1. Lincoln, February 2008
Tackling bioethics in the
classroom – some practical ideas
Dr Chris Willmott
Dept of Biochemistry
University of Leicester
cjrw2@le.ac.uk
University of
Leicester

2. Ethics in the classroom
Growing importance of (bio)ethics in school curriculum
• Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology
• New AS/A levels from September 2008
• Perspectives on Science AS level
• New GCSEs since September 2006
• Citizenship education

3. Bioethics = Bio AND Ethics!
• Science – COULD it be done?
• Ethics – SHOULD it be done?
Important that both are being considered:
Science without ethics may be immoral
Ethics without science may be impossible

4. Ethics - concerns
e.g. (regarding Ethics dimension of SNAB A level)
“It’s quite a challenging role for a teacher, I think. If
you’ve not got the in depth understanding of a lot of
the ethics which goes behind it… it is quite
unnerving… some of the questions that students can
ask you… it sort of undermines your authority
sometimes”
Anonymous teacher
quoted by Lewis (Jnl Biol Edn 40:101-106, 2006)

5. Approaches
• Case studies/ scenarios
• Debate and role-play
• Newspapers
• Book extracts
• Guest lectures
• TV programmes
• Structured activity based on news footage
• Clips from other programmes
• Knowing what’s on and when

6. Approaches
• Case studies/ scenarios
• TV programmes
• Structured activity based on news footage
• Clips from other programmes
• Knowing what’s on and when

7. Case studies & scenarios
• Case studies allow real-world framing of
otherwise abstract ideas
• As such, can have a key role in opening up
complex issues for students
• May be genuine or fictional (though latter work
best when as close to real as possible)

8. Case study – Carl and Julie
Carl is a twenty-one year old builder. He is engaged to Julie,
and she has recently discovered that she is expecting their
first child. In 2001, Carl’s maternal grandfather died from
Huntington’s disease (HD), a late-onset degenerative disease
of the nervous system. HD is inherited in a dominant fashion;
if you do have HD, you have a 50% chance of passing it on to
your children. Carl’s mum has decided not to take the test to
find out if she got the faulty copy from her father, but now
that he is expecting to be a father himself, Carl is keen to find
out if there is any risk that he has passed on the condition.
What are some of the issues at stake for Carl and Julie? What
are the consequences of taking the test, or deciding not to?
If you were Carl, what would you do?

9. Genetic screening
Carl can know his status and prepare
accordingly
But his mum has made a conscious decision
not to know, hence potential harm to her
Other consequences:
- Carl’s relationship with Julie?
- Carl’s relationship with baby?
- Implications for Carl’s work?
- Insurance implications, etc
(Developed from episode of “Bitter Inheritance”)

10. TV footage – why?
• Familiar visual medium
• Can be used to:
- convey information
- as discussion starters
• Clips save time over full programme

11. What sort of programmes?
• Documentaries, e.g.
- A child against all odds (2006)
- Who’s afraid of designer babies? (2005)
- The dark secret of Hendrik Schön (2004)
• Drama e.g.
- Holby city (various, esp 2006)
- The Simpsons (e.g. Trash of the titans, 1998)
- Million dollar baby (2004)
• News clips
- topical
- pithy summary

12. Example 1: scene setter
South Park: “Kenny Dies”
(Paramount Comedy Channel, 16th Jan 2006)
This recording is to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence

13. Example 2: structured news
Therapeutic Cloning
You are going to see a 3 minute video from Five News on June 16th 2004,
discussing an application by a team of scientists at Newcastle University for
permission to carry out “therapeutic cloning”. Read through these questions
before you see the clip, so you know what to look out for.
From the video
Explain how therapeutic cloning would work
What is the source of the eggs to be used in this research?
What is the stated aim of the research?
Thinking deeper
In the clip, Professor Murdoch says:
“Imagine a child, say a ten year old child, now
who is diabetic who’s cells that normally produce
insulin are not working properly, so that child
will have to take insulin injections for the rest of
their life. Possibly, in five or ten years time, we
could be in a situation where we could take a tiny
piece of skin from that child, do some work within
the laboratory to tell that skin cell to forget that
it was ever a skin cell, to learn to become a stem
cell, which means that it has no background
information about what it is going to be, and then teach that stem cell to become an insulin secreting
cell so that cell can be planted back into the child and then the diabetes theoretically would be cured.”
Compare this with the explanation of how therapeutic cloning would work;
- in what ways was it different, and
- in what ways was it the same?
What objections to stem cell research are mentioned in the video?
What other reasons (not mentioned) may cause people to object to therapeutic cloning?
What technical difficulties might make this work difficult to achieve?

