Objective: To inform students about copyright and plagiarism laws. To get students to see why it is wrong to take someone else’s work and call it your own. To apply these laws to the safe use of technology.
-Read the situation to the students:
Situation: The student council elections are next month. You are very excited because this year you are going to be running for class president. You work diligently on your campaign making posters and buttons and informing your classmates why you would make a great class president. Susie is also running for class president. You have gym class together but you don’t really know her that well. Election day finally has come. You excitement and nervousness are swirling around inside your stomach but you have been working on your speech for the past week so you are sure that it will go well. You are glad that you don’t have to go first. It will give you some time to collect your thoughts and hopefully lets excitement take the upper hand. But then as you listen to Susie’s speech you realize that is sounds almost just like yours. Not exactly the same wording, but close enough. Thoughts start racing through your mind. She stole my speech! What am I going to do? I am going to have to makes something up right here on the spot.
-Discuss the story with the students (Point to make: that taking someone else’s work and calling it your own is always wrong)
Discussion questions:
- How do you feel about what Susie did?
- What did she do that was wrong?
- Would it have still been wrong if Susie had been from another school and had used the speech there as her own?
- What if she used the speech 5 years later in a high school election?
-Discuss what copyright is: A law protecting published and unpublished literary, artistic, scientific, dramatic, etc. works, so that the original creator of this work can get credit.
A copyright lasts at least 50 years past the author’s death. At this point the work can be considered public domain.
Q. What if you don’t know about the law, should you still be held accountable? What if Susie just couldn’t think of what to say and didn’t know it was wrong to take someone else’s work?
-Discuss that the importance of being educated about the copyright law. Not knowing about the law doesn’t protect you.
-Discuss how you can protect yourself.
If you use someone else’s ideas give them credit.
How could Susie have used someone else’s ideas to help out her speech?
If you use someone else’s ideas you must state the source. Make it clear how you are using a source.
Things to include when citing a resource: Author’s name, the source (book or website), the date of publication or the date of the latest update, who published it, if it is a website the name of the institution or organization associated with the site.
If you receive specific help from someone, make sure you acknowledge that person.
Closure: encourage students to be creative, use your own ideas. Discuss situations were they will have to cite information.
Website used: