Schedule | Faculty & Staff | Participants
Bioethics: Approaches and Methods for Secondary Education
Arthur Caplan, Ph.D. is the Emanuel and Robert Hart Professor of Bioethics, Chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and the Director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to coming to Penn in 1994, Art taught at the University of Minnesota, the University of Pittsburgh, and Columbia University. He was the Associate Director of the Hastings Center from 1984-1987. Art is the author or editor of twenty-five books and over 500 papers in refereed journals of medicine, science, philosophy, bioethics and health policy.
Igor Jasinski received an M.A. in Philosophy from Stony Brook University. For the last fourteen years, he has been teaching Philosophy, German and Latin in both private and public high schools in New Jersey and New York. Having seen first hand how students are eager to embrace philosophical ideas and the joy of watching them become more independent and critical thinkers in the process inspired Igor to use the materials he developed for his classes as the basis for a philosophy textbook specifically designed for high school students. He is currently working on the completion of this project. Beginning in the fall of 2009, Igor will pursue an Ed.D. in pedagogy with a specialization in philosophy for children at Montclair State University. He will also be teaching at The Pingry School, an independent private high school in Martinsville, New Jersey.
Rory Kraft, PhD. is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at York College of Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. from Michigan State, his M.A. from American University, and his B.A. from Arizona State, all in Philosophy. Rory is coeditor of Questions: Philosophy for Young People, an annual journal highlighting the work by pre-college philosophy students and instructors, as well as a member of the American Philosophical Association's Committee on Pre-college Instruction in Philosophy. His most recent publication explored business ethics in the NBC version of The Office.
Craig Merow, Ed.D. is chairman of the middle school mathematics department and teacher of upper school philosophy at Germantown Academy. After teaching mathematics, physics, and biology for 29 years in both public and private schools, Craig decided that it was time to confront the really big questions: he earned a B.A. in philosophy at the University of Waterloo (Ont.) and won a Kast Grant to study at Oxford. He is currently an MBE student at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the American Philosophical Association's Committee on Pre-College Instruction in Philosophy. (Craig.Merow@germantownacademy.org)
Jonathan D. Moreno, Ph.D. is the David and Lyn Silfen University Professor and Professor of Medical Ethics and the History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP), a Washington, DC-based public policy think tank. At CAP he is the editor-in-chief of Science Progress, a magazine of science and science policy. Among his books are Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense (Dana Press, 2006) & Is There an Ethicist in the House? On the Cutting Edge of Bioethics (Indiana University Press, 2006). (morenojd@mail.med.upenn.edu)
Allison Rosenbloom is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently studying Health and Societies with a concentration in Bioethics and History. This summer she will be working at the Penn Center for Bioethics as an intern under Dr. Arthur Caplan.
Dominic Sisti, MBE is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Philosophy at Michigan State and a research associate at the Center for Bioethics. His interests include philosophy of medicine & psychiatry, clinical ethics, & research ethics. Dom received his master's degree from Penn (Bioethics, 2000) and his bachelor's degree from Villanova (Biology, 1996). (sistid@mail.med.upenn.edu)
Participants
Nancy Adams [AdamsN@TESD.NET]
Jeff Buechner: I got my bioethics water wings at the Summer Faculty Institute in Bioethics (on ethical, legal and social issues of the Human Genome Project) at Dartmouth (Summer, 2005). I am Director of the Merck-Rutgers Summer Bioethics Institute for Newark-area high-school students (since 2006). Our foucs this summer is on nanoethics, in 2008 it was pandemics, in 2007 neuroethics, and in 2006 the human genome project (especially the enhancement-treatment distinction). I also work at the Saul Kripke Center, CUNY, The Graduate Center, in mathematical logic and metaphysics. I have 2 books, one in philosophy of mind and psychology (Goedel, Putnam and Functionalism..., The MIT Press, 2008) and the other a critical thinking text for college students (Ways of Reasoning: Tools and Methods for Thinking Outside the Box (Oxford, forthcoming, now published locally for use in the clasroom).
[buechner@rci.rutgers.edu]
Dennis Cheek: Senior Fellow, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; Visiting Scholar, Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania; Visiting Scholar, Center for Contemporary History & Policy, Chemical Heritage Foundation; Teaching Faculty, Midcareer Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania [dcheek@consultant.kauffman.org]
Christine Connor: I am the Science Department Chair and a life-science teacher at an Independent School for girls in Potomac Maryland. I have been including a short Bioethics unit in all of my Biology classes for a number of years - time permitting. Several years ago we developed an elective for juniors and seniors called Genetics, Bioethics, & Biotechnology which we offer every-other year. I am interested in building on my knowledge of the theories and principles that support ethical decision making as well as learning techniques and skills that will help my students to critically think about ethical dilemmas. [cconnor@holychild.org]
Anna Marie Croney [acroney@norfon.org]
Elissa Garfield: I teach Biology and AP Environmental Science at Northeast High School. I am in the Magnet Small Learning Community which consist of special admission students. As an elective, they decided to offer Bioethics and told me I was going to teach it. I have some ideas for the course but am looking for assistance in developing a curriculum that will last for an entire year. I will be getting a Smart (Promethean) Board this fall and I will have access to a computer lab two days a week. On a personal note, I have been teaching for 17 years. I went to Queens College undergraduate. I have a masters degree from Rutgers University and one from Temple University plus another 30+ credits. I have attended many workshops offered at Penn which were given by Jennifer Doherty.
[elissa_garfield@yahoo.com]
Marlene Hilkowitz: Marlene is a retired science teacher and K-12 Science Supervisor who currently does consulting work for Project 2061, Biotechnology Institute and school districts, both local and nationally. Most of my teaching experience has been with the School District of Philadelphia. [mhilkowitz@mac.com]
Marie E. Politowski: I am currently entering my twentieth year teaching at Villa Joseph Marie High School. I am the Chairperson of the Science Department and I teach Forensic Science, AP Chemistry, and Honors Chemistry. I also supervise the Science Fair and PJAS research programs and I have personally mentored many students over the years. I am primarily interested in bioethics because I am involved in rewriting the Science Department curriculum, and I would like to address this topic. As a teacher, topics pertaining to bioethics are common in Forensic Science, and I hope this course will better prepare me to give valuable insight on this topic. [mpolitowsk@aol.com]
Annikki Raiford: I have been teaching at Clawson High School, a small district outside of Detroit, MI, for ten years. For most of this decade, I have taught a freshman Physics/Earth Science class with no more than one Biology class a year. However, I began this past school year with a full schedule of biology, including a Biology II course that focused mostly on Anatomy and Physiology, and ended the year with a very ecclectic schedule of biology and social studies classes. In the last few weeks of the Biology II class, I started trying to fit in some Biotechnology and Bioethics content. Although we ran out of time for the latter, it was in researching the topic that I found out about the Center for Bioethics and this workshop. I'm hoping to integrate bioethics more solidly into the curriculum at my school. [araiford@clawson.k12.mi.us]
