Science Case Studies Grant

Fall 2023

Integrating ethical decision-making in Second Year Core Biology Labs

Debra Grantham, University Teaching Fellow, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology
Jen Frail-Gauthier, Instructor, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology
Kerrianne Ryan, Instructor (LTA), Faculty of Science
Annie Grigg

Biology is a powerful tool that has an unfortunate history of being misused. Unethical behaviour in the name of scientific exploration is not uncommon, nor is it uncommon for a scientist to inadvertently participate in unethical behaviour. While there are many programs for biomedical ethics and ethical use of human test subjects, ethics in other sciences is typically taught as an optional philosophy course, as is the case at Dalhousie University. Thus, its application can seem remote from the practice of science taught in scientific laboratories. The result is that biology students can complete their undergraduate degree, in some cases an honours thesis with live specimens, without discussing ethics beyond its applications in academic integrity or plagiarism. This project aims to integrate the ethical decision-making process into the core second year biology labs so that students can actively consider and apply ethical decision-making throughout their practice of the scientific process.