Ethics in fire science
In this activity, students develop critical thinking through ethical discussion of the question: Should chemical fire retardants be added to furniture?
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
use developing science knowledge of fire to develop critical thinking when considering issues involved in adding chemical fire retardants to furniture
explore issues in adding chemical fire retardants to furniture and make decisions about possible actions
understand that technology (the development of chemical fire-retardants) has an effect on society – people in New Zealand have a choice whether or not to buy fire retardant furniture.
Comparison burning of two sofas
This video compares the burning of a synthetic sofa with the burning of a sofa that has fire-retardant features - It has a woollen fabric covering and contains combustion-modified foam (foam with chemical fire retardants).
Points of interest
At about 1 minute 20 seconds, what do you notice about the way the two fires are burning?
How long did it take the synthetic sofa to be completely engulfed in flames? Compare that to the other sofa.
Download the Word file (see link below) for:
introduction/background notes
what you need
what to do
common ethical approaches
round robin teaching approach
PMI worksheet
What do you think? (self-assessment worksheet)
Nature of science
Work in science often leads to ethical issues that involve many more people other than the scientists. People in society must consider the effects that science has or will have on society and make decisions about these. In the case of chemical fire retardants, there are issues of concern for the fire service, the consumer (and their families), furniture manufacturers, the environment, the government (law-makers) and others.
