Zoom Inventors and Inventions seeks to “capture the imagination while maximizing creativity, learning and enjoyment” of children. Entries in the site appear in the form of short paragraphs usually accompanied by a photograph or graphic depicting the inventor or invention. Access to the information is provided in many different ways. Inventions and inventors are listed alphabetically and chronologically in nine periods that range from as early as 399 B.C.E. through the twentieth century. The data base can be accessed through topical headings including clothing, communications, food, fun, medicine, science/industry, transportation, and undersea or via country headings of British Isles, China, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Scandinavia and Canada/USA. Inventors are also listed within categories of African-Americans and Women.
Some entries detailing inventions and inventors provide hypertext links to additional source material. Clear, accurate diagrams and occasional animated GIFs are used to describe the operation of inventions. Some entries offer additional activities for children. For example, the entry describing the ship form of a caravel provides an option to color a caravel online or to print out hard copy to color. The site also offers cloze activities with answer keys for the inventors George Washington Carver, Robert Goddard, Elijah McCoy, and the Wright Brothers. Excellent guidelines are provided on how to write a report about an inventor or invention.
The site makes inventions come alive in large part because of the interesting human histories of the inventors. This site is an excellent resource for young students and their teachers.
