This section of Ethics in the Science Classroom provides assistance with building ethics into pre-college lesson plans. Part I describes how to create lesson plans, Part II offers model lesson plans, and Part III contains resources for class preparation.
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Part 1-Creating Your Own Ethics-in-Science Lessons
Instructional guide for secondary school science teachers with model lessons forc classroom use. These lessons and models will assist teachers who wish to integrate ethics and values into their pre-college science classes.
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Part 2-Model Classroom Lessons
The following 23 lessons are designed for classroom use. They are all edited or revised versions of lessons created by teachers in our institutes. These lessons cover a wide range of topics and grade-levels.
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Lesson 1, Alas, All Human
Assistance to teachers who wish to integrate ethics and values into their pre-college science classes, specifically credit for discoveries, citing of authority, excessive pride in one's own ideas, overeagerness, and various degrees of manipulation or fraudulent reporting of data.
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Lesson 2, Student and Teacher Behaviors in Science
Lesson 2 developed to teach physics and earth science.
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Lesson 3, Keeping a Science Journal
Lesson 3 teaches how to keep a journal on current news coverage of science issues that have ethical dimensions.
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Lesson 4, Honesty in Reporting Research
Lesson that demonstrates the importance of laboratory honesty, especially in research that has a direct impact on human health and welfare.
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Lesson 5, What Kind of Research Should Our Government Support?
This lesson demonstrates the general ethical issues associated with public funding of research.
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Lesson 6, Low Birthweight Infants
Lesson 6 discusses problems with low birthrate in infants.
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Lesson 7, Fraud In Science: Circumstances and Consequences
Lesson 7 discusses fraud and scientific misconduct in the research environment.
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Lesson 8, Recycling
Lesson 8 is a lesson plan that discusses recycling in a neighborhood.
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Lesson 9, Dune Road
Lesson 9 raises basic questions about the appropriate use of tax dollars for the rich or poor.
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Lesson 10, Summer Home
Issues related to environmental responsibility; long vs. short term consequences; ethics and punishment.
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Lesson 11, The Landfill
Assistance to teachers who wish to integrate ethics and values into their pre-college science classes, specifically prioritizing values, risking health vs. lowering property values, role of environmental experts in affecting public policy.
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Lesson 12, Pine Barrens
Lesson 12 discusses the complexities of environmental decisions as it relates to land usage.
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Lesson 13, The Automotive Plant
Discussion of the civic responsibilities of scientists and the value implications of scientific consulting/advising.
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Lesson 14, Ethics Issues From Science Fiction
Issues discussed include informed consent as a requirement for research involving human subjects; research on human subjects; secrecy/deception in research and the sanctity of human life.
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Lesson 15, The Envelopes
Responsible use of genetic information, both by researchers and those who learn the information. Basic questions about just how much we want to know about our future health and behavioral prospects.
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Lesson 16, The Human Geonome Project Structured Controversy
Lesson 16 was designed to help students identify and understand some of the complexities associated with the Human Genome Project.
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Lesson 17, Whose Life Is It?
Lesson 17 discusses the ethics of cloning human beings as compared to plants or animals; the ethics of a parental agreement that imposes unusual involuntary obligations on a child; the ethics of imposing restrictions on scientific research; the rights of a child to know the details of her/his genetic heritage.
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Lesson 18, My Friend Linda
Lesson 18 discusses ethical issues related to testing for genetic diseases.
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Lesson 19, The Race for the Double Helix
This lesson is designed to explore several common ethics/values issues related to the behavior of research scientists, while reinforcing students'
understanding of the relationship between the structure of the DNA molecule and the biology of protein synthesis.
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Lesson 20, Reporting Data
Lesson 20 discusses of a fictional case study involving environmental concerns, public safety and reporting data.
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Lesson 21, Ethics in the Science Laboratory
Lesson 21 is designed to teach students why altering data is not acceptable behavior on the part of scientists or science students.
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Lessons 22, The Law of Inertia
Lesson 22 begins with a discussion of the law of inertia and applications in the use of seat belts and airbags in automobiles, focusing on risk assessment.
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Lesson 23, Handling Discrepancies
Lesson 23 discusses honesty in interpreting and reporting data acquired in experimental procedures.
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Part 3-Resources
Resources for preparation for use in classes that integrate ethics and values into the teaching of science, including websites,videos, books and articles.