For Educators

The Invent Idaho program is excited to invite you to KEEP or ADD our program and invention education as part of your home, classroom, school, or district for the 2024-2025 academic year. Among the many benefits, this program offers a great opportunity for teachers to achieve Professional Development toward meeting the Idaho Content Standards in Science – Science and Engineering Practices, and Technology Education. The Curriculum:

  • Is engaging and simple to implement
  • Uses integrated activities that enable students to apply to real-world problem-solving.
  • Embraces the scientific inquiry and engineering designing processes.
  • Develops students’ STEM identity through collaborative work across STEM areas, portfolio development, and presentation.
  • Allows students to compete intellectually at the local, state, and national levels.

The Invent Idaho program has been around for 35 years and is easy to learn, easy to teach, works inside or outside of the classroom, and provides a unique opportunity for students to take their ideas as far as they want to go. Come join your fellow educators in the Invent Idaho program starting this Fall!

How to get involved 

Getting involved is easy and free! If you are returning to participate in Invent Idaho again this year, you simply need to register your district, school, classroom, or individual and proceed with teaching invention education in your classroom(s) and holding local competitions.

If you are new to Invent Idaho, you may watch some short training videos (see below), or we can help via coming to your classroom to do professional development training in invention education. The training is intended to help enable your students to explore their ideas and create competitive pitches. Then you may register for the program and start the process of identifying high performing inventors to advance to the regional or state competitions.

Registration Link

As with past years, we will host 3 Regional Competitions in Boise, Pocatello, and Coeur d’Alene. The competitions will field participants from around their respective regions to compete for an opportunity to advance to the State Finals Competition in April 2025 on the University of Idaho campus in Moscow, ID. If you are in a remote region of the state and traveling to a Regional Competition is not practical, we are also happy to work with schools to identify finalists for the State Finals competition without attending a regional event.

The deadline for registration is December 13, 2024.

For details or questions on how to get started, please reach out to Program Directors Beth Brubaker (bethbr@inventidaho.com) or Matthew Swenson (swenson@uidaho.edu).

Helpful Resources

General competition rules:

  • All grade 1 – 12 students are eligible for participation include public school, private school, charter school, home school, or independent students. All are welcome!
  • Participants are limited to spending up to $25 for fabricating a prototype of their invention idea.
  • For the competitions, participants are required to:
  • Create a poster/storyboard outlining the ideation process for their invention.
  • Keep a logbook/journal of their ideation and development of the invention idea.
  • Deliver a short (<5 minute) presentation of their invention to a captive audience.

Teacher Training Videos:

The National Invention Convention curriculum: https://www.nationalinventioncurriculum.org/

Impact on Students 

Each year, we are pleasantly reminded by parents and teachers about the positive impact that this program provides for Idaho youth. These students get to pursue ideation of solutions to real-world societal problems, and let their ideas be heard! The program enables them to compete using their ideas at progressing levels, including the potential to compete at the National Invention Convention at the The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI. Most importantly, the program enables students of all ages and abilities to develop their STEM identity through practicing communication and self-advocacy of their ideas. We believe the program is truly life-changing to many of the participants each year and are honored to continue to promote this program throughout the state of Idaho!