About This Episode

Season 7. Episode 4.

On this episode of Education Insight, host Lacey Kendall is joined by Brenda Payne, Executive Director of the California Invention Convention, for a conversation about the power of invention education and its impact on students across California. Drawing on her experience as a teacher, school leader, and statewide education advocate, Payne shares how invention education encourages students to identify real problems, experiment with solutions, and develop confidence through creativity and critical thinking.

The episode explores how students learn through the process of designing, testing, and presenting their inventions—and why moments of failure, iteration, and public presentation can be life-changing. Listeners will also hear how the California Invention Convention reaches tens of thousands of students each year and what it will take to ensure every K–12 student has access to learning experiences that nurture curiosity, resilience, and possibility.

Featured Guest

Brenda Payne

Executive Director

Biography

Brenda Payne began her education career at a northern California magnet school for gifted and talented learners, where she created an invention curriculum for 3rd and 4th graders that ultimately spread district‑wide. She went on to lead a K–8 project‑based learning school in Sonoma County and later served in several administrative roles in Santa Cruz County, including interim superintendent/principal of Pacific Elementary School District in Davenport. There, she reintroduced Invention Education for 5th and 6th graders, and four of those student inventors advanced to the National Invention Convention Entrepreneurship Expo at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia.

Since 2016, Brenda has directed the California Invention Convention, building the state competition, securing funding, and supporting teachers and districts with curriculum and professional development. From 2019 to 2025, she also served as the Invention Education Administrator in California for the Lemelson‑MIT Program, part of MIT’s School of Engineering, helping train teachers and education leaders in invention education across the country. Today, the California Invention Convention engages roughly 70,000 students statewide, and Brenda’s goal is to ensure that every K–12 student in California has access to high‑quality invention and entrepreneurial skills education so they can develop the creative and problem‑solving abilities they need to thrive in their personal and professional lives.