Practically everything in our lives has been invented. From language to architecture to technology to food, it all spawns from the minds of those who dare to think bigger. The following science writing prompts are designed to get your students thinking about life's problems and how to solve them.
Prompt 1: Describe a problem in your life and an invention that would solve that problem.
Prompt 2: Talk about a time in your life that a machine helped you complete a task.
Prompt 3: Think about a famous inventor and explain why you would want to meet him.
Prompt 4: Albert Einstein famously quipped, "Necessity is the mother of all invention." Think about a time you had to invent something out of necessity.
Prompt 5: Describe the ideal laboratory for a scientist.
Prompt 6: Discuss what the most important invention in history is and why.
Prompt 7: What do you think is the most significant invention ever made and why do you think so.
Prompt 8: In your science class, you have completed several lessons on the six simple machines: lever, pulley, wheel and axle, wedge, inclined plane, and spiral incline plane. Select one machine and clearly explain to a younger student how it works.
Prompt 9: The telephone has become a very important part of everyday life. Write an essay explaining how the phone has changed American life and the different ways the family uses it.
Prompt 10: Think about a new invention you would like to create. Describe this invention and tell what it can do.
Prompt 11: Invention and technology have always been an important part of changing the way one lives. Things that did not exist when your parents or grandparents were young, now have changed the way most people in this country live. Some of those inventions are large and others are small. No matter what their size, they have altered the lives of the average person today. Think about an invention that came about in the last hundred years or so. Write an essay on how that invention changed the lives of the people. Explain how life was then, how it is different today, and whether the result is positive or negative.
Prompt 12: A pill has just be invented that would allow a person to live forever. Would you take it?
Prompt 13: Write about an invention that you think the world would be better off without. Why do you believe it is such a terrible invention? What harm has it caused mankind?
Prompt 14: The snowblower has allowed many people to put down their shovels for good. Think about another invention that has had an impact on the way people work. Explain how the work was done and how the invention changed it.