Bryant Raiford: I am an instructor and Marketing Director for Mad Science of Detroit. I have studied pedagogy and science at the University of Houston and independently. I pride myself on my autodidactism and willingness to learn from any and all available resources. I have been an instructor in many classrooms over the past 7 years. As a strong supporter of alternative education methods, especially home schooling and unschooling, I feel a strong grounding in the sciences and in ethics is essential. Home and self educators often have a great deal of trouble with science, and ethics can be even more inaccessible without support. I'm pleased to be attending this workshop in order to extend my abilities to support my current and future students. [icq8436175@gmail.com]
Jane Rechtman: Jane (Baron) Rechtman is a teacher and class dean at The Masters School, a day and boarding school just outside of New York City. She teaches world history, world religions and bioethics. She has a Masters in Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and a Masters in Medical Humanities from Drew University. She is on the Board of The Council for Spiritual and Ethical Education (csee.org), an interfaith organization offering resources and tools for ethical and spiritual growth to schools around the world. Jane is the co-editor of Readings from the World's Religious Traditions and co-author of The Word Book: Religion, Sin, and All That Stuff Previously Jane worked at HBO, taught at a maximum security prison, ran a nursery school, worked as a waitress in New York CIty, lived and taught in Spain. She is happily married and the proud mother of two wonderful sons, 24 and 20. [Jane.Rechtman@MastersNy.org]
Louis Tyburski: I have been teaching at Villa Joseph Marie H.S. for the past 15 years. I currently teach Honors Biology, Honors Anatomy and Physiology, and AP Biology. As a member of the school's Science Dept., I have mentored hundreds of students for Science Fair competition over the years. I hold a Bachelor's degree in Biology and a Master's in Biological Sciences. I am interested in bioethics because questions related to the field arise in the classroom, especially when we cover topics in genetic testing, stem cell research, and biotechnology. [ltyburski@vjmhs.org]
Jessie Willing [jwilling@shipleyschool.org]
Janet Wolfe: I will be starting my 16th year teaching Biology this fall, and have taught in Maryland and in Pennsylvania - will be starting my 7th year at Conestoga High School in Berwyn, where I teach both AP and Accelerated (college prep) Biology. I have a BS in Biology from James Madison University ('92) a Masters in Chemistry Education from Penn ('02). I have done a bioethics project with my AP students for the past two years, where they examine a bioethics topic from a variety of viewpoints and create a wiki and lead a class discussion using their findings. [wolfej@tesd.net]
Center Interns
Yelena Baras: I am a rising junior at the University of Pennsylvania. So far, I have declared my major as Science Technology, and Society. I am very interested in a combination of applied and social sciences, and am especially intrigued by Independent Secondary Education in the realm of science.
Grant Bermann: Grant will be a 1L at Yale Law School in the fall. He is currently an intern at the Center for Bioethics under Jason Schwartz and Arthur Caplan. His interests include vaccine policy and legal issues in bioethics.
Rebecca Cha: Rebecca is a rising junior at UCLA where she is a pre-med and philosophy major. Her interests include neuroethics, trans-humanism, and organ transplant ethics.
Prya Murad: Prya is a rising junior at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky who is currently interning under Edward Bergman. Her interests include international law and global health issues.
Bioethics: Approaches and Methods for Secondary Education
Center for Bioethics, Philadelphia PA
July 13-15, 2009
July 13-15, 2009
Sponsorship & Support
This workshop is offered by The University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics with the generous support of The Dana Foundation.
Schedule
This workshop is offered by The University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics with the generous support of The Dana Foundation.
