inventor and designer in the medical device and computing industries.
- The need to foster collaboration between inventors in different fields to develop future technologies.
