TITLE:
Students’ Values and Ethical Concerns in a Biosciences’ Course in Higher Education
AUTHORS:
Katerina Kedraka
KEYWORDS:
Debate, Transformative Learning, Bioethics, Values
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Philosophy,
Vol.10 No.4,
November
12,
2020
ABSTRACT: In this small-scale study in higher
education, a good educational practice on teaching bioethics based on
transformative learning and accomplished by debates, is presented. The research
was carried out in June 2016 at the Department of Molecular Biology and
Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece and it focuses on the
concerns over their value system and moral dilemmas underground students in the
field of biosciences have. Reflections occurred after the debating experience
they participated in during this course. The research followed the qualitative
method and data were collected through a single question posed to students,
asking them to critically reflect on their debating experience. Content analysis
was used for analyzing their responses. Debates seem to be a good practice for
teaching bioethics, since it led them to critically think over their values and
morals regarding their role as future biologists. They seem eager to reflect,
question, and deal with moral dilemmas concerning the difficult ethical issue
of bioethics, a key-point for every junior scientist.