Abstract
In the Soviet Union, STEM education was high-quality. On the one hand, the ambition to have technological predominance and to be in a world-leading position guaranteed relevant financing; on the other hand, less ideological influence allowed the field to develop. At the same time, ethics was highly ideologized and linked to the image of the ‘Soviet people’ rather than to professional behavior, and STEM ethics was seen more as a matter of quality and safety.
The changes that have occurred over the past 30 years have influenced higher education in general and STEM ethics education in particular. While in the Soviet Union, there were unified curricula for the teaching of all subjects, including philosophy, ethics, and STEM, the destruction of the Soviet hemisphere cultivated different approaches to STEM ethics in former Soviet Union republics, now independent countries.
This chapter presents preliminary evidence of the ethics culture in STEM education in the former Soviet countries.
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Notes
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Members of the ERA are members of the European Union, form the group of former Soviet countries namely Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, see: European research area (ERA) | European Commission (europa.eu)
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Pevkur, A. (2024). Ethics Education in STEM in Eastern Europe, Moral Development or Professional Education?. In: Hildt, E., Laas, K., Brey, E.M., Miller, C.Z. (eds) Building Inclusive Ethical Cultures in STEM. The International Library of Ethics, Law and Technology, vol 42. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-51560-6_8
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