The Many Sides of Success of EMRGE

Linda Gallicchio

If you recall from prior issues (refer to archive section), the Rutland Institute for Ethics was honored to have its proposal for EMRGE (Ethics in Medical Research and Genetic Engineering) selected as the SC Life community project for the 2009-2010 academic year. The SC Life program is funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Now that the project is concluded, it is a great time to reflect on the successes.

A goal in proposing and coordinating the project was to have an enriching partnering experience that would include many people from Clemson (including students), the Anderson District 5 office, and the 10th grade Biology classes from TL Hanna and Westside High Schools. The reality exceeded expectations. Six high school science teachers and 364 of their students, twenty-three Clemson students and thirty-one faculty, staff and community professionals participated. There were field trips to Clemson for 308 10th grade biology students, an engineering day at Westside High for 56 9th grade Physical Science students, and in-class experiments for all 364 students. All told, 424 individuals  interacted at various times with varying impacts on one another. It was truly a “community” project.

The six science teachers participated in Ethics Across the Curriculum sessions last summer and were involved in several half-day professional development sessions during the year. Additionally, they received feedback from expert faculty on their lesson plans and project rubrics for two SC standards. By participating, they afforded their students access to experiences, materials, people and places they otherwise would not have had. All teachers who completed the project received a small stipend. It is anticipated that some of their lesson plans, project rubrics and samples of student’s projects will be accessible on the SC Life website under the Community Based Research link. Two of the teachers even partnered to make a very creative video that captured student and teacher reflections.

Of the 308 10th grade Biology students who participated in the field trips to Clemson, 61 were from honors biology classes—highly motivated students already on a likely course to college. 247 of the students were in Biology I or CP Biology. These students are less likely to go on to study in a science-related discipline in college and so this experience had the potential to be especially meaningful for them. Some of them had never been on a college campus. Some had never been out of Anderson. It allowed them to expand their world for about 6 hours. It made many feel more valued and responsible as evidenced by the dozens of comments said in disbelief that we trusted them to hold and use micropipettes that cost about $300 each for an experiment in the SC DNA Learning Center.

College professors engaged them in discussion about the use of stem cells. They realized through the discussion that using stems cells for research has benefits and drawbacks. They also came to understand that not all stem cells are embryonic stem cells—thus research with some types of stem cells is less controversial than others. They began to realize that ethical dilemmas are complicated, that they involve competing “right” answers, with debatable degrees of “rightness.” They learned that opinions without facts inhibit real conversation and undermine efforts to influence others to accept a point of view by reasoning with them. Good life lessons. They also had the additional benefit of doing a “kit” experiment on genetic engineering in their classrooms. By that time students were more aware of and interested in discussing the ethical aspects of scientific research.

The fifty-six Physical Science students were not in the original project proposal. We revised the project based on the fact that one of the teachers was reassigned at the last minute to teach Physical Science. Life often requires flexibility, and we wanted to accommodate a teacher who had already participated in the Ethics Across the Curriculum training. The District Science Coordinator worked with this teacher to identify two relevant standards with which to work. Since her students could not participate in the field trip, she arranged an “Engineering Day” for those students, finding four professional engineers from various specialties and industries to come speak to the students. They made a point of emphasizing the impact of poor judgment (an ethical misstep) in decision making on the job in terms of costs in lives, time, resources, etc. These students also got to participate in an experiment with a model fuel cell car that was purchased through the project.

The twenty-three Clemson students benefited in varying degrees based on their involvement; some School of Education students participated in lab work with students in the SC DNA Learning Center that linked up directly to an element of their curriculum in the high school biology track. All Clemson students gave of their time, shared their enthusiasm, and made a positive impression on the high school students. For a short time they were, what they will be when they become teachers, namely, role models and mentors. They were selfless in being available for the high school students.

Dr. Barbara Speziale accepted the Rutland Institute for Ethics proposal for the 2009-2010 SC Life community project. This opportunity allowed the Institute to raise awareness of ethics as something woven throughout life for 364 high school students through direct interaction and through the training and mentoring of their teachers. The initial teacher training in Ethics Across the Curriculum was the foundation. But the additional professional development sessions, meetings and feedback on lesson plans, field trip experiences, etc.—the ongoing interactions and refocusing on ethical issues throughout the academic year—reinforced and facilitated genuine learning.

An excerpt from an email from the District Science Coordinator: “[two of the teachers] were really praising the EMRGE project when I saw them last week at a Summer Institute session with Greenwood Genetic Center. They were sharing all that was done with teachers from Crescent High School (Anderson 3) and the Education Director from Greenwood Genetic Center. It made me really proud to hear them describe how it had been so beneficial for them and their students. [One] described it as ‘the best professional development project I have ever been part of”. Thanks so much!”

We are grateful to all of our partners for the duration of the community project, most especially SC Life and the SC DNA Learning Center.

Linda Gallicchio, Associate Director-Outreach

Rutland Institute for Ethics