Exploring Bioethical Issues: An Instructional Model

Abstract

Charles R. Barman (left) is Associate Professor of Science Education at Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO 64468, and a frequent contributor to ABT as well as being department editor for ABT's Projector Center (see page 56). Dr. Barman holds degrees in biology from the University of Northem Colorado. Jon R. Hendrix (right) is Professor of Biology at Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306 and co-director (with Tom Mertens) of the Human Genetics and Bioethics Education Laboratory at Ball State. Dr. Hendrix holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in biology from Indiana State University and an Ed.D. degree from Ball State University. Among other awards and honors received over his career, Dr. Hendrix received the Ball State University Outstanding Teachers Award in 1982. For several years the authors have each offered a class called bioethics at their respective institutions. The courses are designed for nearly all undergraduate students. Although our classes were developed independently, they are similar in scope and employ similar instructional strategies. A number of changes have occurred in our classes since their beginning. Some changes were initiated by specific literature, while others were the result of student course evaluations, individual discussions with selected students, and personal observations. Each time our courses were modified, attempts were made to accomplish the following objectives: 1. To present accurate and objective information about specific bioethical issues; 2. To provide opportunities for students to openly and freely discuss the ethical questions surrounding each issue addressed in class; 3. To provide students with a decisionmaking model that would assist them in formulating personal choices about these issues by clarifying their values/ethics and by their consideration of the consequences of their choices. Through trial and error, a number of modes of delivering information, attempts to initiate student discussions, and techniques to assist students in examining personal solutions to value-laden issues have been tested. Some have proven to be useful, while others have not. We would like to share strategies that we feel have been useful in accomplishing the above objectives. We will also attempt to offer some observations and inferences as to why we believe they have been successful.