DANETTE GOULET -- In the classroom

The room buzzed with activity as groups of sixth-graders huddled around

their colorful cardboard creations.

So intent were students on what they were doing, they didn’t notice when

their principal and I entered the classroom. Each student was busy with a

task.

Amid the chaos, one student tinkered with a giant cardboard box covered

in green construction paper and labeled The Wishing Machine. Another made

fake money, while a third practiced lines from a script.

The activity extended to the very edges of the room, where still more

students typed on computers while classmates looked over their shoulders.

Students in Vikki Crabtree’s language arts and social studies class at

TeWinkle Middle School in Costa Mesa were preparing for the Invention

Convention.

Three weeks prior, the class was broken into groups of four to five

students. They were asked to come up with an invention and to write a

report about it: What did it do? How much did it cost? What was the

history behind the invention?

They drew detailed diagrams of their inventions and created a marketing

report, complete with alluring propaganda to make it sell.

Now it was time to make a pitch for their inventions.

One was a bike helmet before students covered it in aluminum foil and

added a TV screen. Now it was Noggin’ Vision, and it could be yours for

just $99.99.

For students who are just fed up with doing their own homework day after

day, another group created the Tutor Tower.

These kids thought of everything.

After putting the blank homework in the machine and selecting the subject

matter, they wrote their name on a screen so that the homework would be

done in the proper handwriting.

Using a skit to present an idea, one group member was the convincing

salesman, touting his or her wares to several passersby. Meanwhile,

another student hid behind the machine like the great and powerful Oz,

making buzzing, whirring noises and pushing the finished product out a

slot.

A savvy student could pick up the Tutor Tower for just $100.

For the big spenders, there was the Decade Detour for $2,000.50, a fair

price for a machine that lets you experience the decade of your choice.

Another great filler for students’ down time was the green-covered

Wishing Machine. Four students wished themselves to Australia for just

$75 per person.

From intricacies of the inventions to the sales language and sex appeal

used in their reports, I’d say this is the next generation of inventors,

advertisers and salesmen.

Home Shopping Network, watch out.