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21st Century Inventions

The 21st century inventions – can you remember when they 1. … (launch)?

2. … (Choose) to write on just a few indicative 21st century inventions is a hard task.

We are well into the current century and the number of innovations, especially in areas of computer technology, but also in other fields, 3. … (be) tremendous.  This page 4. … (cover) some indicative inventions, that are not necessarily the most important ones, or innovative ones – but they did make a lot of buzz when they  5. … (invent) and have definitely left an impact. 

They are likely to be some of the inventions that still 6. … (resonate) with us in the future, when we 7. … (think) of the 21st century in retrospect.



21st century inventions #1: The Segway (2000)

It started as a well kept secret.  It was an intensely hyped mystery invention 1 … .  People in the know said it will completely alter the way 2 … and will revolutionize personal transportation.  Steve Jobs, then CEO of apple computers predicted “it could be bigger than the PC”.

And then it was revealed, on December 2001: the Segway, the invention of Dean Kament, an American inventor and entrepreneur. The invention 3 … ‘Ginger’ was a ‘human transporter’. The first electric powered transportation vehicle that was able to self-balance. The first version could travel smoothly on several surfaces (from grass to sand) and 4 … and the speed of the device. 

The most innovative part of the Segway was a revolutionary technology called “Dynamic stabilization”. The technology allowed the Segway to self-balance, 5 … .  

The invention is still used today, but it definitely didn’t materialize into the revolutionary promise it originally posed.



was controlled by the rider shifting his weight to change the direction

 which was originally code named

 we design our cities

 while integrating with the body’s movements

 that was supposed to change our daily lives









21st Century Inventions

The 21st century inventions – can you remember when they 1… (launch)?

2… (Choose) to write on just a few indicative 21st century inventions is a hard task.

We are well into the current century and the number of innovations, especially in areas of computer technology, but also in other fields, 3 … (be) tremendous.  This page 4 … (cover) some indicative inventions, that are not necessarily the most important ones, or innovative ones – but they did make a lot of buzz when they  5 … (invent) and have definitely left an impact. 

They are likely to be some of the inventions that still 6 … (resonate) with us in the future, when we 7 … (think) of the 21st century in retrospect.



21st century inventions #2: Artificial heart and liver (2001)

2001 brought with it two new inventions (among many others), that might have not registered in your radar but made a world of change for those impacted by it. 

The robotic artificial heart, known as the abioCor was the size of a softball, was self-contained, and worked on a battery pack that 1 …  . It was made of titanium and plastic and unlike previous artificial organs, had no wires or connections to external units.   When it was first implanted in a human being in 2001, 2 … – it lasted 5 months, much longer than expected. However, since then the product didn't become a staple in hospitals cardiology units, 3 … and the fact that the product has an expected life span of 18 months.

Like the heart, the liver is also one of the most important and complex organs in the body – not something you can easily replace. 

The bio artificial liver uses human blood in one chamber and live rabbit cells in a solution in the other – with a membrane in between. The rabbit cells 4 … , replacing the purpose of a real liver – but since they are contained within a chamber, there is a reduced risk of infection or rejection. When it was announced in 2001, it was just approved for clinical trials and was meant to eventually serve as a liver replacement – either temporarily, 5 … , or as a permanent replacement.  Today similar artificial livers are being developed using stem cells. 

to allow a damaged liver time to heal itself

mainly due to its limited usage

do the work of the human liver cells

the user could strap to his waist

it was deemed a huge success

21st Century Inventions

The 21st century inventions – can you remember when they 1 … (launch)?

2 … (Choose) to write on just a few indicative 21st century inventions is a hard task.

We are well into the current century and the number of innovations, especially in areas of computer technology, but also in other fields, 3 … (be) tremendous.  This page 4 … (cover) some indicative inventions, that are not necessarily the most important ones, or innovative ones – but they did make a lot of buzz when they  5 … (invent) and have definitely left an impact. 

