Some time ago I chatted with a parent about the concept of copyright. Both of us were concerned that digital kids understand very little about intellectual property. The free-for-all digital information climate ensures that children have considerable ease accessing information and considerable difficulty comprehending what belongs to whom. Given this easy access parents and educators need to spend time helping children understand the basics.
Copyright laws are arcane, and even a bit crazy, but it’s critical to teach kids that protecting the intellectual property of others is a necessary 21st Century skill. With your child take the Copyright Challenge quiz at Copyright for Kids to see how much you know. When you finish the quiz check out these frequently asked questions about copyright.
Younger children might enjoy taking the Cyberbee Copyright Quiz by moving the mouse over pictures of students. When the mouse hovers over an image, a question flashes. To get the answer, click on the picture.
Other Resources and a Good Video
- Five Minute Film Festival: Copyright and Fair Use for Educators
- Students as Creators: Exploring Copyright — Read Right Think (NCTE and International Reading Association)
- The Copyright for Kids at the Copyright Society
- The Thorny Concept of Plagiarism — Must be a member of BrainPop to use.
- Plagiarism by Paraphrasing Risk Quiz — Goucher College
- Taking the Mystery Out of Copyright — The Library of Congress
- Copyright Definitions — from Copyright for Kids
- Teaching Copyright to Middle School Students – Mrs. Muñoz’s Class Blog
- The video below explains copyright and offers an introduction to searching with creative commons.
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