Decisions about Science and Technology
Activities
| Ideas | Activities |
|---|---|
g, h | Animal Ethics |
e | Drug Development |
d, e, h | Designer Babies |
g, h | Huntington's Disease |
d | How will the UK's electricity be generated in the future? |
d | Air Quality in Mumbai |
1. Animal Ethics
(estimated time: 60 minutes)This activity is adapted from the animal ethics workshop at the SPU
Xenotransplatation conference (Feb. 2002).
Students are asked to explore their own views on use of animals, comparing
organ sources with food and other medical uses. The ethical issues are
identified, and then specific questions answered with reference to these.
Teacher Notes and Student Sheets (
, 12 KB)
2. Drug Development
(estimated time: 60 minutes)Students order the phases of development of a new drug, and use discussion in groups to produce the correct sequence. This activity could follow on from a brain-storming of what the necessary procedures and regulatory bodies should be. The questions at the end could be set as a homework, but would benefit from discussion of some of these issues during the lesson.
Teacher Notes and Student sheets (, 23 KB)
3. Designer Babies
This activity explores the meanings of the term 'designer baby'. It provides a review of the techniques and the issues associated with the application of genetics to human reproduction. Students discuss their personal views and then go on to prepare and perform a short scripted debate about the ethical issues involved in the Hashmi case.
Teacher notes and student sheets (, 73 KB)
4. Huntington's Disease
(estimated time: 30 minutes)Questions refer to a family tree with Huntington's inheritance shown. The student is asked to give an opinion on decisions that the family need to make. This would be a good follow-up to a discussion on the scientific and ethical issues that such decisions involve.
Teacher notes and student sheet (, 27 KB)
5. How will the UK's electricity be generated in the future?
In this activity students investigate two scenarios for future electricity generation in the UK. The scenarios show how both world energy prices and UK policy influence projections of which fuels will be used. Calculations of carbon dioxide emissions for the two scenarios give some unexpected projections. The activity ends with a consideration of key policies in the UK government White Paper of 2003, "Our energy future - creating a low carbon future".
Teacher Notes and Student Sheets (, 66 KB)
6. Air Quality in Mumbai
This exercise uses a news item about a policy change in Mumbai as a lead into a discussion about the quality of that decision and the use or abuse of evidence to critique the decision.
Teacher Notes and Student Sheets (, 115 KB)