A Very Bright Idea

Young inventors at a Maryland high school are not only learning scientific principles, but also teamwork and the tenets of patent law.

Clarksburg, Md.

The inventors at Clarksburg High School are perfectly willing to tell you what they’re doing. What they won’t tell you is how exactly they’re doing it.

Twice a week, 10 members of the high school’s Coyote Inventors Club gather in a second-floor computer lab to peck away at building a deceptively simple device: a cable that lights up on contact, thus making it easier to find amid the tangled rat’s nest of wires behind most computers.

Their work requires persistence, group cooperation, applied math and science skills—and, when it comes to the precise design of their product, a commitment to...