Teaching intellectual property at school

Recently I ran a class teaching intellectual property to high school students at the American School in London.

I've done this several times now at the same school for their Technology and culture elective course, which is taught by Mariam Mathew. I hadn't been in a school since 1972, and it did feel strange at first !

For the first time I was the teacher, with a class plan covering what I wanted the twelve students to learn. I was wielding the chalk, only there wasn't a piece of chalk in sight. Apple® equipment was everywhere, including in front of them (the school uses that platform exclusively), and the students were clustered around a long table rather than in the rows of desks I was used to. The atmosphere was relaxed and talkative rather than formal.

There was also a readiness to have informal learning in groups, where conclusions were given by a spokesperson. I don't remember that ever happening at the schools I atteneded, yet these are perfectly normal in everyday life, especially work. Here's a photo of the class.

The aim of the course is to bring out the interaction between technology such as software and people -- it is easy to take it all for granted. When I was at school computers were never mentioned, while now schools would be considered failures if they were not tightly integrated into everything.

My 75 minute class explained the basics of intellectual property -- patents for function, designs for looks, trade marks for branding products or services, and copyright for authorship -- and I passed around a coffee cup sleeve and lid to show how such mundane objects contained these elements. One had the patent number on it of Beverage container holder, as illustrated below -- the classic sleeve with a green logo which wraps round Starbuck® coffee cups. It covers the machinery for making the sleeves.

I also mentioned software a lot. The two most popular posts on my blog are about Snapchat® and WhatsApp, which are patented apps. I've never used them, but when I asked if anyone used them nearly every hand shot up. Like it or not, software is already part of young people's lives even if they don't stop to think about how they are thought of, made available and protected as concepts. The mind boogles at what might be happening in thirty years' time.

I set the class the task of identifying as many features in Apple as they could think of and presenting their results, and finished by briefly demonstrating how to use Espacenet. I then let them loose to have a go on the database themselves.I think they enjoyed that most of all ! It set their imaginations free to look for anything that interested them, although a few were dazed at the prospect and couldn;t think of anything until I prompted them.

Of course, a 75 minute class could only be a taster of what a complex subject like this is about. I found the experience stimulating and fun, and would be happy to run similar classes at schools or colleges in the London area.

The patents of Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori (1870-1952), the famous Italian educational reformer, had a number of patents for inventions for teaching aids. Although her two American patents have been noted elsewhere, I don't think her eight British patents have been listed. All are available for free online.

Her first application for a patent was in 1908 and was patented in France, Switzerland, Austria and in the USA as US 1103369, Educational device. It was to help children to write.

Her second American patent was applied for in 1913 as US 1173298, Cut-out geometrical figure for didactical purpose. It was a method of teaching geometry.

In Britain, she had patented her first of the eight patents with GB 1912/6706, Apparatus for use in teaching children. That link includes the amended version, from 1916, after a hearing before Justice Sargent where one claim was lost. This probably means someone took her to court but I have not traced the action. It has complex ideas on writing and mathematics and is perhaps in reality two or three separate inventions. The main drawings are given below.

Next there was GB 1914/14481, Apparatus for teaching children geometry. It is similar or identical to the second US patent mentioned above. Below are the main drawings.

Then there is GB 1913/17890, Apparatus for teaching children arithmetic. It is for an abacus with each row having differently coloured beads, to be used in conjunction with cards. Below is the main drawing.

After World War I the British system changed to numeration from 100,001 onwards so the numbers look different. Based on an Italian filing in 1918 is GB 141053, Device for teaching grammar (Italian patents are not available online, and only the Swiss equivalent patent to her first US patent is in Italian). A box contains compartments which are used to house cards of different colours for different parts of speech.

In 1929 Montessori applied from Spain (as for the following British patents) for GB 330422, Teaching young children elementary mathematics. Again it involves different colours, for strips of paper of different widths, each with a number on one side and adhesive on the other.

Also from 1929 is GB 330788, Artificial lighting. A hollow porcelain column has a light at the bottom and a transparent cover at the top. The idea was to provide shadowless light for a children's nursery. It is illustrated below.

Also from 1929 are two patents with the same titles, Teaching young children elementary mathematics. These are GB 332726 and GB 334319. This second patent is again based on the abacus idea and is illustrated below.

Once again this shows how much can be found in patents. In Montessori's case it is probable that books or journal articles cover the same ground, but this is not so for numerous inventors who have put forward their ideas. There are for example 79 British patents between 1914 and 1950 on the principle of teaching counting as listed here.