MIT was founded on the principle that learning works best by doing. For almost 25 years the Lemelson‑MIT Program has brought that principle into K‑12 classrooms nationwide, helping teachers guide students to spot real problems and invent solutions. This month the program awarded multi‑year Invention Education Pathways grants to 19 schools, districts and colleges in three regions—Northern California, Tennessee, and Massachusetts/Connecticut—covering elementary, middle, high schools, a community college and two state universities, thus creating a continuous invention pathway from kindergarten through college. The funding aligns with MIT President Sally Kornbluth’s “MIT for America” initiative; one of its pillars, Design‑Make‑Innovate, aims to give students more hands‑on building, testing and prototyping opportunities and to support teachers in bringing such work into the classroom. Invention education has students work in teams to identify community‑relevant problems, develop prototypes across disciplines, and build technical skills together with lasting human skills such as empathy, collaboration and communication, boosting confidence. Program director Michael Cima stresses that understanding user needs is the foundation of product design, and invention education teaches students to ask who they are designing for before they build anything. Unlike a one‑off project or after‑school club, the pathways model provides repeated, connected invention experiences as students progress. Lemelson‑MIT staff will partner with educators in each region to assess, design and implement learning experiences that let students apply STEM knowledge to real‑world challenges. Schools can adopt Lemelson‑MIT curriculum resources selectively to jump‑start or strengthen offerings. Executive Director Stephanie Couch notes that invention education benefits all learners, especially when it spans multiple grade levels. The three regions were selected through a nationwide search for schools committed to building strong invention pathways from kindergarten through college and to increasing the number of inventors from diverse backgrounds. Data from the program show that when given the chance to invent, students of any background surprise themselves and their teachers; the effect is strongest for under‑represented groups, who begin to see themselves as capable STEM learners and inventors. The flagship high‑school InvenTeams initiative has already produced 24 U.S. patents, and employers value graduates who combine technical expertise with the durable human skills fostered by invention education. Participants include in Northern California: California State University‑Stanislaus, Columbia College, Columbia Union School District, Denair Unified, Folsom‑Cordova Unified, Stockton Unified and Visions in Education University Prep Early College Academy; in Tennessee: Apison Elementary, Battle Academy, Hixson Middle, Normal Park Museum Magnet, and Red Bank elementary, middle and high schools; in Massachusetts/Connecticut: Berlin High, Cambridge Rindge and Latin, New Covenant, Watertown High and Westfield State University. Over the next three years the program will work closely with educators in all three regions to make invention education a regular part of the school day rather than an occasional enrichment activity, hoping the shared learning will demonstrate how invention pathways can take root nationwide. Review: By embedding a structured, multi‑grade invention curriculum, the initiative bridges technical learning and human‑centered design, offering a scalable model for cultivating diverse innovators equipped for future challenges.