The aim of the study was to develop a 3D-printing-based invention education program for elementary school students and discover its effects on the students’ invention abilities. To achieve the objectives of the study, the following procedures were conducted.
First, a 3D-printing-based invention education program was developed. The 14th lesson of the invention unit for 5th graders, was prepared for the invention education based on the verified invention design process.
Second, a 3D-printing-based invention education program was validated. A validation test with 10 experts showed that the CVR value was higher than the reference value of. 62, showing no problems with validity.
Third, the reliability of the assessment of the invention ability was verified. A random sampling of 40 samples were extracted from a total of 54 samples to measured the reliability of the whole question and its substeps.
Fourth, an experimental group and a control group participated in a pretest of the invention ability. The results found no significant between-group difference.
Fifth, the experimental group and the control group participated in a posttest of the invention ability. It was found that the experimental group showed significantly greater levels of inventive ability than the control group.