Psst. Come here. Camera zooms in. We’re behind the scenes on the set of Disney Channel’s Even Stevens.

Hi! I’m Margo Harshman. I play Tawny Dean. My favorite subjects are Math and Science. I just love problem solving, especially solving everyone else’s problem. No, really! You shouldn’t miss this episode of the NASA WHY Files.

It’s a show about real life inventors who look at problems in a whole new way.

So, join the tree house detectives and see if you can help them with their whacky invention.

In this Episode of the Case of the Wright Invention, you’ll be asked to answer the following questions.

Who were Orville and Wilbur Wright

How is the invention process similar to the Scientific Method?

And How do the tree house detectives use the problem board for the invention process.

When you see this icon, it’s a clue that the answer is near.

Now pay attention as the tree house detectives uncover the Case of the Wright invention.

Jacob gets excited about something in his book.

B: We really need an adventure, now.

JACOB: Did I tell you I’m going to build a kite and enter it in the U.S. Air Force Museum’s Annual Kite Festival, in Dayton Ohio?

D: No way. That is so cool. What kind?

JACOB: I don’t know yet. Look at all these cool designs.

B: Hey, here comes "C".

Thd: This is such a great book with all kinds of Trivia. Did you know that people in China have been flying kites for over 3,000 years?

C: You guys won’t believe what happened to me yesterday. I still can’t believe it.

I was riding home from the treehouse as it was starting to get dark, and a car almost hit me.

B: Are you alright?

C: Uh huh, but it really scared me. I wish bicycles were easier to see at night.

(OVERLAPPING)

A: That happened to me once.

ALL: Me, too. Yeah, I almost got hit once, too.

A: I bet we can find something about bicycle safety on the internet.

C: That’s a good idea.

KSNN OPEN AUDIO

TED: (GREETING & CONTEST HEADLINE.) I.M Lissning is standing by with this live report. I.M.

IM: That’s right Ted, I’m standing outside the headquarters of (CONTEST SPONSOR, SOMETHING LIKE "THE INVENTORIUM"), where moments ago (CONTEST ORGANIZER) announced its highly anticipated Annual Kid-vention (OR SOMETHING ELSE) contest. Children all across America will be inventing new and useful things hoping to win this year’s coveted (INVENTION AWARD NAME). (IM WRAP UP AND TOSS TO TED).

TED: (IM WRAP UP AND TAG)

KSNN CLOSE AUDIO

A: Now you’re talking.

D: Yeah, we can do this. We’ve gotta enter this contest, cause I bet we can win.

B: We’re the tree house detectives, and I know we can, win this contest with our…

C: with our in-ven-shun!

B: Yes!

C: We won the egg tra ordinaryl airplane contest last year, didn’t we?

JACOB: Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the tree house detectives, I am honored to accept this award.

A: But…what should we invent?

JACOB: Uh…

E: Well, we could…

D: (SCRATCHING HIS HEAD) Umm…

C: OK everybody, think…what can we invent?

A: Yeah, come on, we can do this. We just have to put our minds to it, like our other cases. We always start at the beginning.

JACOB: Yeah. Ask questions… like what do inventors do?

D: What is an inventor?

Jacob: Here we go. Remember the Wright Brothers? They were really big inventors. Here’s a story about how they invented the (HESITATES, AS SHE READS IT) aer-o-plane…oh, I get it…the airplane.

.

How can the tree house detectives make their bike more visible at night?

What is the next step in the invention process?

Do the tree house detectives have the "Wright" stuff to be inventors?

You’ll find out on the next segment of the Case of The Wright Invention

In Part two of the Case of Wright Invention. you’ll find out.

What is brainstorming?

What do the tree house detectives learn about evaluating ideas?

And how does Dr. Harrison help the tree house detectives?

A: I don’t know about you, but I don’t understand this at all. Do you think Jacob could be seeing the real Wright Brothers,?

C: "E", look for information about the Wright Brothers. Maybe they had grandchildren named Orville and Wilbur who are pretending to be their grandfathers.

(Jacob walks in) They’re not pretending. I’ve got proof. (shows picture)’

Well it does look a lot like them (comparing to a picture in the book)

I’m telling you guys this is the real deal.

E: Here’s something. The Wright Brothers became interested in flight as children, after their father gave them a toy helicopter. (SHE SCANS.) And, they read books about birds…

D: And, listen to this. The Wright Brothers were self-taught engineers, neither of whom attended college.

I bet their father was the one with the one with the brains.

