Overview
What started as an independent effort by a former TAG educator has grown into a collaborative district initiative, backed by the support of their superintendent. By investing in educator professional development, Makerspace programming, and curriculum integration, the Lewis Central team is creating meaningful invention experiences that engage students and support teachers across the district.
“What truly inspired me was our students and what they accomplished through the invention process. They identified problems and designed creative solutions to improve life not just for themselves, but for their community, animals, and the environment. When we nurture creative thinking through invention education and opportunities like the Iowa Invention Convention, we empower students to become problem-solvers and build a better future for all.”
Lewis Central Team
Invention Team
- Instructional Coach: Lanesa Godbout lstatzer@lewiscentral.org
- K-3 TAG Educator: Melissa Taylor melissa.taylor@lewiscentral.org
- 4-7 TAG Educator: Kate White kwhite@lewiscentral.org
Champions @ LC
- Superintendent: Dr. Brenton Hoesing
- TAG and Instructional Coach: Lisa Scieszinski (former implementer, currently collaborating to bring invention education to K-1 students)
- School Improvement & TAG Coordinator: Lora Kester
2025-26 Snapshot
- Students impacted: 910
- Grade Levels: 2-5 grade
- Classrooms: 36
- Years Implementing: 2
- Accessibility: Tier 1 (available to ALL students)
Journey
- Before 2025: A former LC TAG educator led Iowa Invention Convention (IIC) efforts
- IIC State Finals 2025: LC students and Superintendent attended, one advanced to nationals
- Fall 2025: LC Superintendent had desire for invention education to be district-wide, 5 LC educators attended Sprint to Invent PD
- Late Fall 2025: 910 LC students participated in an iNVENT iT activity then chose to continue inventing (outside of school) with scheduled check-ins
- IIC State Finals 2026: LC students attended, two advanced to nationals
- Spring 2026: LC hosted their own version of Sprint to Invent PD for their educators
- Summer 2026: LC invention team co-facilitated Sprint to Invent PD with the Jacobson Institute team
Future
- Continue to grow the Iowa Invention Convention program by following our elementary students who participated, into middle school—we already found a middle school educator to partner with.
- Build a pipeline from elementary to middle to high school starting with invention, building on the invention process, and eventually integrating entrepreneurship.
“Our elementary students who experienced the invention process are heading to the intermediate building still excited to invent, so we want to make sure they can keep going. Finding a passionate teacher to bring invention education to that building will allow us to grow our Iowa Invention Convention program and reach even more students across the district. We plan to add one grade level each year over the next three years, and are excited to see what our students will invent next!”
A lesson learned
After Sprint to Invent Professional Development, we were excited to hit the ground running and wanted this to be a program not just for TAG students, but for all students—Tier 1. With this, we moved fast and grew quickly.
Our ideal scenario would have been to have the invention process aligned with the school year and it could have looked more like this:
- Summer: select teachers go through Sprint to Invent PD, hosted by the Jacobson Institute
- Early Fall: we host our own version of the PD with our LC teachers and students get started with their logbooks in class—work through identifying, understanding, ideating, design/research
- Late Fall/Winter: students build and test in the
MakerSpace then go back to the classroom to
do communicating and branding - Spring: we host our local event then attend
Iowa Invention Convention State Finals
But, we didn’t want to wait and we wanted to implement invention and impact students, right away. We’ll plan to follow this more ideal scenario for the 2026-27 school year.
Lewis Central resources
- Slides: revamped Sprint to Invent PD slides
- Makerspace: consumable and recycled materials
- Laminated Posters: scenarios, What is Invention?, Invention Process, and SCAMPER
- Google Classroom: Patent and research sites, Idea Padlet
- YouTube Read Aloud Standards: aligned activities and curriculum to standards
Iowa Invention Convention
Iowa Invention Convention is an invention program, run by the Jacobson Institute—the K-12 outreach arm of the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at the University of Iowa.