Almost every year Putnam Valley Middle School sixth graders participate and “star” in a wonderful annual educational event known as the Ancient Invention Convention. Students are assigned to bring in an original design idea for an invention that would make life easier for the people of ancient times.

The most recent group of inventions was displayed for parents and friends at a mid-morning gathering on December 22, when Mrs. Brothers’s and Mr. McCarty’s classes demonstrated and discussed their work. Students moved their desks to the edges of the classrooms so that visitors could move freely around the room and hear each student describe his or her project. Holiday goodies were on hand, as well, giving the whole event a very festive atmosphere.

The only requirement for Invention Convention is that a student’s idea be original and that it involve at least one simple machine. Although students do not have to actually build their inventions—a well drawn and well-explained paper design is fine—most of them choose to try their hand at construction. Ancient Sumer seemed to be a favorite setting for many of this year’s inventors. As is often the case, the most popular simple machine was probably the pulley. Students displayed a variety of heavy stone-lifting techniques for building temples and pyramids, all of them using pulleys of some kind. Other inventions included a complicated gear-driven irrigation system; a catapult to propel projectiles during battle; and even a teacher’s “spanking machine” for those trying times in schools where corporal punishment was still encouraged.

The Invention Convention has been a staple of the sixth grade curriculum at PVMS for years. Veteran teachers agree that it is one of the projects they most look forward to each year because it inspires the imagination while teaching about history and physical science.

The scheduling of the convention during a pre-holiday week is a stroke of genius, because it gives students who are already feeling excited about their upcoming winter vacation the freedom to work and play with their own projects while entertaining a happy classroom full of parents and other visitors.