Moving Toward Bioethics in Secondary School

Ethics and Topical Issues Could Replace Traditional Sciences , writes RedNova. "Teenagers will be able to ditch traditional science studies and focus on the ethics of hot topics like cloning and MMR, under GCSE reforms outlined this week." Is this true? Feedback from partner teachers working with Penn's high school bioethics project would indicate that unless the teaching of bioethics somehow replaced the teaching of science, it would be a welcome option. Many teachers tell us they don't have the time and, some say, the training to teach bioethics in a systematic way. Nonetheless teachers fit bioethics in because they are interested, their students are interested & ask the right questions, and because by teaching basic science in a broader context they can point out the relevance of emerging technologies for students, their families, and society. -Dominic Sisti

Guest Blogger Dominic Sisti

Welcome to Dominic Sisti, our Guest blogger for the next few months. Those of you with interest in bioethics for high school students know him, and we think he's great.

Here's a biosketch: Dominic A. Sisti is a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics, an ethicist at Holy Redeemer Health System in Philadelphia, and an adjunct instructor at Villanova University. Dominic received his master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania (Bioethics, 2000) and his Bachelor of Science degree from Villanova University (Biology, 1996). He serves on several ethics committees and is currently working to develop the Center's High School Bioethics Project (PI- Prof. McGee) (see highschoolbioethics.org). Dominic is a co-editor of Health, Disease, and Illness: Concepts in Medicine (with Profs. Caplan & McCartney, Georgetown University Press, June 2004).

Welcome, Dom!