Schedule
| Monday July 13 | |
| 9.00am | Breakfast and Greetings |
| 9.30am |
Art Caplan: "Aims, Goals & Practicalities of Teaching Bioethics in High School" Bioethics is a controversial field. Oftentimes, discussion of the central topics of bioethics is met with resistance from parents, administrators, and school boards. Yet students continue to ask the challenging questions. This introductory session will provide workshop participants with a framework for understanding, and explaining to skeptics, the importance of teaching bioethics at the secondary school level. [video]  |
| 11.30am | Discussion |
| 12.15pm | Catered Lunch |
| 1.00pm | Rory Kraft:"The Limits of Autonomy and Proxy Decision Making: The Case of Daniel Hauser" A central tenet of modern medical ethics is that patients have a right informed consent -- or an awareness of what is to be done to them. Based on the principle of autonomy, we also link this to a right to refuse treatment. But when it comes to children, as a society, we are less sure. We will look at the recent case of Daniel Hauser, a 13 year old who did not wish to undergo chemotherapy in the context of autonomy, consent, and the limits of proxy refusals of treatment. |
| 2.30pm - 3.30pm | Discussion |
| Tuesday July 14 | |
| 9.00am | Coffee & Breakfast |
| 9.30am | Jonathan Moreno: "Mind Wars" Brain research is among the fastest growing fields in the life sciences. In this session we will discuss the ways that modern neuroscience is generating novel ethical questions. As a case study we will examine the role of neurotechnologies in national security and national intelligence. [video] |
| 11.30am | Discussion |
| 12.15pm | Catered Lunch |
| 1.00pm | Craig Merow: "Giving Students the Skills to Join the Conversation" Bioethical issues such as end-of-life decisions, genetic testing, neuroethics and organ donation, affect us all. In this session we will discuss exercises, skills, and concepts that can enhance the ability of high school students to contribute to the public debate on these important ethical concerns. Topics will include understanding ethical theories, diagramming arguments, writing dialogs, and blogging. |
| 2.30pm - 3.30pm | Discussion |
| Wednesday July 15 | |
| 9.00am |
Coffee & Breakfast |
| 9.30am | Igor Jasinski & Dominic Sisti: "The Case of Terri Schiavo: Critical Thinking and Neurophilosophy" The tragic case of Terri Schiavo highlighted just how little politicians, the media, the general public, and even some physicians knew about the clinical facts of persistent vegetative state. This clinical confusion led to confused ethical positions. In this session we will review some of the key facts around the Schiavo case, and highlight the way ethical arguments had been deployed on both sides. We will also work through exercises designed to help students critically examine both the ethical and metaphysical dimensions of this controversial case. |
| 11.30am | Discussion |
| 12.15pm | Catered Lunch & Recap |
Arthur Caplan, Ph.D. is the Emanuel and Robert Hart Professor of Bioethics, Chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and the Director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to coming to Penn in 1994, Art taught at the University of Minnesota, the University of Pittsburgh, and Columbia University. He was the Associate Director of the Hastings Center from 1984-1987. Art is the author or editor of twenty-five books and over 500 papers in refereed journals of medicine, science, philosophy, bioethics and health policy.
Igor Jasinski received an M.A. in Philosophy from Stony Brook University. For the last fourteen years, he has been teaching Philosophy, German and Latin in both private and public high schools in New Jersey and New York. Having seen first hand how students are eager to embrace philosophical ideas and the joy of watching them become more independent and critical thinkers in the process inspired Igor to use the materials he developed for his classes as the basis for a philosophy textbook specifically designed for high school students. He is currently working on the completion of this project. Beginning in the fall of 2009, Igor will pursue an Ed.D. in pedagogy with a specialization in philosophy for children at Montclair State University. He will also be teaching at The Pingry School, an independent private high school in Martinsville, New Jersey.
Rory Kraft, PhD. is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at York College of Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. from Michigan State, his M.A. from American University, and his B.A. from Arizona State, all in Philosophy. Rory is coeditor of Questions: Philosophy for Young People, an annual journal highlighting the work by pre-college philosophy students and instructors, as well as a member of the American Philosophical Association's Committee on Pre-college Instruction in Philosophy. His most recent publication explored business ethics in the NBC version of The Office.
Craig Merow, Ed.D. is chairman of the middle school mathematics department and teacher of upper school philosophy at Germantown Academy. After teaching mathematics, physics, and biology for 29 years in both public and private schools, Craig decided that it was time to confront the really big questions: he earned a B.A. in philosophy at the University of Waterloo (Ont.) and won a Kast Grant to study at Oxford. He is currently an MBE student at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the American Philosophical Association's Committee on Pre-College Instruction in Philosophy. (Craig.Merow@germantownacademy.org)
Jonathan D. Moreno, Ph.D. is the David and Lyn Silfen University Professor and Professor of Medical Ethics and the History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP), a Washington, DC-based public policy think tank. At CAP he is the editor-in-chief of Science Progress, a magazine of science and science policy. Among his books are Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense (Dana Press, 2006) & Is There an Ethicist in the House? On the Cutting Edge of Bioethics (Indiana University Press, 2006). (morenojd@mail.med.upenn.edu)
Allison Rosenbloom is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently studying Health and Societies with a concentration in Bioethics and History. This summer she will be working at the Penn Center for Bioethics as an intern under Dr. Arthur Caplan.
