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Inventing Progress: reading realistic fiction; The Ingenuity Fair 5

Problem

Read the fictional blog entry, then answer the practice question.

Inspiration at the Ingenuity Fair

  1. Hello, Hip Happenings in Haverton readers! I’m your product and innovation blogger, Busy Bee, and have I got a scoop for you!
  2. It was another amazing weekend right here in Haverton. I spent a jam-packed Saturday at the annual Ingenuity Fair at Stonebrook Middle School. The fair happens every May, and each year it becomes more apparent just how creative and hard-working Stonebrook students are. I left the event incredibly impressed with the talent on display, and I took a ton of photos for posterity!
  3. I walked into the Stonebrook gym and was amazed by what I saw. The room was filled to capacity with students and their ingenious ideas. Luckily, the school had installed lighted walkways to guide spectators through the maze of displays with some semblance of order. I spent all afternoon walking up and down the aisles, seeing everything there was to see.
  4. After an hour of walking, I came to an entire section of the gym devoted to robots. That’s right . . . robots! My favorite. Students had built robots to tackle all kinds of household chores. There were robots that washed dishes, folded laundry, mopped floors, and even walked the dog! And the students had a whole range of novel ideas to make their robot creations look life-like. Some had clever faces, or cute animal ears made from metal plates, or voices that sounded surprisingly human. I had no idea such things were feasible. I was ready to plunk down some hard-earned funds to bring these robots home with me.
  5. I approached a group of robotics inventors, and they described the processes for creating their robots. Each had spent large portions of time, sometimes as long as a month, researching robotics. Some students had checked out books from the library, while others had searched the internet for open-source code and free tutorials. I was fortunate enough to be able to look over one coder’s shoulder while she impressively coded a robot to help the user keep track of all the fortunes you get out of fortune cookies. Several inventors said they would apply for patents to help protect their ideas.
  6. Another section of the gym was filled with smartphone app makers. I spoke with a girl who had bright purple hair for a long time. She described how she had approached building out the apps. After coming up with the idea, some students had conducted market research because they wanted to ensure people needed what they were designing. Once they had determined that there were enough people interested in their apps, the students created mockups. This allowed them to work out what their apps would actually look like. Then came the actual building and coding process (the code is what makes the app work).
  7. Toward the end, I stopped at a laser display. I saw beams of light projecting an image of a popular cartoon character interacting with the crowd. In all honesty, it was something I’ve seen many times before. The character made basic jokes, and people smiled politely. But most looked bored and, like me, they hurried on to the next display.
  8. I can’t express how impressed I was with the dedication and skill the students displayed at the Ingenuity Fair. It must have taken each inventor a great deal of time to conceptualize and build these creations. Our community should rally around these students to foster the talent that lives right here in Haverton. Hope to see you next year at the Ingenuity Fair—it’s one event you don’t want to miss!
  9. See ya around, Haverton!
  10. Busy Bee

Practice Question

Match each scene with the explanation of how it fits into the overall structure of the blog.
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