14. Example 2: structured news
Five News Five, June 16th 2004
This recording is to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence

15. Example 3: technical information
A Child Against All Odds BBC1, November 14th 2006
This recording is to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence

16. Example 4: discussion starter
GATTACA Channel 4, September 4th 2005
This recording is to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence

17. GATTACA – questions to consider
GATTACA (Dir: Andrew Niccol, 1997) is set “in the
not too distant future”. Having watched the clip,
consider the following questions:
1. How realistic is the genetic screening process
shown in the film? Which aspects can already be
done? Which are likely to be more difficult?
2. Screening of this type would be controversial. What
are some of the potential benefits, and what are
some of the potential problems?
3. Consider your answers to Q2. What form of ethical
thinking does each represent?
4. Does this film offer any insights into current
development in genetic screening?

18. GATTACA – Science issues
Technology shown could offer selection, not
enhancement – gene can only be included if mum or
dad had it!
Current PGD? Future PGD?
Genetic determinism? How much of us as individuals
is down to our genes and how much down to other
factors (food intake, trauma, etc)?

19. GATTACA – Ethical issues
Genetic discrimination – ‘Valids’ v ‘In-valids’? A
‘made-man’ v a ‘faith-birth’? A ‘vitro’ v a ‘utero’?
Insurance moratorium in UK (until 2011). Risk and
social exclusion?
What would it be suitable to check for? Diseases?
Gender? Physical features? Character traits?
What costs to the individual and to society are worth
paying in order to select-out diseases?
What do such attitudes say about people with
disabilities now?
Role of genetics in forensics?

20. Knowing what’s on and when
For scheduled programmes:
• Radio Times, etc
• www.trilt.ac.uk
Television and Radio Index for Learning and Teaching

21. Knowing what’s on and when
For scheduled programmes:
• Radio Times, etc
• www.trilt.ac.uk
Television and Radio Index for Learning and Teaching
• Need to be member of BUFVC to use TRILT
(cost for Schools = £375 per annum)
• www.tvgenius.co.uk
But, news isn’t known in advance!
• Today programme (Radio 4)
• BBC website, esp. Health and
Science/Nature sub-sections

22. Getting hold of programmes & clips
• Off-Air Recordings
- recorded at time of transmission
- requires Educational Recording Agency licence
• Back-up www.bufvc.ac.uk/services/offair.html
British Universities Film & Video Council
• Increasing availability of streamed news clips, esp.
on the BBC website, but shortly also on the
Newsfilm online site (http://newsfilm.bufvc.ac.uk)
• Legitimate and unlicensed use of programmes on
YouTube, Google Video etc

23. Helpful websites
e.g. www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/ethicsbrief.htm
Bioethics Briefings
Six titles and
others to follow

24. Helpful websites
e.g. www.beep.ac.uk

25. Helpful websites
e.g. www.at-bristol.org.uk/cz/Default.htm

26. Helpful websites: BioethicsBytes
e.g. www.bioethicsbytes.wordpress.com

27. BioethicsBytes: Drama

28. BioethicsBytes: Extended Comm.

29. BioethicsBytes: Streamed News

30. Acknowledgements
• Bonnie Green and David Willis
• GENIE (the Genetics Education CETL) and the
National Teaching Fellowship Scheme
• Audio-Visual Services, UoL
www.bioethicsbytes.wordpress.com
del.icio.us/chriswillmott/bioethics