Dominic Sisti, MBE is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Philosophy at Michigan State and a research associate at the Center for Bioethics. His interests include philosophy of medicine & psychiatry, clinical ethics, & research ethics. Dom received his master's degree from Penn (Bioethics, 2000) and his bachelor's degree from Villanova (Biology, 1996). (sistid@mail.med.upenn.edu)
Participants
Nancy Adams [AdamsN@TESD.NET]
Jeff Buechner: I got my bioethics water wings at the Summer Faculty Institute in Bioethics (on ethical, legal and social issues of the Human Genome Project) at Dartmouth (Summer, 2005). I am Director of the Merck-Rutgers Summer Bioethics Institute for Newark-area high-school students (since 2006). Our foucs this summer is on nanoethics, in 2008 it was pandemics, in 2007 neuroethics, and in 2006 the human genome project (especially the enhancement-treatment distinction). I also work at the Saul Kripke Center, CUNY, The Graduate Center, in mathematical logic and metaphysics. I have 2 books, one in philosophy of mind and psychology (Goedel, Putnam and Functionalism..., The MIT Press, 2008) and the other a critical thinking text for college students (Ways of Reasoning: Tools and Methods for Thinking Outside the Box (Oxford, forthcoming, now published locally for use in the clasroom).
[buechner@rci.rutgers.edu]
Dennis Cheek: Senior Fellow, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; Visiting Scholar, Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania; Visiting Scholar, Center for Contemporary History & Policy, Chemical Heritage Foundation; Teaching Faculty, Midcareer Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania [dcheek@consultant.kauffman.org]
Christine Connor: I am the Science Department Chair and a life-science teacher at an Independent School for girls in Potomac Maryland. I have been including a short Bioethics unit in all of my Biology classes for a number of years - time permitting. Several years ago we developed an elective for juniors and seniors called Genetics, Bioethics, & Biotechnology which we offer every-other year. I am interested in building on my knowledge of the theories and principles that support ethical decision making as well as learning techniques and skills that will help my students to critically think about ethical dilemmas. [cconnor@holychild.org]
Anna Marie Croney [acroney@norfon.org]
Elissa Garfield: I teach Biology and AP Environmental Science at Northeast High School. I am in the Magnet Small Learning Community which consist of special admission students. As an elective, they decided to offer Bioethics and told me I was going to teach it. I have some ideas for the course but am looking for assistance in developing a curriculum that will last for an entire year. I will be getting a Smart (Promethean) Board this fall and I will have access to a computer lab two days a week. On a personal note, I have been teaching for 17 years. I went to Queens College undergraduate. I have a masters degree from Rutgers University and one from Temple University plus another 30+ credits. I have attended many workshops offered at Penn which were given by Jennifer Doherty.