They are likely to be some of the inventions that still 6 … (resonate) with us in the future, when we 7 … (think) of the 21st century in retrospect.



21st century inventions #3: Bluetooth technology (2002)

The Bluetooth technology was introduced to the market first in 2002. It was dubbed the first low energy peer to peer wireless technology, and 1 … , with the aim of connecting several digital devices over short distances.  The concept was first born in an Ericsson lab in Sweden in the 1990’s and went on 2 … . 

The beauty of the technology 3 … was that for the first time it has connected devices from different industries, introduced new possibilities for device development and changed consumers’ behaviours. 

The first devices to hit the market were Bluetooth earpieces 4 … . Today, the technology dominates almost any consumer electronic device, 5 … , and others in the fields of smart homes, cars, medical and health. 

A recent research report predicted 2 billion Bluetooth enabled unites will be shipped in 2013 alone.

fitness and sports devices

to revolutionize wireless connection

was developed by a consortium of electronics manufactures

used to connect with our cell phones

when it was just launched

















21st Century Inventions

The 21st century inventions – can you remember when they 1 … (launch)?

2 … (Choose) to write on just a few indicative 21st century inventions is a hard task.

We are well into the current century and the number of innovations, especially in areas of computer technology, but also in other fields, 3 … (be) tremendous.  This page 4 … (cover) some indicative inventions, that are not necessarily the most important ones, or innovative ones – but they did make a lot of buzz when they 5 … (invent) and have definitely left an impact. 

They are likely to be some of the inventions that still 6 … (resonate) with us in the future, when we 7 … (think) of the 21st century in retrospect.



21st century inventions #4: Roomba the robot vacuum cleaner (2002)

The Roomba robot vacuum cleaner 1… , but it definitely made our life just a little bit easier. 

A group of inventors originally from the Massachusetts institute of technology and then from the irobot company have created the round robot 2 … your house for you.  It has sensors which helps it navigate around the house, prevents it from bumping 3 … . 

In an interview one of the inventors, Helen Greiner said how the company knew that 4 … , they need to come up with an invention that will help people in their households: “every time we introduced ourselves people would say to us ‘Can you make a robot 5 … ?’”.  And so they did. The company developed other robots with different functionalities and target audiences, but the Roomba is probably one of its biggest commercial success stories.

into walls or falling down stairs

which runs on batteries and vacuums

that will clean my house

might not have changed our world significantly

in order to make it big with robots











21st Century Inventions

The 21st century inventions – can you remember when they 1 … (launch)?

2 … (Choose) to write on just a few indicative 21st century inventions is a hard task.

We are well into the current century and the number of innovations, especially in areas of computer technology, but also in other fields, 3 … (be) tremendous.  This page 4 … (cover) some indicative inventions, that are not necessarily the most important ones, or innovative ones – but they did make a lot of buzz when they 5 … (invent) and have definitely left an impact. 

They are likely to be some of the inventions that still 6 … (resonate) with us in the future, when we 7 … (think) of the 21st century in retrospect.



21st century inventions #5: Apple inventions

Not much needs to be said about apple and their inventions during the 21st century. From the ipod, to iPad and iTunes to name a few – apple 1 … to communicate, listen to music, consume information and much more. 

The first on the list, the iPod, actually started up as a business idea of an independent inventor: Tony Fadell. His vision was 2 …  such as Napster to work with it. He wanted to build a company around it. However, Apple hired Fadell in 2001, gave him a team of 30 designers, hardware engineers and programmers and the rest his history – The iPod and iTunes store were born. 

The iPhone concept 3… , despite the fact that the final product was launched only in 2007. 

A worker of Apple, John Casey, 4 … which he termed the Telipod - a combination of a telephone and an iPod. That original idea 5 … , with the touch screen being added by Steve Jobs himself, before we were all introduced to the famous iPhone.

to take an mp3 player and build a music sale service

went through several stages of evolution

actually originated as early as in 2000

has changed the way we use technology

sent his colleagues drawings of a concept idea









21st Century Inventions

The 21st century inventions – can you remember when they 1 … (launch)?