Actually it was their mother. She loved Math and Science.

Bianca: Like Me!

But, will you graduate at the top of your college class like their mother did.

Bianca: Of course!

C: Listen guys, we’ve got work to do. Look at this list. What are we going to choose from?

E: Remember the Wright Brothers said to research what is already known.

We need to research what makes things visible at night .

A: Good idea. I’ll go to the library.

E: I’ll stay here and check the internet. I’ll write Dr. Fay and tell her about our brainstorming session.

C: OK, I’ll go to a bike shop.

A: And, Jacob, why don’t you check with Dr. D, to see if NASA’s doing any research on paint and stuff .

E: Wait, I’m printing you some Get Up and Go forms from the website.

Dr Fay is writing us back , she says to go visit her colleague, Dr. Jocelyn Harrison..

Are reflective materials the answer to the problem?

What should the tree house detectives research next?

Don’t miss the next segment of the Case of the Wright Invention.

Watch carefully as you’ll learn the following:

How do the Why?" Files Kids Club experiments help the tree house detectives.

What is Interative Design?

Why are models important?

John mcu on cam.

John mcu on cam

John on cam

v/o of helio starts here

JOHN: Hi I’m John DelFrate. you guys are the tree house detectives?

ALL: That’s us. Thank you for talking with us.

JOHN: What can I help you with today?

JACOB: We are not doing very well with our testing. We heard that you just finished testing the Helios plane. Could you give us some advice on testing?

John: Sure. I’d be happy to.

A: What exactly is the Helios?

John: Helios is a prototype solar powered flying wing aircraft — some people have described it as a flying yard stick and we fly it remotely from the ground.

V/O-

It’s not designed to carry people so you can shape it much differently. It has one of the biggest wings ever built — it’s span is longer than a Boeing 747’s wing; yet it is extremely light weight — it weighs less than most cars.

B. Why was it built?

JOHN On Cam: NASA had two reasons.

B-roll of helios

The first was that we needed a special airplane to collect information about our atmosphere up to 100,000ft — that’s three times higher than regular passenger airplanes. Recently Helios set a new world record by flying to 96,863 ft.

The second reason was that we wanted to design an airplane to fly longer than any airplane has ever flown. .

A: Why is it important to test your invention? Or Could you tell us how you tested the Helios?

JOHN: Testing is very important for us for a couple of reasons.

V/O Testing

The first is that we want to make sure we actually understand how our airplane and its parts work. We design the test and use the best information to predict the outcome of it. Then we compare the results with our predictions and figure out why they might be different.

There is another reason we test so much. Its because building airplanes is very expensive. We’ve been testing different parts of Helios since 1996 right up to just before we flew Helios this summer — about 6 years of testing.

D: Did you say you’ve been working on this for 6 years? That’s a long time. How can it take that long?

JOHN on Camera with model: We started out with small balsa wood airplanes like this one in the beginning

(show John flying model of Helios and launching it. It would be great to show close ups of plane)

V/O

And then we made bigger and more complicated models until we were ready to do the real airplane. On some of our parts, like the propellers for example (show sample propeller blade), we had to change our design and start over. It is a long process!

John On Cam

We aren’t the only ones who have taken the time to test.

V/O The Wright Brothers tested patiently for several years before they succeeded way back in 1903. Careful testing leads to success.

John On Cam

By the way, You know, the place where the Wright Brothers completed their first flight is a national monument, and it’s a wonderful place to visit

JACOB: Great idea . We should go there. Do you have any other advice for us and our invention?

JOHN On Camera: Actually, I do. Before you test, make sure that you think about what could possibly go wrong and make sure that you are prepared to handle it

E: Well, thank you very much for all your help.

B: Yeah, and good luck with Helios.

D: Imagine flying 100,000 feet up in an airplane.

No thanks..

C: maybe we’re on the right track, but we just have to rethink what we’re trying to do.

JACOB: You know, this tire is really skinny when you look at it this way. It won’t matter how reflective the paint is no one will be able to see it at night

B: I hadn’t thought of that.

B: A bike may be easy to see from the side, but not from the front and back.

E: So, what if we stopped trying to make the bike more visible and concentrated on the rider?

B: That’s sounds good, but what if we did both.

What if we put the reflective coating that worked the best in our experiments on the tires of the bike and put reflective material on a vest.

That would make you more visible for sure.

But only if a car has its headlights on and they shine on the reflective material.

