title: Connecting Past with Present: A Mixed-Methods Science Ethics Course and its Evaluation.
abstract: We present a graduate science ethics course that connects cases from the historical record to present realities and practices in the areas of social responsibility, authorship, and human/animal experimentation. This content is delivered with mixed methods, including films, debates, blogging, and practicum; even the instructional team is mixed, including a historian of science and a research scientist. What really unites all of the course's components is the experiential aspect: from acting in historical debates to participating in the current scientific enterprise. The course aims to change the students' culture into one deeply devoted to the science ethics cause. To measure the sought after cultural change, we developed and validated a relevant questionnaire. Results of this questionnaire from students who took the course, demonstrate that the course had the intended effect on them. Furthermore, results of this questionnaire from controls indicate the need for cultural change in that cohort. All these quantitative results are reinforced by qualitative outcomes.
authors: Department of Physics, University of Houston, TIMES, 373 Health and Biomedical Sciences Center (HBSC), Houston, TX, 77204-6022, USA. isemendeferi@uh.edu.
authors: Ioanna
authors: I
authors: Semendeferi
authors: Department of Statistics, Athens University of Economics and Business, 76 Patission St., 10434, Athens, Greece. pt@aueb.gr.
authors: Panagiotis
authors: P
authors: Tsiamyrtzis
authors: Computational Physiology Laboratory, University of Houston, TIMES, 373 Health and Biomedical Sciences Center (HBSC), Houston, TX, 77204-6022, USA. mtdcosta2@uh.edu.
authors: Malcolm
authors: M
authors: Dcosta
authors: Computational Physiology Laboratory, University of Houston, TIMES, 373 Health and Biomedical Sciences Center (HBSC), Houston, TX, 77204-6022, USA. ipavlidis@uh.edu.
authors: Ioannis
authors: I
authors: Pavlidis
mesh_terms: D003469:Culture; D003479:Curriculum; D004500:Education, Graduate; D032984:Ethics, Research / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D018794:Problem-Based Learning / Q000379:methods*; D012586:Science / Q000941:ethics*; D012941:Social Responsibility; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*
keywords: Cultural transformation; Emotions; History of science; Moral motivation; Moral sensitivity; Questionnaire; Science culture; Science ethics; Science ethics course