Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Center for Applied Ethics and the Center for Science Education at Education Development Center, Inc., are collaborating on the development of a bioethics curriculum that can serve as a supplement to high school biology classes. The overall purpose of the project is to prepare high school students to consider the consequences of developments in the life sciences by providing them with the skills and critical tools to make well-informed personal decisions and participate thoughtfully in forging public policies about scientific and ethical issues related to new knowledge and new technology.
Although the curriculum is in the process of being written, the content of the lessons currently proposed consist of the following: What Is Bioethics?, Vaccination, Organ Transplants, Genetic Testing, Modification of the Natural World, and Research Ethics. The proposed lessons are being written with alignment to the following standards in mind: the National Science Education Standards, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, upon which many states base their own science standards. The Bioethics project will provide all student books, teacher