Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Today we had the first lab session of the quarter. During the first hour or so, we talked about the bioethics projects, which will be presented on the lab session of week 9.
The bioethics projects will be developed by teams of four students, and will focus on genetic-related topics that pose ethical problems and are surrounded by controversy. Each team selected a topic that members considered to be controversial and interesting enough to spark discussion with classmates.
As part of the project students will write a paper explaining the scientific basis of the issue of choice, the reasons for which it is controversial, showing the opposing views on the issue, and explaining what position they take, properly backed by a rational process.
A second component of the project will be a presentation and panel discussion during the lab session on week 9. Each team will prepare a 20-minute presentation, on a format of their choice (oral presentation, a play, a mock trial, a fake documentary, etc. You can be as creative as you want), which will be followed by a 10-minute panel discussion with the rest of the class. Each group, acting as the panel of experts in the topic, will engage their classmates and have a discussion debating different points of view.
The grade will depend on how well the scientific basis of the issue is presented, how well explained the controversial aspects are, the solidity of the reasons for taking a position in the issue, and how effectively the rest of the class is drawn into the discussion.
A first draft of the paper is due on Friday of week 6, at midnight, and the final version due on Tuesday of week 9, at noon. If a power point file is used in the presentation it will be due on the night of Monday before the day of the presentations.
TOPICS AND TEAMS
- Designer babies - Niki, Andrea, Jessica, and Katie K.
- Human-animal chimeras - Beth, Sarah, Stacy, Aimee, and Emily
- Cloning of human beings - Jamal, Jerel, Shawn, and Scott
- Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) - Aubrey, Liz, Nathan, and Dexter
- Stem cell research - Sonia, Katie D., Dustin, and Geoff
- Privacy of genetic information - Rachel, Amy, Anessa, and Jake
----------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment