I had my students silently read an internet article about biology and ethics. Then asked them if they thought it was ethical for scientists to use science technology just because they can. Here is one journal response.
From this article I learned about ethics and how they pertain to biotechnology and to biology. People argue that even though we can alter through gene therapy and other technology that does not mean we should. We are not gods, so should we play like we are? Personally I think that if we discover the information and it can help humankind, why not? I do not want to be the person that tells a mother we can not save your child because someone thinks the means to get the cure is unethical. Some things must be sacrificed for the good of man and animals.
The students seemed to find the article interesting and there were many different opinions about the ethics of biotechnology. The journal writes were good and the class discussion was excellent. I will do this activity again.
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Have you tried this with any other topics? I would be interested to see if the students would get as interested in a less exciting topic.
I have had my student do journal writes for many topics.I try to find articles and read alouds that will interest them and encourage class discussion an good written responses. So far they have liked most of the topics. Some of the journal write topics I have had them respond to are; Undersea Explorer Finds New Evidence of Great Flood, Black Widow and Brown Recluse Spiders, Cell Phones and Cancer, From Prokaryotes to Eukaryotes, Big Game Hunting of Endangered Species, Why You are Smarter Than a Robot and Why are Mt Laurel and Sea Oats found side by side at Peachtree Rock Preserve?
My students like the read alouds as well. I find that if I make the choice of article one that reflects thought provoking questions it goes over very well. I always get "I never thought about that" or "I never thought about it in that way".
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