We could put this blinking light on top of the helmet and then you would be visible even at dusk.

I’m not sure if I want to wear something that looks like that.

I would as long as it makes me safer at night.

(Lab)

Bianca: Dr D. We did it.

Jacob:Our invention works great.

Dr D: Congratulations. Did you bring it with you.

R.J. You bet. Look at this.

Dr D: I ‘m really impressed. It’s unique! It looks like you really made the Invention Process work for you.

(Anthony)We really struggled to get started. We didn’t have any ideas until you helped us with our bug list or need list.

( Bianca)

Once we decided to find a way to make a bike more visible at night, we did some brainstorming and came up with a lot of possible solutions.

( R.J)We tried hard not to be critical, and that was hard to do. Jacob and I had some pretty silly ideas.

( Jacob) Hey. Remember no idea is a bad idea.

( Tony)Ok. Then we learned from Dr. Fay that we had to come up with criteria to evaluate our solutions.

( Jacob)Yes, like it should be cheap, and something that we could do ourselves.

That helped us to narrow it down to two things.

Dr D: Keep going. It sounds like you followed the Invention Process quite carefully.

( Bianca)Then we built a model of both of our ideas and tested them.

But nothing was really working.

(R.J) we had this great idea that if we combined both of our ideas we would have a really terrific invention.

( Tony)So we then built a prototype, or full sized model and tested it with our parents.

Dr D: I knew that you guys could do it. What are you going to call it? It does need a name.

( Tony)We never thought of that.

( R.J.)How about the Bike Bright.

( Tony)Or the Night Buster

Dr. D: Those are both great names. Oh, I almost forgot, did you bring the smoke machine.

(R.J)Yes I did. Can we try it out.

Dr D: Here’s my prototype, I’ve been excited to try it. Here goes. (Blow some smoke rings).

( Jacob)That really cool.

Dr D: Thanks for all of your help. I couldn’t have done it without you.

(Bianca)For once we had a chance to help you Dr. D!

Dr. D: I hope that you have been keeping your i log and writing down all of your ideas and your work.

(Bianca)Of course, I’m surprised that you would even have to ask us that question.

Dr D: Good because it will help you with the final step in the invention process.

( Jacob)What’s that?

Dr. D: to protect your invention.

(Jacob)How can an inventors log help us to keep it from getting broken.

Dr D: I don’t mean that kind of protection. I mean keeping someone from stealing your idea.

( Bianca)Wow. We never thought of that.

Dr. D: For example, Daniel Drawbaugh said that he invented the telephone, but didn’t have one single paper or record to prove it.

( R.J)I thought that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.

Dr. D: Well that’s what the Supreme Court decided. They rejected Drawbaugh’s claims because he had no journal or record. Alexander Graham Bell had excellent records and he was awarded the patent for the telephone.

( Jacob)(Turn to Camera) We don’t want that to happen to us.

I think that we need to learn something about patents and protecting our invention.

Dr D: The US Patent Office is a great source of information.

( R.J)Wow, there is a lot of information here at the patent office website. I think that we need to talk to someone about all of this. Lets get up and go to the Patent Office.

Bye Dr D.

( All)Good Bye.

Bianca: Hello, are you Ms. Nyblod?

RUTH: Yes, Welcome to the patent office

Bianca: (SEEING THE EXHIBIT) Wow, what is all this?

RUTH: Welcome to the Patent and Trademark Museum.

Bianca (LOOKING AROUND) So cool… We’ve finished our invention and we’d like to learn more about intellectual property.

RUTH: Well, you’ve come to the right place. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has been protecting the rights of inventors for over 200 years.

Bianca: Well, what is a patent?

RUTH: A patent is a property right granted by the Government of the United States that gives an inventor the right to exclude all others from making, using, or selling the invention for up to 20 years without the inventor's permission.

Bianca: How can we recognize a patent when we see one?

Ruth: Have you ever noticed patent numbers on the products you use, like this one on this old ice cream freezer? This is a copy of the patent.

(DETECTIVES NOD)

Blanca How is a trademark different from a patent?

Ruth: This is Walt Disney’s first trademark application for "Mickey Mouse." We sometimes like to call it Mice’s birth certificate. Trademarks protect words, names, symbols, sounds, smells, or colors that distinguish the products or services of one company from those of another.

Bianca: Like Ben & Jerrys?…Dairy Queen?…

Ruth: You’ve got it. The shape of the Coke bottle is a registered trademark of the Coca-Cola Company.

