Patent and Trademark Office Launches Free Invention Platform for K–12 Teachers and Students

  • By Kate Lucariello
  • 12/15/22

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has contracted with Second Avenue Learning to launch EquIP HQ, a free K–12 platform for teachers and students to learn how to invent solutions to real-world problems using STEM and STEAM skills. The grade-level, standards-based program takes learners through design, prototypes, tests, improvements, and the intellectual property rights patent process.

EquIP HQ is divided into four grade-specific content portals: K–2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, and includes teacher and family guides for helping students with lesson plans and activities. Each portal has explore and learn panels; videos, such as types of patents and student inventions; a timeline; match game; promotion and trademark zones; and activities to brainstorm and design an invention. Lesson plans encourage students to think about problems and challenges in a new way and what they can invent to address them. Free tryouts of the program are available on the site.

“EquIP HQ will allow for authentic, real-world opportunities for students,” said Victoria VanHoorhis, CEO of Second Avenue Learning. “Sometimes we call them problems. Sometimes we call them challenges. They’re really opportunities for students and kids of all ages to realize the inventor that exists within every one of us.”

Visit EquIP HQ’s home page to click on a grade level or teacher/family resources to learn more.

Second Avenue Learning’s education services page explains more about what it offers.

For more information about USTPO’s Education Office resources for kids, students, and teachers, see this page.

About the Author

Kate Lucariello is a former newspaper editor, EAST Lab high school teacher and college English teacher.

Featured

  • hand touching glowing connected dots

    Registration Now Open for Tech Tactics in Education: Thriving in the Age of AI

    Tech Tactics in Education has officially opened registration for its May 7 virtual conference on "Thriving in the Age of AI." The annual event, brought to you by the producers of Campus Technology and THE Journal, offers hands-on learning and interactive discussions on the most critical technology issues and practices across K–12 and higher education.

  • teenager interacts with a chatbot on a computer screen

    Character.AI Rolls Out New Parental Insights Feature Amid Safety Concerns

    Chatbot platform Character.AI has introduced a new Parental Insights feature aimed at giving parents a window into their children's activity on the platform. The feature allows users under 18 to share a weekly report of their chatbot interactions directly with a parent's e-mail address.

  • laptop screen displaying a typed essay, on a child

    McGraw Hill Acquires Essaypop Digital Learning Tool

    Education company McGraw Hill has announced the acquisition of Essaypop, a cloud-based writing tool that will enhance the former's portfolio of personalized learning capabilities.

  • a professional worker in business casual attire interacting with a large screen displaying a generative AI interface in a modern office

    Study Finds Generative AI Could Inhibit Critical Thinking

    A new study on how knowledge workers engage in critical thinking found that workers with higher confidence in generative AI technology tend to employ less critical thinking to AI-generated outputs than workers with higher confidence in personal skills.