The COVID-19 pandemic has forced educators since 2020 to shift from all in-person learning to virtual learning through applications like Zoom. Students are now part of a collage of faces including their teachers’ who often may be dealing with technical glitches, foreign-looking interfaces, and unintentionally disruptive students. On the other side, students may struggle to find a stable working environment as they learn from home. Distance learning has been explored well before 2020, but its necessity, given the nature of a virus that preys on in-person interaction, has forced itself to the top of relevant conversation. . The issues with distance learning in primary education have roots in long standing issues with the education system as a whole. Without greater public awareness of the woes in our education system, the status quo of declining academic success, teacher salaries, and increasing classroom sizes will continue in the future. The problems with distance learning specifically represent a much more everlasting issue that is lack of accountability and action of lawmakers who are able to make these reforms.

Intellectual property (IP) is the lifeblood of the U.S. economy. Despite being an important motivator for innovation, IP laws and IP protections are largely unknown by most individuals outside of the legal field. The purpose of this work is to condense some of the most fundamental concepts in U.S. intellectual property law and describe them in an understandable way for non-lawyers. This thesis covers basic information on U.S. patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and the ways in which they impact both science and society. Additionally, this thesis discusses the need for better IP education and presents a solution to this problem in the form of a partly completed draft for an educational book. The book itself is meant to illustrate how the research of this thesis can be utilized in introductory educational materials while also demonstrating the potential for presenting IP law concepts in a fun and visual way.

Intellectual property (IP) is the lifeblood of the U.S. economy. Despite being an important motivator for innovation, IP laws and IP protections are largely unknown by most individuals outside of the legal field. The purpose of this work is to condense some of the most fundamental concepts in U.S. intellectual property law and describe them in an understandable way for non-lawyers. This thesis covers basic information on U.S. patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and the ways in which they impact both science and society. Additionally, this thesis discusses the need for better IP education and presents a solution to this problem in the form of a partly completed draft for an educational book. The book itself is meant to illustrate how the research of this thesis can be utilized in introductory educational materials while also demonstrating the potential for presenting IP law concepts in a fun and visual way.