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

Building Strong JustificationsWhen exploring bioethics with your students, a largepart of your job will be eliciting students’ reasons fortheir positions. There are many ways to encourage deepreflection about one’s reason for holding a particularview. First, of course, you can simply remember to askstudents, “Why? Why do you hold that view?” But thereare other phrases and strategies that you can use toencourage students to deeply consider—and reveal—their thinking processes. Sample dialogues are in Table 2(pages 16–19), as well as within the modules themselves.Of course, one’s reasons should include a descriptionof the most relevant ethical considerations andshould show how the recommended course of actiontakes those considerations into account. It should alsodescribe alternative decisions that may have been consideredand why they were rejected.Elements of a strong justification include• high degree of relevance to the ethical question;• reference to the most important science and social science facts;• description of the potential effects of a decisionon others;• identifying and applying the relevant coreethical considerations;• analysis of the ways the recommended course ofaction satisfies those considerations and of thestrengths and weaknesses of other solutions; and• logical reasoning (conclusion follows from the reasons given).Elements of a weak justification include• errors in the facts of the situation or the historysurrounding a case (errors in the science or socialscience content);• errors in understanding or applying a core ethicalconsideration (mistakes of interpretation of coreethical considerations); and• errors in logic (the conclusion does not follow fromthe reasons given).The strongest justifications are those that give thebest possible reasons for a particular conclusionand responses to counterarguments. Many studentswill be familiar with the skills needed to write a persuasiveessay for language arts classes. You may wishto emphasize that an ethical justification is similar toa persuasive essay, except that the justification alsofocuses on bioethical concepts and considerations.Exploring Bioethics presents many ethics cases wherethere is no one right answer. Students are challengedto think hard about questions over which reasonablepeople can disagree. The final assessment activities donot evaluate whether students came down on one sideof the issue or another, but rather evaluate the qualityof the justifications they provided for their choice.A large part of your job will be eliciting students’reasons for their positions.Assessing Student JustificationsIn Module 1, students consider the elements thatcontribute to a strong justification and practice evaluatingjustifications. Subsequent modules reinforcethose elements.Like many of your colleagues, you may feel reluctant toassess something that seems as subjective as a student’sposition on an ethical issue. The capacity to give feedbackthat enhances students’ ability to build justificationsgrows with experience.You can assess the quality of students’ justificationsusing the guidelines in Table 1 (pages 10–11). It is importantto assess additional factors during a discussion, suchas the ability to address one another respectfully.Introduction9