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Development and Implementation of Science and Technology Ethics Education Program for Prospective Science Teachers

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Abstract

The purposes of this study were (1) to develop a science and technology (ST) ethics education program for prospective science teachers, (2) to examine the effect of the program on the perceptions of the participants, in terms of their ethics and education concerns, and (3) to evaluate the impact of the program design. The program utilized problem-based learning (PBL) which was performed as an iterative process during two cycles. A total of 23 and 29 prospective teachers in each cycle performed team activities. A PBL-based ST ethics education program for the science classroom setting was effective in enhancing participants’ perceptions of ethics and education in ST. These perceptions motivated prospective science teachers to develop and implement ST ethics education in their future classrooms. The change in the prospective teachers’ perceptions of ethical issues and the need for ethics education was greater when the topic was controversial.

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Notes

  1. “The Bomb and the Man.”, <Time>, 1945. 12. 31, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,886699-2,00.html (search date: 19 Dec 2010).

  2. See for instance Choi et al. (2003), Choi and Jo (2003), Jeong and Kim (2000), Jo and Choi (1998).

  3. In-service science teacher training: “science education, ethics and human right”, Korean National Commission for UNESCO, 06 Nov 2001, http://unesco.or.kr/front/news_center/news_center_01_view.asp?articleid=395&cate=news01 (search date: 19 Oct 2011).

  4. See for instance Choi (2010), Lee et al. (2006a), Lee (2008), Rhee et al. (2009).

  5. See for example Friedman (1996), Kim (2002), Resnik (1998), Shamoo and Resnik (2003), Song (2001, 2007).

  6. Korean secondary science curriculum consists of four parts: goals, content, teaching and learning methods, and evaluation. The content part presents content objects and recommendations for inquiry activities for the units in each grade. Teaching and learning methods include planning learning guidance; material preparation and utilization; methods of learning guidance; guidance for laboratory practice; and supporting science teaching–learning guidance.

  7. After the seventh Korean curriculum revision was implemented in 1997, the name of following curriculum revisions included the year of implementation, such as 2007 revised curriculum.

  8. Naro: Korea Space Launch Vehicle-I (KSLV-I). The first flight was conducted on August 2009 but it failed because of “fairing problems”. When the first cycle of this study was being performed (March 2010), the second flight was scheduled in June 2010, but that launch also ended in failure when contact with the rocket was lost. The Naro rocket succeeded in launching in January 2013.

  9. See for instance Barrows (1994), Barrows and Tamblyn (1980), Savery and Duffy (1996) and Torp and Sage (2002).

  10. See for instance Achilles and Hoover (1996), Diggs (1997), Kang and Kim (1998), Norwak (2001) and Oh (1999).

  11. The effective sample size for the 1st cycle survey was 15 pairs with .938 of power for the given effect size (population mean difference of 1.6, SD of change = 2.0) and 17 pairs for the 2nd cycle with .626 of power for the given effect size (population mean difference of 2.1, SD of change = 3.6). These were computed using SPSS sample power version 3.0.

  12. The subject of the PBL scenarios in our program was “you”.

  13. OO Lee: the name of the assistant.

  14. See for instance Choi (2010), Lee (2008), Lee et al. (2006a), Rhee et al. (2009).

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Acknowledgments

This work (2010-0027611) was supported by the Mid-career Researcher Program through NRF (National Research Foundation of Korea) Grant funded by the MEST (Ministry of Education, Science and Technology). The authors valued the comments and suggestions of four reviewers and the careful copy-editing work of Dr Robyn Yucel (LaTrobe University, Australia) that considerably improved the text.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Science Education, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea

    Hyang-yon Rhee & Kyunghee Choi

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  1. Hyang-yon Rhee
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Correspondence to Kyunghee Choi.

Appendix: Descriptions of Problem Scenarios

Appendix: Descriptions of Problem Scenarios

aIntegrity of writing open-ended inquiry papers: We do your homework!

You are a newly appointed science teacher for 1st year middle school students

You are preparing the discussion subject for your students and the type of inquiry before performing ‘open-ended inquiry’

You worry that there are some students who download information for the directly to the homework assignment and ask to do their homework on the internet sites. An article you once read reminds you the seriousness of the problem

A newspaper article inserted: ‘Homework assistance’ business is bursting, “Click…. Click… Done?”