2 … (Choose) to write on just a few indicative 21st century inventions is a hard task.

We are well into the current century and the number of innovations, especially in areas of computer technology, but also in other fields, 3 … (be) tremendous.  This page 4 … (cover) some indicative inventions, that are not necessarily the most important ones, or innovative ones – but they did make a lot of buzz when they 5 … (invent) and have definitely left an impact. 

They are likely to be some of the inventions that still 6 … (resonate) with us in the future, when we 7 … (think) of the 21st century in retrospect.



21st century inventions #6: Web inventions and sites that changed our lives

The 21st century is most definitely (among other things) the century 1 … we use the web. Youtube, Google maps street view, social networking and Facebook are 2… that are today an inseparable part of our lives, and didn’t exist 14 years ago. 

YouTube was invented in 2005 by 3 partners Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, and revolutionized the way 3 … .  Google maps street view which in 2007 was launched with 360 panoramic images of NYC, Chicago, San Francisco and many other cities has changed the way we navigate or 4 … . 

Social networking, which is these days is an integral part of our daily life and Facebook, its epitome, started in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg 5 … at Harvard. 

Along with many other websites and brands they were all invented in the 21st century.

we consume and share videos

just some of the websites and technologies

that changed the way

in his dorm room

look for addresses





text from  http://www.inventions-handbook.com/21st-century-inventions.html  

Teacher’s notes:

I made this worksheet while working on the topic of Inventions with my final year school students. I printed this worksheet and had pictures of these inventions separately to present them on the screen. You can choose how to use it, but I used it as the following: 

Warm up on the most important  inventions of the 20th century (we talked and read about them the previous lesson);

Move on to the 21st century by asking Ss a question: Can you think of any modern inventions that were made in the 21st century and have changed our lives? (Some of my Ss named Facebook and inventions in medicine. So I’ve made an introduction to the lesson and actualized background knowledge of my Ss);

Present the pictures of the inventions from the text on a board (or Activeboard) and learn if they are aware of those inventions.  (Some Ss recognized some of the inventions and told some facts about them but not all of the pictures were recognized. Having done this I awoke Ss’ interest to read the text and find out new information);

Divide Ss into pairs. You can do it differently but I used split sentences on Verb Forms, as the first task of the paper is to put the verbs into the correct form. (This way to divide Ss into pairs helped to repeat the usage of different verb forms);

Hand out the worksheets, each pair has the same introductory text and a different text of the invention. (I told them that we were going to do the first task together and then they were going to do the second task on their own as all of them had different texts);

Do the first task together. (I asked the Ss to do it in pairs, then we checked their answers);

Ask Ss to do the second task on their own. (I monitored their work);  

Ask St to present the information they’ve learned from their text. (I gave them sort of a plan: who, when, what for, result … and as a conclusion of their presentation I asked them to answer the question:  Have you ever (seen, heard, watched, used, experienced…) this invention in real life? Give details). 

      You can finish the lesson by asking them to write a short essay about learned inventions (sort of a descriptive writing) or choose one of the inventions to write a longer essay about the usefulness of  the chosen invention in real life (opinion essay). I asked my Ss to choose one of the two kinds of writing and do it as a home task.     

Keys:

Task 1 



were launched    2. choosing    3. is  (as the answer is different from the initial text I think the next link will be necessary http://grammartips.homestead.com/number.html )  4. covers      5. were invented    6. will resonate   7. think



Task 2



The Segway: 1E 2C 3B 4A 5D

Artificial Heart and Liver: 1D 2E 3B 4C 5A

The Bluetooth: 1C 2B 3E 4D 5A

The Roomba: 1D 2B 3A 4E 5C

Apple Inventions: 1D 2A 3C 4E 5B

Web and Sites: 1C 2B 3A 4E 5D

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                                                                                                                      by Ludmila Oinonen - 2015