This is also not a course in environmental ethics. Many issues in environmental ethics are conceptually distinct from those in bioethics, although there is an obvious overlap between them. What will occupy attention includes research resource allocation, transplantation, reproductive technology, genetic screening, genetic engineering, animal and human experimentation, the ethics of teaching biology and its underlying evolutionary theory, and eco-ethics. The amount of scaffolding surrounding student work will be commensurate with that appropriate for upper division standing. However, students who are less experienced in the use of library facilities such as Silver Platter, Biological Abstracts, and Science Citation Index, for example, need to ask for appropriate instruction.
Pedagogy emphasizes informed discussion and active learning rather than mostly lecture.
The intent of the instructors, as revealed through the syllabus, is to lead students into increasingly sophisticated bioethical thinking through staged thinking and staged writing . Thus, there is no term paper but there is the expectation of communication through discussion, writing, and revision. In order to reinforce the staging, there may also be several smaller papers of 1-3 page magnitude. This arrangement permits multiple opportunities for feedback and should avoid the more common habit of procrastination followed by a crunch at the end. Refer to the Ground Rules for grading practices.