NWABR - Bioethics Curriculum and Resources

Ethics Lessons

HIV

Stem Cells

Other Lessons

Student Biotech Expo

Bioethics Curriculum and Resources

Bioethics is the application of ethics to decision-making and public policy in biology, medicine, and health care. Understanding the social implications of biological knowledge and biomedical technology is an important civic responsibility.

NWABR Ethics Primer
NWABR HIV Unit
NWABR Stem Cell Unit

Starting Points

Bioethics.net
The American Journal of Bioethics online. A great starting point for researching current issues. Includes a blog.

Genetic Science Learning Center
Many helpful resources on stem cells, genetic disorders, and ethical issues.

The High School Human Genome Project (University of Washington)
Provides a case study and a bioethical decision-making template. The Ethics curriculum module, which can be downloaded, allows students to explore a case study related to the genetic testing of Huntington's disease.

High School Bioethics Curriculum Project. (National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature)
Resources for teaching bioethics, with units exploring ethical issues surrounding babies born at risk, organ transplantation, human experimentation, and eugenics.

Bioethics@Iowa State (Iowa State) A collection of bioethics case studies is especially notable.

National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (State University of NY - Buffalo)
A wide range of case studies (not all bioethics-related). Look under ‘molecular biology and genetics’ as well as ‘medical ethics’.

Ethics Updates (University of San Diego)
Ethics Updates is intended to provide resources and updates on current literature, both popular and professional, that relates to ethics. It includes ethics background, videos of presentations by ethicists, and a series of case studies.

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society (Western Michigan University)
Be sure to visit Ethics in the Science Classroom : An Instructional Guide for Secondary School Science Teachers with Model Lessons for Classroom Use. Staff from SUNY-Stony Brook and WMU developed this valuable guide, which contains many case studies and model lessons.

Your Genes, Your Choices: Exploring the Issues Raised by Genetic Research. This resource is published online by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and features 8 case scenarios easily adapted to a classroom setting.

Additional Resources

ActionBioSci.Org
Although not limited to bioethics, there are many useful resources here, including a Primer on Ethics and Human Cloning, and over thirty different Lesson Plans.

Annenberg Classroom: Resources for America's Teachers
Public radio excerpts from the 'Justice Talking' series and companion materials on a wide variety of bioethical issues (including research with animals and stem cells).

Dolan DNA Learning Center
Includes many DNA-related resources, including the Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement

DNA Files
Companion site to a NPR Series. Contains links to many radio features as well as interactive bioethical scenarios.

EIBE Units are collections of classroom activities from the European Institute for Biotechnology Education, including a variety of experimental protocols, practical activities, role-plays, information and debates. The units are very clearly written, provide information at an appropriate level, and are well-illustrated. Both biotechnology and bioethics units are featured.

High School Bioethics.net (University of Pennsylvania)
Offers briefs and an online 'help line' for interested students with questions about bioethics. Features a bioethics for beginners section, as well as special sections on subjects such as cloning.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute
A web page and companion free DVD on bioethics. Features research ethics, animal research scientific integrity, and genetic alteration. The HHMI web site also has additional resources related to topics such as stem cells.

Human Genome Project Information - Ethical, Legal and Social Issues
National Human Genome Research Institute
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have devoted 3% to 5% of their annual Human Genome Project (HGP) budgets toward studying the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) surrounding availability of genetic information. This represents the world's largest bioethics program, which has become a model for ELSI programs around the world.

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
The Berman Institute of Bioethics Institute at Johns Hopkins features news and articles related to medical ethics.

National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature
The Kennedy Institute is a teaching and research center offering ethical perspectives on major policy issues. It is the largest university based group of faculty members in the world devoted to research and teaching in biomedical ethics and other areas of applied ethics. The Institute also houses the most extensive library of ethics in the world, the National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature; produces bibliographic citations relating to bioethics for the online databases at the National Library of Medicine; and conducts regular seminars and courses in bioethics.

NIH Bioethics Resources on the web - A great place to start for background information and various positions on a variety of bioethical issues. See also NIH Curriculum Units, which contain lessons related to ethics.

OnlineEthics Center for Science and Engineering
This site contains a wide variety of useful resources and links on research ethics, moral leaders in science and engineering, women and minorities in science and engineering, and codes of ethics. Especially useful is the link for research ethics case studies .

Personal Genome Education Project (pgEd)
Widespread, inexpensive individual genome sequences are on the horizon. In fact, many believe the cost of sequencing a human genome could be approximately $1,000 (US) in the next 5-10 years if not sooner, making it possible for genome sequences to play a routine role in the health care of an individual. pgEd hopes to get people thinking and talking about the fast-approaching world of personal genetics.

Program in Ethics in Science and Medicine: Interactive Ethics (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center)
Provides sample cases, student responses, and analysis from ethicists.

President's Council on Bioethics
The site for the US President's Council on Bioethics. The Council advises the President on ethical issues related to advances in biomedical science and technology.

Wellcome Trust
The mission of the Trust is 'to foster and promote research with the aim of improving human and animal health'. Reflecting the profound impact today's research will have on society, the Wellcome Trust also seeks to raise awareness of the medical, ethical and social implications of research and promote dialogue between scientists, the public and policy makers. LabNotes provides teachers with up-to-date information on research findings in biomedicine and the social and ethical implications of this research. The Wellcome Trust commissioned the Institute of Education, London, to find out the importance teachers attached to the study of socio scientific issues and how they went about tackling such issues. A summary of the research - 'Valuable Lessons: Engaging with the social context of science in schools' - was published in July 2001.