title: Active learning in a neuroethics course positively impacts moral judgment development in undergraduates.
abstract: The growing neuroscientific understanding of the biological basis of behaviors has profound social and ethical implications. To address the need for public awareness of the consequences of these advances, we developed an undergraduate neuroethics course, Neuroscience and Society, at the University of Minnesota. Course evolution, objectives, content, and impact are described here. To engage all students and facilitate undergraduate ethics education, this course employed daily reading, writing, and student discussion, case analysis, and team presentations with goals of fostering development of moral reasoning and judgment and introducing application of bioethical frameworks to topics raised by neuroscience. Pre- and post-course Defining Issues Test (DIT) scores and student end-of-course reflections demonstrated that course objectives for student application of bioethical frameworks to neuroethical issues were met. The active-learning, student-centered pedagogical approaches used to achieve these goals serve as a model for how to effectively teach neuroethics at the undergraduate level.
authors.affiliation: M.A. Program in Bioethics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455; ; Doctor of Philosophy Program, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032;
authors.forename: Desiree
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Abu-Odeh
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455;
authors.forename: Derek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dziobek
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455;
authors.forename: Nathalia Torres
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Jimenez
authors.affiliation: M.A. Program in Bioethics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455;
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barbey
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455.
authors.forename: Janet M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Dubinsky
keywords: active learning pedagogy; bioethics education; moral judgment development; neuroethics; undergraduate education
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