Bianca: Can books be patented?

Ruth: Copyrights protect the work of authors and artists, like books, photographs, paintings, and motion pictures.

Bianca: Gee, Ms. Nyblod, thanks for your help. I never knew there was so much involved with inventing something.

RUTH: It’s hard work and can be very expensive. But, just like other kinds of property, intellectual property needs to be protected…and respected. It is just as wrong to steal intellectual property as it is to break into a home, steal a car, or rob a bank.

Bianca: Good bye and thanks.

Jacob: Our inventions are so cool. I hope everyone else likes them.

Thd Did y au know The Wright Brothers received their patent for their flying machine l 3-years following their invention?

Turn to camera : I hope that doesn’t happen to us. That’s why patents are important

Hey, what are we going to call it? We’ve got to give it a name?

C: How about Visi-bike gear? Nah. (SHE LAUGHS. THE OTHERS DO TOO.)

D: OK. What about Light Jacket with blinking helmet? Get it. Light…Jacket?

B: Hey you guys, we did a good job, didn’t we.

ALL: We sure did.

B: And, who knows, maybe we’ll win the contest.

C: Maybe.

E: We sure learned a lot. You know what I liked the best?

A: What?

E: When you put your mind and energy into something, you can come up with some pretty amazing things.

ALL: Cheering and laughing.

C: (TO AUDIENCE) There are more adventures waiting for you on the NASA "Why?" Files web site. Become an inventor yourself.

Yeah. Here comes Dr. Textbook.

SFX: DR. TEXTBOOK AUDIO

1947 — chuck yeager’s sound barrier flight

everything shakes, startling Dr. T. He’s a little non-plused, but goes on.

With the invention of the jet engine, Chuck Yeager flew faster than the speed of sound…about 750 miles an hour… for the first time in 1947.

SFX: SONIC BOOM

DR. T: That was another booming achievement.

1962 — John glenn in capsule

SFX: AMBIENT SOUND OF GLENN’S COCKPIT.

DR. T: NASA invented successful space rockets that took John Glenn in orbit around the earth for the first time in 1962…

1969 — neil armstrong stepping onto lunar surface

And, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon for the first time in 1969.

ARMSTRONG VO: This is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

2001 — iss animation

and/or video

And right now NASA astronauts are building the International Space Station 220 miles above us, the first permanently orbiting space hotel and research facility.

mav plane in wind tunnel

And guess what? Now NASA is building airplanes that fly like birds. I love it! Fly like a bird!

morph video

SFX: EAGLE CRY

DR. T: But, that’s just the way people are…we think about something, and find a way to do it. Gotta go!

close animation

CLOSE MUSIC

JACOB: Hey, that reminds me of something. Let’s all go to the Wright Monument and see where the Wright Brothers first flew. I met the neatest ranger there. And, who knows, maybe he can tell us why I’ve been seeing the Wright Brothers everywhere.

ALL: That’s a great idea…I’ll ask my dad if he can take us…Maybe we can ride our bikes…

the detectives ride their bikes up the drive to the monument museum. "C" has on the lighted vest (can’t see the lights in the daytime) and "D" has on the helmet with the flashing light on it. they are pointing at the monument and other things they see.

ranger COLLINS meets them at the curb. "C" and "D" take off their gear.

JACOB: Hey, Ranger Collins, how are you doing?

DARRELL: I’m doing fine. Jacob’s told me so much about you tree house detectives.

DETECTIVES: Hello. Pleased to meet you. This is cool.

DARRELL: Would you like to see where the Wright Brothers worked?

ALL: Yeah…Of course. Sure. You bet.

darrell starts walking, looking at the detectives, who follow eagerly.

montage of darrell showing the cabin. we see inside the cabin, the kids can’t quite believe that anyone could live in this.

maybe it would be good to insert a still of da vinci’s helicopter drawings.

would it be good to insert stills of the wright brothers at work, available from the library of congress?

they move to the hanger, and it’s even harder to believe that a plane could fit here.

DARRELL: Hey detectives, do you like homework?

ALL: Well…Sure…Depends… Kind.

DARRELL: Well, the Wright brothers did tons of homework!

DARRELL V/O: In 1899 they wrote the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC requesting all information on man’s early attempts to solve the problems of flight. The oldest pieces of information were 500 year old drawings by Leonard Da Vinci.

B V/O: Da Vinci was an amazing inventor, too.

DARRELL V/O: They went through all this information and identified problems that would have to be solved using the scientific method in order to achieve powered flight.