You asked an experienced teacher for advice. According to the teacher, this has been an ongoing problem and it is necessary to do a plagiarism check on the web

Overall conversation with the experienced teacher is as follows:

Students copy and paste internet contents or materials for their inquiry report as if the idea of contents is their own without any sense of guilt

Students adjust their experiment outcomes to fit ideal results

You think that it cannot be a solution to check hundreds of students’ paper and to deduct grade just because the data is too accurate; and checking all the papers on the web is not a realistic solution

It should not be overlooked since the issues on the copyrights as well as on scientific fraud and plagiarism have become societal problems

Lab safety and waste disposal: If the monster appears from the Han River?

You are a science teacher teaching 3rd year students in OO middle school located in Seoul

You inform students of caution about fire and burn, and specific safety directions related to flame reaction before the experiment as usual

You make students close the curtains when they say that they cannot identify flame color clearly during the experiment

Soon after, you had to make students stop the performance and open the windows to ventilate the lab because of strong smell

You completed the class without big problem even though some slight accidents like spark of reagent occurred

A student asked you a question when washing Nichrome wires covered with chemical

Overall conversation with the student is as follows:

The student is worried what if a real monster appears from the Han River like in a film “Monster” because chemicals were threw down the drain

You answered that a small amount would not be a big problem but it could be pollution when it adds up

After a moment:

Take a moment to reflect on yourself and your classroom. You usually let students rinse small amount of chemicals in water even though each container for solid and liquid waste was equipped in the lab

The movie poster for Monster was inserted

The launch of the Naro rocket: Where is Noro?

You are a science teacher teaching 2nd year students in OO middle school

A student asks a question when you are summarizing today’s lesson about the effect of solar activity on satellites in the ‘solar system’ unit

Overall conversation with a few students is as follows:

You differentiate a satellite from a launch vehicle like Naro using difficult terminology when a student asks if the Noro is satellite

You say that it would not be helpful even if the wreckage is found, when students argue where the Naro crashed

(During discussion other students cleaned their desk with seeming indifference.)

You quote the government announcement, “half of success”, when students feel sorry for the failure and huge amount of money paid for Russia

A student asked what the “half” of success means and the bell rings for the end of the class

When you were thinking of the answer, other students reminded you that the class was over so you postponed the discussion till the next class

After a moment:

You retrospect the classroom discourse. You think that the topic of Naro is related to the current major social issue but not directly linked to the subject matter in science lessons

A newspaper figure describing Naro failed to enter the orbit inserted

bAnimal dissection: Dissection of living things; what should we do to our children?

You are a science teacher teaching 1st year students in OO middle school

You are making the annual plan for the upcoming semester and see ‘observation and dissection of various living things’ as an inquiry activity in the fourth unit, ‘composition of organism and biodiversity’, that is newly added in the reformed curriculum

Dissection activity was excluded in the formal curriculum due to reducing subject contents, not to the ethical consideration

Recently, the shocking incident related to animal dissection becomes social problem

A newspaper article inserted: ‘Now Hamster’ dissection photos uploaded on the elementary student’s blog

An article about cruel teenagers in China who dissected a dog also heated up internet and the seriousness of animal abuse is becoming a problem in our society

Social and systemic changes related to animal experiments are occurring worldwide, for instance a new law to protect student’ right refusing animal experiments was enacted in the USA, while not many concerns with the issues made in Korea

You are torn: you are in duty to follow the curriculum and must teach dissection, but the lesson involves ethical problems

  1. aThe 1st cycle scenario. The scenario for ‘Integrity of writing open-ended inquiry paper’ in the 1st cycle involved in related topics both of inquiry paper and experiments. The scenario for the topic of scientific misconduct in experiment was separated and newly composed in the 2nd cycle
  2. bThe 2nd cycle scenario. The newspaper articles and the event dealt in the scenario was up to date from the 1st cycle scenario which was introduced an article related to frog dissection

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Rhee, Hy., Choi, K. Development and Implementation of Science and Technology Ethics Education Program for Prospective Science Teachers. Sci & Educ 23, 1101–1130 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-013-9644-z

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