President

of bioethics. On 27 May 2008, the Committee (NCBI) organized a workshop in
Oslo on Teaching Material in Bioethics. The objective was to select good
quality teaching tools already available in one or more Scandinavian
languages: tools which were successively translated into all Nordic languages.
In 2008 a Working Group was also established that published a Report 342
which proposes the construction of an interactive website totally dedicated to
teaching materials for the teaching of bioethics available in all languages of the
Nordic countries. The intent is to assert a broad conception of Bioethics
encompassing not only the moral problems that arise from the development of
biotechnology, but also the traditional issues of medical ethics. The target
audience is teachers, students and, more generally, the public. The Working
Group does, however, envisage the typical user of the site as the teacher.
Students could use the website themselves, but it is preferable that they are
guided by the teacher towards certain didactic materials. The Report states that
the teaching of bioethics is important because the ethical discussions are an
important element for the training of young citizens in democratic societies. It
also stresses that the non-inclusion of bioethics in the school curricula would be
to assume that the younger generation should learn to argue and express an
opinion on the ethical problems elsewhere, that presumption is defined as a
major risk.
As a final example of good practice it is possible to quote the BEEP
Programme (BioEthics Education Project) 343 which has already been active for
some years in the United Kingdom. The heart of the Project is an interactive
website, designed as a virtual learning space for teachers of high schools and
scientific institutions and their students. It is a learning resource developed to
explore the moral, ethical, social, economic and environmental implications of
technology and the applications of biology.
BEEP has the aim to provide students with updated and balanced
information to develop their capacity for argumentation in debates and
discussions on ethical issues raised by science to help them develop an
independent ability to judge and to make personal ethical evaluations. At the
same time, promoters 344 aim to increase the skills of teachers of scientific
disciplines as regards complex and controversial ethical issues.
The site contains useful downloadable teaching materials for teachers to
set up a lesson on various important bioethical issues (genetics, human
reproduction, biotechnology, health, environmental ethics, animal ethics, etc.).
Students and teachers can also participate in forums and online discussions. In
addition, there is a glossary in which each entry shows the main ethical
questions related to it, using presentation of specific cases.
From this brief analysis of already operational experiences there is clear
confirmation of some theoretical trends that have emerged in the documents of
international organizations, such as: the link between education in bioethics
and citizenship education; the need to link education in bioethics to the ability of
critical judgement, argumentation, and active participation in discussion in a
pluralistic ethical context. There are some clear indications on teaching
methodology, which had already emerged, especially in the Education Tool,
342
A Nordic Initiative in Bioethical Educational Resources, Report from a working group on
educational resources in bioethics”. Lysebu, Oslo, 2008 11 04.
343
http://www.beep.ac.uk/content/130.0.html.
344
The official sponsors include the University of Bristol and the Society of Biology. Cf.
http://www.societyofbiology.org/home.
274