Exploring Bioethics - NIH Office of Science Education - National ...

Teaching SequenceNoteAssign this homework the daybefore you start the module.Pre-Module Homework (Required)Estimated Time: 5 minutes1. Introduce the module by telling students that they are going to studyfairness in the allocation (distribution) of scarce, lifesaving biomedicalresources.2. Explain that to prepare for the next class, each student will readone historical case and answer the questions on the case handoutsas homework. Each case describes a historical situation in which a personor group of people had to decide how to distribute a scarce, lifesaving medicalresource.3. Tell students that the purpose of the homework is to begin to thinkabout fair ways to allocate scarce biomedical resources.4. Explain that the facts have changed since the time of these historicalcases. Penicillin, insulin, and dialysis machines are no longer scarce.Students’ analysis of these old cases will help them understand today’sallocation challenges, however.5. Distribute Master 3.1: Historical Case 1—Allocating Insulin,Master 3.2: Historical Case 2—Allocating Penicillin, and Master 3.3:Historical Case 3—Allocating Dialysis Machines. Each student shouldreceive just one case.In Activity 1, you will divide the class into groups of three. In each group,there will be one student who has read Case 1, one who has read Case 2, andone who has read Case 3. Each student will brief the other two students onthe case he or she read for homework.Teaching Strategies: Differentiated InstructionAlthough each of the case studies is written to be accessible to a range ofhigh school students, Cases 1 and 2 are a bit shorter and more concretethan Case 3. Additionally, most students may be more familiar with diabetesand antibiotics (the topics of Cases 1 and 2, respectively) than withdialysis and kidney failure (Case 3). You might consider this informationwhen assigning the case studies.6. Tell students to decide how they would have allocated the resourcesbefore they move to page 2 and answer the second question.7. Tell students that they should come to class ready to explain theircase to two peers.3-6 Exploring Bioethics