[elissa_garfield@yahoo.com]
Marlene Hilkowitz: Marlene is a retired science teacher and K-12 Science Supervisor who currently does consulting work for Project 2061, Biotechnology Institute and school districts, both local and nationally. Most of my teaching experience has been with the School District of Philadelphia. [mhilkowitz@mac.com]
Marie E. Politowski: I am currently entering my twentieth year teaching at Villa Joseph Marie High School. I am the Chairperson of the Science Department and I teach Forensic Science, AP Chemistry, and Honors Chemistry. I also supervise the Science Fair and PJAS research programs and I have personally mentored many students over the years. I am primarily interested in bioethics because I am involved in rewriting the Science Department curriculum, and I would like to address this topic. As a teacher, topics pertaining to bioethics are common in Forensic Science, and I hope this course will better prepare me to give valuable insight on this topic. [mpolitowsk@aol.com]
Annikki Raiford: I have been teaching at Clawson High School, a small district outside of Detroit, MI, for ten years. For most of this decade, I have taught a freshman Physics/Earth Science class with no more than one Biology class a year. However, I began this past school year with a full schedule of biology, including a Biology II course that focused mostly on Anatomy and Physiology, and ended the year with a very ecclectic schedule of biology and social studies classes. In the last few weeks of the Biology II class, I started trying to fit in some Biotechnology and Bioethics content. Although we ran out of time for the latter, it was in researching the topic that I found out about the Center for Bioethics and this workshop. I'm hoping to integrate bioethics more solidly into the curriculum at my school. [araiford@clawson.k12.mi.us]
Bryant Raiford: I am an instructor and Marketing Director for Mad Science of Detroit. I have studied pedagogy and science at the University of Houston and independently. I pride myself on my autodidactism and willingness to learn from any and all available resources. I have been an instructor in many classrooms over the past 7 years. As a strong supporter of alternative education methods, especially home schooling and unschooling, I feel a strong grounding in the sciences and in ethics is essential. Home and self educators often have a great deal of trouble with science, and ethics can be even more inaccessible without support. I'm pleased to be attending this workshop in order to extend my abilities to support my current and future students. [icq8436175@gmail.com]
Jane Rechtman: Jane (Baron) Rechtman is a teacher and class dean at The Masters School, a day and boarding school just outside of New York City. She teaches world history, world religions and bioethics. She has a Masters in Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and a Masters in Medical Humanities from Drew University. She is on the Board of The Council for Spiritual and Ethical Education (csee.org), an interfaith organization offering resources and tools for ethical and spiritual growth to schools around the world. Jane is the co-editor of Readings from the World's Religious Traditions and co-author of The Word Book: Religion, Sin, and All That Stuff Previously Jane worked at HBO, taught at a maximum security prison, ran a nursery school, worked as a waitress in New York CIty, lived and taught in Spain. She is happily married and the proud mother of two wonderful sons, 24 and 20. [Jane.Rechtman@MastersNy.org]
Louis Tyburski: I have been teaching at Villa Joseph Marie H.S. for the past 15 years. I currently teach Honors Biology, Honors Anatomy and Physiology, and AP Biology. As a member of the school's Science Dept., I have mentored hundreds of students for Science Fair competition over the years. I hold a Bachelor's degree in Biology and a Master's in Biological Sciences. I am interested in bioethics because questions related to the field arise in the classroom, especially when we cover topics in genetic testing, stem cell research, and biotechnology. [ltyburski@vjmhs.org]
Jessie Willing [jwilling@shipleyschool.org]
Janet Wolfe: I will be starting my 16th year teaching Biology this fall, and have taught in Maryland and in Pennsylvania - will be starting my 7th year at Conestoga High School in Berwyn, where I teach both AP and Accelerated (college prep) Biology. I have a BS in Biology from James Madison University ('92) a Masters in Chemistry Education from Penn ('02). I have done a bioethics project with my AP students for the past two years, where they examine a bioethics topic from a variety of viewpoints and create a wiki and lead a class discussion using their findings. [wolfej@tesd.net]
Center Interns
Yelena Baras: I am a rising junior at the University of Pennsylvania. So far, I have declared my major as Science Technology, and Society. I am very interested in a combination of applied and social sciences, and am especially intrigued by Independent Secondary Education in the realm of science.
Grant Bermann: Grant will be a 1L at Yale Law School in the fall. He is currently an intern at the Center for Bioethics under Jason Schwartz and Arthur Caplan. His interests include vaccine policy and legal issues in bioethics.
Rebecca Cha: Rebecca is a rising junior at UCLA where she is a pre-med and philosophy major. Her interests include neuroethics, trans-humanism, and organ transplant ethics.
Prya Murad: Prya is a rising junior at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky who is currently interning under Edward Bergman. Her interests include international law and global health issues.
