Education and Ethics in the Life Sciences


Book Description

At the start of the twenty-first century, warnings have been raised in some quarters about how - by intent or by mishap - advances in biotechnology and related fields could aid the spread of disease. Science academics, medical organisations, governments, security analysts, and others are among those that have sought to raise concern. EDUCATION AND ETHICS IN THE LIFE SCIENCES examines a variety of attempts to bring greater awareness to security concerns associated with the life sciences. It identifies lessons from practical initiatives across a wide range of national contexts as well as more general reflections about education and ethics. The eighteen contributors bring together perspectives from a diverse range of fields - including politics, virology, sociology, ethics, security studies, microbiology, and medicine - as well as their experiences in universities, think tanks and government. In offering their assessment about what must be done and by whom, each chapter addresses a host of challenging practical and conceptual questions. EDUCATION AND ETHICS IN THE LIFE SCIENCES will be of interest to those planning and undertaking training activities in other areas. In asking how education and ethics are being made to matter in an emerging area of social unease, it will also be of interest to those with more general concerns about professional conduct.







Life Science Ethics


Book Description

Does nature have intrinsic value? Should we be doing more to save wilderness and ocean ecosystems? What are our duties to future generations of humans? Do animals have rights? This revised edition of "Life Science Ethics" introduces these questions using narrative case studies on genetically modified foods, use of animals in research, nanotechnology, and global climate change, and then explores them in detail using essays written by nationally-recognized experts in the ethics field. Part I introduces ethics, the relationship of religion to ethics, how we assess ethical arguments, and a method ethicists use to reason about ethical theories. Part II demonstrates the relevance of ethical reasoning to the environment, land, farms, food, biotechnology, genetically modified foods, animals in agriculture and research, climate change, and nanotechnology. Part III presents case studies for the topics found in Part II.




The Ethical Dimensions of the Biological Sciences


Book Description

This is the first systematically organised anthology on responsible conduct in scientific research aimed at students and practising researchers in the biological sciences. It has been designed in response to the increasing concern to teach graduate students about ethical issues in the biological sciences. The book contains classic essays and other published material and is carefully structured to explore a range of subjects: the qualifications for authorship; plagiarism; the use of human beings and animals in research; the norms of ethical conduct in science; scientific honesty and its relationship to gullibility and self-deception; ethical issues in laboratory work; the relation between science and society; the ethics of teaching and learning. The volume also provides insights into issues often not formally considered in graduate science education such as methods of scientific investigation, scientific paradigms and the creative process.




Ethics and Social Responsibility in Science Education


Book Description

Ethics and Social Responsibility in Science Education discusses the principles and approaches to the problems of ethics and social responsibility in science education. The book is divided into three parts. The first part, Principles and Approach, explores the nature of moral education and the ethics; social responsibility of science; and the roles of scientists and engineers in societal issues. The second part, Problems and Prospects, covers different social and cultural issues in relation to ethics in science such as international stability; food production; human experimentation; medical ethics; chemical pollution; and energy production. The third part, Teaching Methodology, talks about the importance and styles of teaching ethics and social responsibility in science education. The text is recommended for practitioners, researchers, and educators in the different fields of science. Those who wish to know the importance of ethics in the socio-cultural aspect of sciences will also find this book helpful.




Research in the Life Sciences with Dual Use Potential


Book Description

In many countries, colleges and universities are where the majority of innovative research is done; in all cases, they are where future scientists receive both their initial training and their initial introduction to the norms of scientific conduct regardless of their eventual career paths. Thus, institutions of higher education are particularly relevant to the tasks of education on research with dual use potential, whether for faculty, postdoctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, or technical staff. Research in the Life Sciences with Dual Use Potential describes the outcomes of the planning meeting for a two-year project to develop a network of faculty who will be able to teach the challenges of research in the life sciences with dual use potential. Faculty will be able to incorporate such concepts into their teaching and research through exposure to the tenets of responsible conduct of research in active learning teaching methods. This report is intended to provide guidelines for that effort and to be applicable to any country wishing to adopt this educational model that combines principles of active learning and training with attention to norms of responsible science. The potential audiences include a broad array of current and future scientists and the policymakers who develop laws and regulations around issues of dual use.




