"Backwards by Design: Building Ethics, Law, and Policy into a Stem Cell Science Curriculum"

Christopher Thomas Scott, PhD
Director, Program on Stem Cells in Society
Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics

The Greek notion of didacticism emphasized instruction through entertainment. Modern use of the term didactic refers to teaching that is boring, pedantic, and overly factual. During a research project examining the professional decisions of stem cell scientists, we observed how they understand and communicate ethics, policy, and law-related topics. How could we more effectively teach these subjects within the context of science scholarship? This talk describes an experiment at Stanford University that channels the old Greek spirits to teach students more about ethics, law, and policy - by lecturing less.