Teacher's Guide to Intellectual Property Rights

Mircosoft is sponsoring an initiative to teach intellectual property rights to middle and high school students. Information Week has an article about it which notes:

Microsoft's survey found that about half of the teenagers surveyed (49%) said they are not familiar with the rules and guidelines for downloading content from the Internet. Only 11% understood the rules well, and of those, 82% said downloading content illegally merits punishment. Among those unfamiliar with the law, only 57% supported punishment for intellectual property violations.

To address this issue they have set up The Teacher's Guide to Intellectual Property Rights. have a set up a website with curriculum aimed at 8th-10th grade students, but which is modifiable for upper grades. This curriculum includes:

Four thematic units comprise the IPR Education Curriculum. Within each unit are stand-alone yet complementary lesson plans (activities) that focus on and play off of an IPR-related scenario presented through a Case Study.

Guiding Questions help set the expectation for what students will learn in each unit, and Baseline and Post-Unit Assessments serve to gauge changes in student knowledge and perceptions about IP. Each unit consists of 4-6 lesson plans (activities), including a Culminating Activity that serves as a project-based unit assessment.

To support this initiative, Microsoft has launched MyBytes, a web site where students can create custom ringtones, share content, and learn more about intellectual property rights.