Saturday, October 13, 2007
Copyright, Plagiarism, & Educators
The subject is one I teach, and teach, and teach to students over and over again: plagiarism.
My big problem with plagiarism is that it needn't happen. How can we discourage kids from plagiarizing when we offer them no opportunity for their own original expressions? When a teacher comes to me about resources for a student research project that I can see right away is low-level Bloom, just begging to be copied from an encyclopedia or 3rd-grader's website, I immediately begin suggesting ways to rework the topic so that it will require more in-depth research, some higher-level thinking skills, and a genuine expression of a kid's own ideas and conclusions.
Here's an example. Toward the end of the year (after the dreaded TAKS writing and reading tests) the 7th graders are assigned a research project on Greek & Roman gods & goddesses, basically just choosing one, writing down their designations and attributes from a couple books, and then creating either a short paper or PowerPoint of the information. Ho Hum...I'm yawning and so are they. My suggestion: Compare a Greek or Roman god or goddess with a current popular star from TV, film, music, or sports; explain the key attributes they share and why you think these two were/are idolized. Now how could anyone plagiarize that? Every kid has a favorite star, someone they seek to emulate, and this assignment would help them examine the qualities they admire in this person and whether they really do want to be like them. They'd need to examine several G & R folks to decide who to compare, demanding more skillful analysis than the typical assignment, plus it would help them realize the continued need we humans seem to have to look outside ourselves for help in coping with the vagary of life. The one teacher who did do this project had great success with it, but alas she left at the end of the school year and the next year the teachers decided to change the research topic.
Here's another one I suggested. The original research project was to create a PowerPoint about a national or ethnic group that immigrated into Texas. My suggestion was for kids to interview their own parents, grandparents, and other family members to discover when their family first came to TX (we have a very diverse population: black, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and Asian) and create a scrapbook, online journal, or webpage about their family. You don't expect them to create a family tree from the time of the conquistadores, but every child can at least learn about the life of their parents and grandparents. Imagine if Alex Haley had never heard his family history? Roots would never have been written, turned into a TV phenomenon, and a generation of Americans never had their eyes opened to the real history of our country!
My big problem with plagiarism is that it needn't happen. How can we discourage kids from plagiarizing when we offer them no opportunity for their own original expressions? When a teacher comes to me about resources for a student research project that I can see right away is low-level Bloom, just begging to be copied from an encyclopedia or 3rd-grader's website, I immediately begin suggesting ways to rework the topic so that it will require more in-depth research, some higher-level thinking skills, and a genuine expression of a kid's own ideas and conclusions.
Here's an example. Toward the end of the year (after the dreaded TAKS writing and reading tests) the 7th graders are assigned a research project on Greek & Roman gods & goddesses, basically just choosing one, writing down their designations and attributes from a couple books, and then creating either a short paper or PowerPoint of the information. Ho Hum...I'm yawning and so are they. My suggestion: Compare a Greek or Roman god or goddess with a current popular star from TV, film, music, or sports; explain the key attributes they share and why you think these two were/are idolized. Now how could anyone plagiarize that? Every kid has a favorite star, someone they seek to emulate, and this assignment would help them examine the qualities they admire in this person and whether they really do want to be like them. They'd need to examine several G & R folks to decide who to compare, demanding more skillful analysis than the typical assignment, plus it would help them realize the continued need we humans seem to have to look outside ourselves for help in coping with the vagary of life. The one teacher who did do this project had great success with it, but alas she left at the end of the school year and the next year the teachers decided to change the research topic.
Here's another one I suggested. The original research project was to create a PowerPoint about a national or ethnic group that immigrated into Texas. My suggestion was for kids to interview their own parents, grandparents, and other family members to discover when their family first came to TX (we have a very diverse population: black, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and Asian) and create a scrapbook, online journal, or webpage about their family. You don't expect them to create a family tree from the time of the conquistadores, but every child can at least learn about the life of their parents and grandparents. Imagine if Alex Haley had never heard his family history? Roots would never have been written, turned into a TV phenomenon, and a generation of Americans never had their eyes opened to the real history of our country!
# posted by Barbara Paciotti @ 2:13 PM 
