Copyright and Plagiarism

Copyright and plagiarism are two very important topics that need to be addressed throughout one’s educational journey.  Students should be introduced to these terms and what they mean in kindergarten.  Subsequently, each year should build upon the next as it relates to curricula.  

There are strategies you can use to increase students’ awareness of copyright.  First, you must explain what copyright means.  For example, one cannot copy a book on the copy machine and sell it as their own. There are copyright laws that protect the author, the illustrator, and the publisher.  The same laws apply to downloading music and movies. If you do not pay for the music or the movie, you are breaking the law by not abiding the copyright law. A second method is to deliberately allow one student to copy another student’s work without their knowledge.  Allow the students to share their writings or artwork and wait for reactions. This is a great way to     
connect emotion to learning, which is very powerful. 

What strategies can reduce plagiarism in student work?  The emotional learning experience of having one student deliberately copy another is one powerful strategy.  A second strategy is to have students practice written response to text. Students can collaborate and discuss the text, putting it in their own words.  Graphic organizers are useful tools to assist students in organizing their thoughts.  A third strategy is to have students use a free online plagiarism checker. 

As a visual arts teacher, it is imperative that I teach my students that copying another artist’s work is not acceptable.  Students are free to use an artist’s work as inspiration but not to copy. To assist with this, I use a visual example of Van Gogh’s sunflowers and a painting that I created of sunflowers.  The students can see that my work is completely different, although it is the same subject matter.       

These strategies address skills from NETS-S.  When students work together, they communicate and collaborate to produce original works and solve problems.  They also demonstrate digital citizenship and take personal responsibility for lifelong learning.

To modify, students can use digital graphic organizers instead of written ones. This modification would address the Technology Operations and Concepts Standard and allow students to transfer current knowledge to learning new technologies.    

How can understanding Creative Commons (CC) impact student understanding of copyright? 
According to the CC website, CC licenses allows rights holders to offer certain usage rights to the public, while reserving other rights.  If a right holder wishes to hold all of their copyrights, they are not advised to use CC.  For example, if a student wanted to use a picture from CC, they could access freely useable media files via Wikimedia Commons.  Students must abide by the some rights reserved on CC.    

ISTE Standards for Students. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/

Frequently Asked Questions. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://creativecommons.org/faq/#is-

creative-commons-against-copyright

Wikimedia Main Page. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page      

       

When I thought of where one may find misleading statistics, I immediately recalled the many magazines I would flip through at Barnes & Noble while sipping a hot, sweet treat. I no longer
subscribe to magazines nor do I visit my favorite bookstore and flip through magazines.  My life is way too busy these days.
As an elementary visual arts teacher, I have tons of magazines that nice folks save for me.  They are quite versatile in the art room! Upon looking up at the stack of magazines, I felt a bit overwhelmed. Would I be searching for hours looking for the perfect ad that exemplifies misleading statistics?  Within thirty seconds of opening the first periodical, I found my first example!   

Exhibit A
Does your home have hard water?  Well, does it? I am not sure myself but the above Morton ad reads that 85% of American households have hard water.  That's a pretty high percentage.  I do not recall participating in this research.  Did you participate?  

Questions I have for Morton:
1. How did you arrive at 85%?
2. What sample was used to gather your data?
3. What instrument was used?
4. Where is your evidence?
5. Who stands to profit from this ad?  Who or what is really behind this ad? Morton, are you trying to  🤔sell something?

Key signs of hard water?
1. Dry skin and tangled hair.
    I have dry skin, especially in the winter. Does this mean that I only have hard water in the winter?
2. Laundry feels rough
3. Dishes have spots
    I can attest to #2 and #3. Growing up, I experienced these.  We had hard water due to lime.
4. Build up in the shower:
    Perhaps you are not cleaning with the correct product. 
   
The entire ad misleads the consumer with an arbitrary number, catchy graphics, and photographs.
I must give them credit for the nice science lesson and graphics used to visually pull in the consumer. Look at the happy families! They are apparently the 15% that has soft water. If I cannot relate to these pictures, then apparently, I am in the 85%.

According to Huff (1954), "Look for conscious bias.  The method may be direct misstatement or it may be ambiguous statement that serves as well and cannot be convinced" (Huff, 1954, p. 123). 
63 years later, this still holds true. 

For the sake of argument, I'll give Morton the benefit of the doubt as to how they calculated the 85%.  A legitimate quantitative method of data collection (survey?) was used.  Descriptive statistics summarized the sample which led to the inferential statistics  (inferring the entire population based on the descriptive statistic).   Sound good?  I thought so!   👌 

References

DOES YOUR HOME HAVE HARD WATER? [Advertisement]. (2017, February). Good

             Housekeeping. 

Huff, D.  (1954).  How to lie with statistics.  Retrieved from http://www.horace.org/blog/wp-          

             content/uploads/2012/05/How-to-Lie-With-Statistics-1954-Huff.pdf

Exhibit B

Who doesn't like a good challenge? Have you taken the Ford challenge? 

The bar graph displays categories of attractiveness, fun to drive, performance, and handling.

After a test drive, 400 people scored the Fusion the highest in each category.  
Looking at the graph, the Camry comes in a close second in attractiveness. It appears there is only a 25 point difference.  Winning is winning right?  Did Ford really win the challenge?

Is this bar graph misleading? YES! Do you see it? 👀 I had to really look closely and do a little digging.

Yes responses scored one point and no response scored zero.  

After adding up the Attractive category of what appears to be 249+225+180=654 is the sum.

If 250 said yes to the Fusion and 225 people say yes to the Camry, and 180 to the Accord, this is over the one point allotment for 400 people. The other categories follow suit.
There is definitely a misrepresentation of data.

Why does Ford "make" the Fusion appear to "win"?  Perhaps it did but I am not sure how they can justify the margin between 654 and 400 when each person was only allotted one point. 

Did Ford offer an incentive for those who gave Ford the one point for each category?
Who test drove the cars? There is no age presented on the graph.

This is a Ford ad and so it would be in their favor to mislead the consumer to promote their product.
Do you see it now?👀

Reference

Ford Challenge [Advertisement]. (2007, April 16). Newsweek, 59-59.