Science Fiction as an Effective Pedagogical Tool for High School Bioethics Education

Abstract: A growing focus on STEM education entails a need for subject-specific bioethics education. Such education can establish a strong moral foundation for aspiring science and health professionals and promote just and humane future work in science. A high school bioethics project at an academic medical center aims to start building this foundation in teens. However, a key challenge to teaching young people the importance of ethics in STEM is making educational materials accessible, relatable, and engaging. Science fiction meets all three of these components. The genre is widely popular among younger learners, and its stories can both reflect and inform students’—and the public’s—attitudes toward science. Science fiction also raises essential questions about the ethical, legal, and social implications of novel technologies. In this interactive workshop, the program director of a high school bioethics project will report on how a science fiction researcher’s work has been a valuable teaching tool in their internship programs. Then two researchers who study the ethics of science fiction in media will use the "Jurassic Park" and "X-Men" franchises to demonstrate how science fiction films reveal critical issues in bioethics. The researchers will further show how these films can serve as age-appropriate case studies for instructor-guided bioethics discussions about the morality of biomedical innovations. In breakout groups, attendees will experience first-hand how science fiction stories can make complex bioethics concepts understandable. The session will conclude with a discussion of how robust narrative-based pedagogical models can be effective for ethics in high school STEM education.

Keywords: Science Fiction, Education, High School