We launched our mini bioethics unit with an entry task that asked students to recall the definition of biology (the study of life) and to commit to memory the meaning of the prefix “bio-” (life). Students then took notes about values, morals, ethics, and bioethics and applied their new understanding of ethics to identify the two ethical questions contained in a list of nine different questions. Students may download the class notes by clicking here. We concluded the lesson with the Pandemic Flu! exercise, in which students were tasked with considering who would and would not receive a life-saving vaccine during a hypothetical pandemic flu outbreak. For homework, students were assigned to write a paragraph about an imaginary scenario where two values conflict and a decision must be made.
The Art of Science 