Filing A Patent Lesson

Teacher Resource Link: Patent Process

Introductory Activity

It is recommended that students complete the previous two lessons before doing this one, as it is the third and final lesson of three. Students will need to revisit their Worksheets from the previous lessons.

Introduce students to the concept and function of Patents and help them answer the following questions. What is a patent? Why is a patent important? How does one file a patent? You can provide the answers or you can direct students to read the patent text located in the Student Textual Resources section. Because actually filing a patent is a complicated process, this lesson will just cover the basics.

Main Activity

Once students have a solid understanding of patents, send them over to the Alberta Inventors and Inventions website.

Help students navigate the site and use the searchable patent database to look for examples of patents. You will find that most if not all search results include mock-ups of the invention, plus a written description of the invention and its function/purpose.

Since students have already completed their mock-ups, all they need to focus on for this lesson is the filing of the patent for their invention. A blank Patent Worksheet is provided in the Student Textual Resources section for students. Once they have completed a rough copy and you have checked it, they can begin to create a good copy of the patent.

Once this is complete students should have all three worksheets ready to be posted on the bulletin board for parents, classmates, and administrators to see.

Closing Activity

In addition to, or rather than, having students display their worksheets on the bulletin board, you may want to have students dress up as their Inventor alter Ego and present their information in character to the rest of the class.