High school students to tackle bioethical issues at Merck summer institute
Archived article from May 8, 2006
By Carla Capizzi
This summer, inner-city high school students will tackle some of the world’s most significant biomedical issues at The Merck Summer Institute on Bioethics at the Prudential Business Ethics Center at Rutgers-Newark.
The students, who will take part in the program from July 10-15, will consider such issues as stem cell research, the human genome project, evolution and the use of biomedical technology for reproductive selection. In addition, they will get to visit a laboratory where they will have the hands-on experience of extracting DNA, the basic genetic material of life.
The program will be taught by science and philosophy professors from Rutgers and other universities and include break-out sessions on specific issues in bioethics. To prepare the participants for the sessions, the students first will take part in morning workshops in critical thinking, said Jeff Buechner, one of the institute’s coordinators from the Prudential Business Ethics Center and a lecturer in philosophy.
“It is essential to reach out to our youth and to provide them with the tools to critically assess arguments of any kind, whether they are for or against the claims such arguments make,” Buechner said. “We are not in the business of telling participants what to think, but we do want to show them how to tell whether what they think is critically sound or not. We hope that this program will create a ‘ripple effect,’ where the participants will leave the institute and engage in discussions of bioethics issues, such as stem cell research, with their families and friends.”
The program is funded by Merck & Co. Inc. Students, who will reside at Woodward Hall on the Newark campus, will come primarily from the Newark public schools. Students will be chosen on the basis of their transcripts and creativity shown in an essay they write as part of the application process.
Return to the May 8, 2006 issue
|