Ethics in Science


Book Description

The book approaches the subject of ethics in science from a pedagogical and pragmatic viewpoint and addresses the need to effectively deal with these issues in science classrooms at the K-12 and undergraduate levels, drawing on real-world cases to do so. The book also explores ethical issues in connection with recent biotechnological advances and urges the reader to move beyond a disciplinary understanding and adopt an interdisciplinary view of the entire issue. Intended to initiate a process of reflecting on and investigating these ethical issues related to biotechnologies, and to enable the reader to take a personal stance on these issues rather than being led by outside agencies, the book offers a source of in-depth study material for researchers working in this area, as well as a training manual for teachers at both in-service & pre-service level, teacher educators, curriculum designers and professionals working in the field. Combining theory and practice, and including teachers’ reflections on their own pedagogic practice, it offers a valuable resource to help teaching professionals conduct experiments and achieve pedagogic innovations in their own work. “‘Ethics in Science- Pedagogic Issues & Concerns’ is an excellent textbook for high school and college students that provides an overview of the ethical issues in science and technology and includes useful cases studies and questions for discussion. I recommend it highly.” —David B. Resnik, JD, PhD, Bioethicist and IRB Chair, National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, USA “Given the recent proliferation of biological and biomedical knowledge, the need for education in the relationship between science and ethics has become ever increasingly essential. The book by Dr. Saxena provides a valuable introduction on how to inaugurate such an education. This book is an excellent template for those attempting to teach science and ethics.” —Bernard.E.Rollin, University Distinguished Professor, Colorado State University, Colorado, USA “This book by Dr Astha Saxena, a well-qualified educationist, fulfils a need for such a book for students of Science and Technology stream. The coverage is comprehensive and the writing is lucid. I endorse this book as it will bring a criticality of thinking among Indian students.” —Kambadur Muralidhar PhD, FASc, FNASc, FNA, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad “Science without ethics can lead to false scientific claims as well as unbridled technological growth. The present book conceptualizes this integration of ethics and science beautifully with academic rigour.” —Alka Behari, Professor, Department of Education, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India




Animals and Science Education


Book Description

This book discusses how we can inspire today’s youth to engage in challenging and productive discussions around the past, present and future role of animals in science education. Animals play a large role in the sciences and science education and yet they remain one of the least visible topics in the educational literature. This book is intended to cultivate research topics, conversations, and dispositions for the ethical use of animals in science and education. This book explores the vital role of animals with/in science education, specimens, protected species, and other associated issues with regards to the role of animals in science. Topics explored include ethical, curriculum and pedagogical dimensions, involving invertebrates, engineering solutions that contribute to ecosystems, the experiences of animals under our care, aesthetic and contemplative practices alongside science, school-based ethical dialogue, nature study for promoting inquiry and sustainability, the challenge of whether animals need to be used for science whatsoever, reconceptualizing museum specimens, cultivating socioscientific issues and epistemic practice, cultural integrity and citizen science, the care and nurturance of gender-balanced curriculum choices for science education, and theoretical conversations around cultivating critical thinking skills and ethical dispositions. The diverse authors in this book take on the logic of domination and symbolic violence embodied within the scientific enterprise that has systematically subjugated animals and nature, and emboldened the anthropocentric and exploitative expressions for the future role of animals. At a time when animals are getting excluded from classrooms (too dangerous! too many allergies! too dirty!), this book is an important counterpoint. Interacting with animals helps students develop empathy, learn to care for living things, engage with content. We need more animals in the science curriculum, not less. David Sobel, Senior Faculty, Education Department, Antioch University New England




Research Ethics in the Life Sciences


Book Description

This second edition is a guide to the high ethical standards required to carry out research in the life sciences. It is designed mainly for beginning scientists such as medical and graduate students, but it will be useful for other researchers as well, perhaps as a reference work. It covers the standard topics such as human and animal experimentation, misconduct, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, data management, and mentoring. It also contains chapters on stem cells, the new NIH guidelines to enhance reproducibility, and on co-worker ethics. While this guide is not an extensive review of the literature, it does include many additional references for exploring a variety of topics further. This book is essential not only for complying with ethical standards, but also for producing the highest quality research results.




Critical Ethology and Post-Anthropocentric Ethics


Book Description

The primary purpose of this book is to contribute to an overcoming of the traditional separation between humanties and life sciences which, according to the authors, is required today both by the developments of these disciplines and by the social problems they have to face. The volume discusses the theoretical, epistemological and ethical repercussions of the main acquisitions obtained in the last decades from the behavioral sciences. Both the authors are inspired by the concept of a “critical ethology”, oriented to archive the nature/culture and human/animal dichotomies. The book proposes a theoretical and methodological restructuring of the comparative study of the animal behavior, learning, and cultures, focused on the fact that thought, culture and language are not exclusively human prerogatives. The proposed analysis includes a critique of speciesism and determinism in the ethical field, and converge with the Numanities, to which the series is dedicated, on a key point: it is necessary to arrive at an education system able to offer scientific, social and ethical skills that are trasversal and transcendent to the traditional humanities/life sciences bipartition. Skills that are indispensable for facing the complex challenges of the contemporary society and promoting a critical reflection of humanity on itself.