Students in grades 4th-8th participated in a science class this winter that explored and created inventions. We started this unit by reading a book called What Can You Do With a Shoe? We then applied the ideas in this book to a coat hanger. What could we do with a coat hanger besides hang up a coat? Some ideas included: a headband, to slice a cake, stir soup, a weapon, tent poles, a cup holder, to hold onto a zipline and more!   As we talked about inventions and the impact on society, each student read a chapter about a certain type of invention. They then had to think about what category that invention fell into. Some of our categories were: Agriculture, Home, Technology, Weapons and Art.   Also as they read the chapter, studnets had to choose one invention to make an advertisement about. This could be a billboard (poster), flyer or commercial. As each invention was presented, we talked about how sometimes an invention is an improvement on something and/or makes life easier. Next we looked at photos of current inventions and tried to guess from the pictures what they were for. We then got a chance to see more photos and some videos on these inventions. This led us to our culminating activity of creating our own invention. Each pair of students brainstormed ideas, shared with other groups and developed a prototype of their idea. Using their prototype, students created commercials to be videoed and shared with the rest of the class.