Exploring Bioethics

This Web site is based on a printed publication of the same title. The site includes materials not in the printed material, too, such as extension activities, answer keys, and a PowerPoint presentation. Because high school teachers receive most of the limited number of printed supplements, this online version was created for people outside the grades 9–12 education community.

The supplement consists of six teaching modules, which include activities, masters, and teacher support materials. Masters and teacher support materials are available as accessible PDF documents. The activities are available in PDF and HMTL formats. Teacher support materials are available only online.

Exploring Bioethics—developed with the NIH Department of Bioethics and written by Education Development Center, Inc.—supports high school biology teachers in raising and addressing bioethical issues with their students and engages students in rigorous thinking and discussions. By providing conceptual guidelines that promote careful thinking about difficult cases, it stresses the importance of presenting thoughtful and relevant reasons for considered positions on ethical issues.

Recommended Setup

PC

• Pentium III 600 MHz IBM compatible with Windows 2000 or higher, with 256 MB RAM
• Browser compatibility: Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or higher, Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher

MAC

• G4 Macintosh with Mac OS 9 or newer, with 256 MB RAM
• Browser compatibility: Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or higher, Safari 3.0 or higher

General

• Screen resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels
• 56 kbps modem or high-speed Internet connection
• Free hard drive space: 10 MB
• Browser settings: JavaScript enabled
• Adobe Reader, downloadable for free from http://www.adobe.com

 Navigation Overview

• Main—The main opening page
• Getting Started—A brief overview of the objectives of this curriculum supplement and technical instructions for the use of this Web site
• Teacher’s Guide—Information for teachers, including an introduction, modules, masters, teacher support materials, and references and resources
• About NIH—Overview of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• About the Department of Bioethics—Overview of this NIH Clinical Center department
• About EDC—Overview of Education Development Center, Inc.
• Map—Web site map
• Contact—Contact the NIH Office of Science Education

The following Web address takes you directly to the home page of the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Science Education, which provides access to a variety of resources for teachers and students, including NIH publications: http://science.education.nih.gov.