These science and inventions writing prompts are designed to get your students to reflect about life’s problems and how to solve them. From language to architecture to technology to food, all of life’s solutions spawn from the minds of those who dare to think bigger!
→ Writing Prompt 1: Describe a problem in your life and an invention that would solve that problem.
→ Writing Prompt 2: Talk about a time in your life that a machine helped you complete a task.
→ Writing Prompt 3: Think about a famous inventor and explain why you would want to meet him.
→ Writing Prompt 4: Decades of engineering by many scientists went into the designing of the internal combustion engine, which eventually led to the development of a variety of machines such as cars and airplanes. How would your life be today if the internal combustion engine had never been invented?
→ Writing Prompt 5: Albert Einstein famously quipped, “Necessity is the mother of all invention.” Think about a time you had to invent something out of necessity.
→ Writing Prompt 6: In 1989, the internet evolved in a big way thanks to the invention of the World Wide Web by computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee. It soon connected the world in a way that it had never been connected before. Explain the difference on how you stay connected with your friends today, compared to your grandparent’s generation before there was an internet.
→ Writing Prompt 7: Describe the ideal laboratory for a scientist.
→ Writing Prompt 8: Jacques Cousteau (1910-1997) was a famous underwater explorer who is credited with inventing the scuba gear, which allowed divers to breathe oxygen under water. Why did this matter? Write an essay explaining the impact and importance of this invention.
→ Writing Prompt 9: Discuss what the most important invention in history is and why.
→ Writing Prompt 10: Think about a new invention you would like to create. Describe this invention and tell what it can do.
→ Writing Prompt 11: 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.
Science & Inventions Writing Prompts Continue
→ Writing Prompt 12: 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.
→ Writing Prompt 13: What do you think is the most significant invention ever made and why do you think so?
→ Writing Prompt 14: Invention and technology have always been an important part of changing the way one lives. For instance, 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. For example, explain how life was then, how it is different today, and whether the result is positive or negative.
→ Writing Prompt 15: Explain to a 5 year old what gravity is. Use examples of how their life would be if there was no gravity.
→ Writing Prompt 16: A pill has just been invented that would allow a person to live forever. Would you take it?
→ Writing Prompt 17: The most famous of Thomas Edison’s multiple inventions was the incandescent light bulb. It took him many many attempts before he got it right. He once quipped: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”. How would our lives be different today if he had given up on one of those thousands of attempts?
→ Writing Prompt 18: 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?
→ Writing Prompt 19: 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.
→ Writing Prompt 20: The first compass with invented in China between the 2nd Century B.C. and the 1st Century A.D. Explain how the world changed for sea and land travelers with this invention.
→ Writing Prompt 21: German inventor Johannes Gutenberg invented the modern printing press sometime between 1440 and 1450. With its movable type process, printing presses dramatically increased the speed with which book copies could be made and the way knowledge could widely be shared, in a way it had never been shared before. Give an example of how this invention changed civilization.
→ Writing Prompt 22: Benjamin Franklin is credited with having discovered electricity. Imagine if he never had discovered it and we had no electricity. How would your life be impacted today?
→ Writing Prompt 23: What if a formula was invented to make it so that we can live forever? Would that be a blessing or a curse? Would you like to live forever?
→ Writing Prompt 24: The first microwave was invented in the 1940’s and was originally meant for commercial use rather than for regular homes. It carried a price tag of nearly $17,000 (in today’s dollars). Can you write about any invention in recent times that started out at a astronomical price, only to become affordable for the average person/family?
