Northern Kentucky University

Creative Thinking Lesson Two

Intended Audience/Grade Level

Junior High School through College Freshman Classes

Estimated Lesson Time

Three 50-minute sessions (Instructor may condense or expand based on needs)

Overview

This is the second lesson of a two lesson awareness program to assist students' understanding of plagiarism, copyright & fair use, and other areas of intellectual property related to both the classroom and their personal lives. Ethical and legal aspects of the subject are presented including engaging films, classroom activities, and student assignments. Students will present a hypothetical sales pitch to their classmates for their original work by the end of this program. A short quiz (provided) should be given near the last session in lesson 2 to assess the students’ basic awareness of plagiarism and copyright related to both in-school learning and out-of-school lives. The quiz includes a student agreement to be signed by students which acknowledges their understanding of scholastic honesty and respect when using other authors' works. This also gives the teacher a way to hold students accountable of their classroom actions to avoid plagiarism and copyright infringement.

Goals

Understanding and respect of intellectual property, mainly copyright and fair use, awareness of media piracy and file sharing, and learning how to protect one's own creative works with a copyright, trademark, or patent.

Objectives

Students will be able to understand:

• the meaning of copyright and when their use could be a fair use or copyright infringement
• when their use is not fair use and how to locate copyright owner and obtain permission
• the ethical, economic, and legal issues related to file sharing and downloading from the web
• the practical consequences of illegal downloading such as computer viruses, unwanted spy ware, and computer downtime
• the responsibility and ethical behavior necessary when using legally acquired copyrighted materials
• intellectual property basics (and the ability to identify differences between copyrights, trademarks, and patents) and identify user groups that utilize each

Instructional Resources

Related web articles, lesson plans, exercises, and assignments; Creative Thinking films included on this site: 1. Copyright and Fair Use – Dwayne Buttler (8 minutes); 2. File Sharing or Stealing - John Alberti (10 minutes); 3. Copyright: the Right to Copy! Music Band Copyright Story (10 minutes); and 4. Intellectual Property for Creators - David Lafkas (9 minutes). Students are also introduced to the intellectual property searchable databases of the U.S. Copyright Office and the U.S. Patent Office.

Learning Plans

Respect of copyright and fair use, appropriate file sharing, mash-ups, and using intellectual property to protect students' creative works is presented via engaging class questions, activities, and films with discussion points to further connect with the students.

Background Source Highlights

Alberti, John. Text Messaging: Reading and Writing about Popular Culture. Boston, Mass.; New York : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.

Bentley, Nancy. Don’t Be a Copycat! Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Elementary, 2008.

Brizee, Allen. The OWL at Purdue - Paraphrase: Write it in Your Own Words http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/619/01 assessed April 17, 2009.

Gordon, Sherri Mabry. Downloading Copyrighted Stuff From the Internet: Stealing or Fair Use? Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Elementary, 2005.

Crews, Kenneth D. Copyright Law for Librarians and Educators: Creative Strategies and Practical Solutions. Chicago: American Library Association, 2006.

Cullen, Jim. Essaying the Past: How to Read, Write, and Think about History. Chichester, U.K.; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.

Kardick, Maria. Read Write Think: Exploring Plagiarism, Copyright, and Paraphrasing. www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=1062 assessed December 12, 2008.

Russell, Carrie. Complete Copyright: An Everyday Guide for Librarians. Chicago: American Library Association, 2004.

Other sources cited in lesson text.