© 2016 by Vicki Whiting, Editor Jeff Schinkel, Graphics Vol. 32, No. 7
Black Inventors and Science Pioneers
Touching Lives Every Day
Peanut Professor
George Washington Carver was
born a slave, but he grew up to
be one of America’s greatest
scientist. He invented more
than 300 products made from
peanuts!
Have you ever ridden in an elevator, worn shoes, played with a Super
Soaker or used a microphone? Then your life has been touched by an
African-American scientist.
Photo: nanoman657
Follow the maze to match each inventor
with their invention.
Early elevato
rs
doors that ha had
d to be
opened and c
los
by hand. Ele ed
va
doors that op tor
en and
close automa
ticall
made riding y
an
elevator safe
r.
Are you an eagle-eyed
reader? Read the story
below and circle the seven
errors you find. Then
rewrite the story correctly.
This NASA engineer is
best known for inventing the
Super Soaker water blaster.
The success of his invention
has funded his own research
and he now has more than
100 inventions to his name.
Use the code to discover this
inventor’s name.
it was hard for a black child to
get into school when Carver
was young but. He never gave
up. He eventually finished
skool and got a job as a teacher
at a school in Alabama.
Carver wanted to help poor
farmers. He told them to grew
peanuts. The farmers thought
peanuts were weeds.
Carver invited some farm to
lunch. They had soup, mock
chicken, creamed vegetables,
bread, salad, ice cream, cookies
and coffee.
Imagines their surprise when
Carver told them that every-
thing was made with peanuts!
k up a
If you love to pic ut a
sing o
microphone and
glad this
song, you will be ity and
ectric
scientist loved el
ted a small
physics. He inven nology
tech
microphone. His
nt of
is used in 90 perce d in
ay an
microphones tod baby
ps,
cell phones, lapto aids.
ng
ri
monitors and hea
He invented a machine that
could quickly attach the top
of a shoe to the sole. The
machine made shoes ten
times faster than by hand,
making shoes more
affordable.
, this
In 1914 ated a
r cre
invento od” which
ho
“safety olluted air
made p eath. This
br
safer to arly version
e
was an gas mask.
of the
INVENTOR CODE
Replace the missing
words.
Mae Jemison has always
had big ________. Her
big dreams took her into
space! She is the first
African-American female
_______________ . In
1992, she flew aboard the
space shuttle Endeavor.
Mae loved ___________
and dancing as a child. In
Look through the
college she decided to ___________
newspaper for ten
medicine. After becoming a doctor, she
words
that describe
went to Africa with the Peace Corps.
When she returned _____, she decided to inventors. Use these
words to write
follow another dream—to be an astronaut.
a poem or a
paragraph about
inventors.
Standards Link: Research: Use the
newspaper to locate information.
Watch the newspaper for articles and pictures
about important men and women in the world
of science. Write a short paragraph about each.
Keep all of your clippings and paragraphs in a
notebook or folder called STEM Newsmakers.
MICROPHONE
AMERICAN
AFRICAN
COLLEGE
SCIENCE
HISTORY
INVENT
DREAMS
FEMALE
PEACE
HONOR
BLACK
HAND
SONG
AIR
B L T N E V N I A A
H O N O R K A Y F C
S P E A C E C R E S
C K D A H O I O M M
This week’s word:
I S L N L C R T A A
AUTOMATIC
E B O L A I E S L E
The adjective automatic
means a device that acts or
is set in motion by itself.
N T E N A H M I E R
C G S T G O A H R D
E N O H P O R C I M
The grocery store doors
opened automatically as
I walked toward them.
Try to use the word
automatic in a sentence
today when talking with your
friends and family members.
If it were possible for you to
be anything in the world,
what would you want to be?
What would you do if this
happened to come true?
ANSWER: Two tons of mashed potatoes.
Cut and paste these sentences in the correct order to discover
the beginnings of Black History Month.