Bringing Bioethics into the Classroom

The Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics is partnering with a group of nationally recognized K-12 educators from across the country to bring bioethics into science classes everywhere.

Drawing upon the Institute-produced podcast playing god? for its source material, this collaboration is producing free lesson plans and related educational materials for teachers who wish to introduce their students to complex ethical questions generated by the development and use of new scientific and medical innovations. Each episode will serve as a unique case study that explores bioethics principles and inspires lively discussions.

“As science and medicine advance at an ever-increasing pace, new innovations raise new questions about their ethical use. The Berman Institute is committed to bringing these bioethics discussions beyond the boundaries of academic research,” said Jeffrey Kahn, the Institute’s Director.

“We are developing new approaches to sharing bioethics in effective and compelling ways with the general public. That was part of the motivation behind creating the podcast, and the creation and distribution of these educational materials will enable us to engage students in bioethics topics earlier in their education.”

Launched last fall, the 10-episode first season of playing god? shared the deeply personal stories of people caught at the life-and-death crossroads of medical innovations and ethical dilemmas. After garnering more than 200,000 listeners, the podcast’s producers sought to expand its reach by creating educational materials that would enable teachers to use each episode as the source material for a lesson on bioethics.

To develop the materials, the Institute has turned to teachers participating in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Program, which provides accomplished K-12 STEM educators the opportunity to spend 11 months working in federal agencies or in U.S. Congressional offices, applying their extensive knowledge and classroom experiences to national education program and/or education policy efforts. Eight of the Fellows, drawn from public and private schools across the country, formed an advisory board that is helping shape, review, and pilot the educational materials.

“Students today have tremendous interest in the societal impacts of technological innovation, but it can be challenging to find appropriate, relevant materials to engage and educate them on these topics. This collaboration provides teachers such materials, suitable for a wide range of grades and subjects,” said Samantha Willsey, a science teacher from Indiana and 2023-2024 Einstein Fellow “As an educator, it has been incredibly rewarding to work with the researchers at the Berman Institute and develop something that will benefit so many students and teachers.

Each of the podcast’s 10 episodes will have a suite of accompanying educational materials, available this fall, that include a summary, glossary of terms and bioethics concepts, a discussion guide for teachers, suggestions for group and individual activities, supplemental readings, and list of related careers. Each lesson incorporates the stories told in the podcast to prompt students to recognize the societal impact of science and technology, and to deliberate and form solutions to tough ethical challenges.

A second season of playing god? will launch in early 2025, and the Berman Institute plans to develop educational materials for those episodes as well.

“The insight and knowledge of the teachers on our advisory board has been invaluable,” said Berman Institute faculty member Amelia Hood, who drafted the educational materials. “We hope this is just the first of many collaborations with K-12 educators as we strive to share bioethics with as many audiences as possible.”