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
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.
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.