The Wright brothers identified Control as the key to human flight and that is the problem they solved here, at Kitty Hawk. It would take them four years of hard work, dedication and lots of disappointments to solve that problem. But, those two brothers had a dream and they never gave up.

It was right here that the Wright brothers developed the airplane control system in the year of 1902. I bet you didn’t know the Space Shuttle uses that same control.

ALL VO: No way…Really?

DARRELL and the detectives walk up to the first FLIGHT ROCK. THE DETECTIVES PAY RAPT ATTENTION TO HIM. WILBUR AND ORVILLE SILENTLY JOIN THE BACK OF THE GROUP, LISTENING.

darrell nods and smiles.

DARRELL OC: It’s true. And it was on this spot that Orville and Wilbur completed the most famous flight in history.

JACOB: On December 17, 1903.

"e" NOTICES orville and wilbur STANDING BESIDE HER. oRVILLE SMILES AT HER. she smiles back, amazed. she tugs on "C" ‘s sleeve, who almost stops breathing when she turns to see.

ORVILLE: He’s right, you know. That was quite a day.

E: Pssst….

C: Uhhhhh…

the detectives turn and gape at who they see. are they real? who are they? darrell doesn’t see them or hear them either.

WILBUR: Orville, I was wondering, do you think these young people would like to help us fly our 1902 glider?

the detectives can’t believe what they’re hearing, but remain silent.

orville turns to the detectives.

ORVILLE: (OBVIOUSLY TEASING) Oh, I don’t know…

ORVILLE: What do you think?

the detectives almost in unison, nod and dance.

"C" turns to "D", concerned.

"D" BEAMS BROADLY.

ALL: You bet. Do you mean it? Are you kidding! Totally!

C: Is this for real?

D: Who cares, let’s go!

Darrell is confused by what the detectives are doing? jacob turns to darrell.

darrell obviously doesn’t see the orville and wilbur, and is a little nonplused by the detectives excitement.

JACOB: Is it alright if we go with them?

DARRELL: Is what alright?

JACOB: Is it alright…

JACOB looks at Darrel, and realizes that he doesn’t see them, and changes his attitude.

darrell knows kids, and their short attention span. no problem.

the detectives turn to talk to DARRELL, wave goodbye, as the wright brothers turn to leave in the other direction. the kids quickly follow them.

JACOB: (CAUTIOUSLY) Is it alright if we go up to the ridge to watch gliders fly?

DARRELL: Sure. Have a good time.

ALL: Thank you Ranger Collins…Thanks, sir…This was great, thanks.

the 1902 glider is perched on top of jockey’s ridge. wilbur is the pilot. orville stands at one wingtip. the detectives are at both wingtips.

ORVILLE: Alright, everybody, when Wilbur gives the signal, we will all run down the ridge until the glider lifts off. Do you understand?

everyone nods. Orville and wilbur both look to the sky, checking the wind. the detectives stare at wilbur. orville and wilbur exchange looks, orville nods to wilbur, and wilbur nods to orville.

orville calls out so everyone can hear.

ORVILLE: Let’s go.

as one, everyone lifts the glider and off they run, until the glider lifts off and soars. the detectives watch it go. some are cheering, some jumping in the air, some simply standing almost reverently.

ALL: Cheers…You go Wilbur…Fly, fly, fly…

the glider soars.

The detectives continue watching.

The glider disappears, as does orville.

"C" still can’t believe her eyes.

the detectives are alone on top of jockey’s ridge. they come together.

they all smile at this.

and this.

"C" shakes her head slowly.

the glider continues to soar.

A: Isn’t that beautiful.

B: Yeah, it sure is.

C: Unbelievable.

D: Look at it go.

E: Who knows, maybe someday we’ll be famous inventors, too.

JACOB: This has been one awesome adventure.

C: Unbelievable.

Jacob: Sometimes you have to just stick to what you believe in..

credit roll

Tree house

Bianca: Okay guys, I believe Jacob. I saw Wilbur and Orville with my own eyes.

Thd : Hey guys, KSNN is on with the names of the winners

Thd turns to camera : Who know? We might be added to the list of famous inventors, along with Wilbur and Orville Wright.

Thd : Okay KSNN is making the announcement.

Ted Tune : And the winners of the invention contest …

Thd What happened the tv went off.

Turn to camera: Oh well, just like Orville and Wilbur , sometimes great inventors have to wait awhile to be recognized. Catch you later!