Ethical thinking in science
In this recorded professional learning session, Lyn Rogers and Andrea Soanes explore the Science Learning Hub's Ethics thinking toolkit. They use the toolkit and other Science Learning Hub resources to explore ethical issues in various science contexts and to model strategies to support students’ thinking in science. As ethical thinking can begin through discussion at any level in the curriculum, this session will be valuable for both primary and secondary school teachers.
Thank you for this (PLD) opportunity and the fabulous resources available, certainly will be utilising them.
Teacher
Ethical thinking in science
Video recording of the PLD webinar: Ethical thinking in science.
Watching the recorded webinar creates an opportunity to engage with some ideas and resources from the Science Learning Hub. Lyn and Andrea discuss how these can be used to foster students’ ethical thinking and support and challenge teachers to think about how they might offer students opportunities to think about socio-scientific issues, utilising different ethical frameworks.
The PowerPoint and recorded webinar provide ideas and information that will support teachers of any year level to:
enhance students’ critical thinking skills
utilise opportunities to engage students in ethical thinking
support students to explore socio-scientific issues through the use of the Ethics thinking toolkit.
Watch the video (above) of this professional development session (we recommend downloading it) and also see below the index and the PowerPoint presentation.
Ethical thinking in science – slideshow
This slideshow, from the webinar Ethical thinking in science, provides additional support for the video tutorial.
Index
Topic
PPT slide number(s)
Video timecode
Welcome
1
00:00
Webinar purpose
2
00:06
What is ethics and why do we teach it? – participants’ ideas
3
00:16
What is ethics? – definition
4
00:25
Curriculum connections
5–8
01:52
What is the difference between morals and ethics? – participants’ ideas
9
03:58
Morals vs ethics
10
04:04
Why discuss ethics? – Dr Michael Reiss
11
05:40
SLH connections – ethical thinking teacher support materials
12
09:37
Some contexts for ethical thinking
13–14
10:19
Exploring an issue – whaling
15
10:50
Ethics thinking toolkit outlined
16–25
15:41
Pedagogical approaches
26
20:10
Reflective questions and thanks
27
20:38
What next? – website references
28
20:55
Nature of science
This session supports teachers to help foster their critical thinking skills by using ethical frameworks and exploring socio-scientific issues. Students are encouraged to work like scientists, justifiying and exploring their reasoning regarding their decisions about science – participating and contributing in science.
The Hubs kit looks great!
Teacher
Related content
As well as the Ethics thinking toolkit, there are several related articles on the Science Learning Hub designed specifically to support teachers in exploring ethical thinking with their students. These include Frameworks for ethical analysis and Teaching ethics.
There are also several teacher PLD articles related to this topic. These include Ethics and primary students – case study, Ethics in science planner and Managing classroom discussions.
Activity ideas
The Science Learning Hub has curated a range of contextualised ethics resources under the topic Ethics and science. These include resources such as Ethics in bird conservation, Ethics and whaling and Ethics in conservation science.
Useful link
We have curated a selection of resources around science and ethics that can also be viewed on our Pinterest board.
