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Introducing Ethics to Geography Graduate Students Using Various Instructional Materials - Terry A. Slocum

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No 0629443. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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Background

GEOG 806, Basic Seminar, is a two-hour class for master’s students. It is the second of two introductory courses, and it is designed to provide experience in the development of research proposals, as well as exposure to methodologies in geography. The course includes individual examination of special topics that require preparation, presentation, and critical evaluation of research proposals. In Spring 2009, I revised the course by expanding an ethics component. My goal was for students to be able to determine when ethical issues are likely to be a concern and, most importantly, determine what sort of ethical action is appropriate in different situations. | Implementation

Implementation

Using various instructional materials (lecture/class discussions, case studies, readings, and a brief bibliography on ethics), I introduced the topic of ethics. I focused on key steps involved in ethical decision-making as students and I worked through a case study. Students then formed small groups and worked through three additional case studies. Each student was asked to provide a written analysis of his or her case study, and the two- to four-page papers were evaluated with a grading rubric.

| Student Performance

Student Performance

Student work on the ethics assignment was quite good. Seven students earned an A for their papers, one earned a B, and two earned a C. In addition, students appeared to enjoy learning about ethical issues, and they found the small group discussions of case studies useful.

| Reflections

Reflections

In general, I was very happy with the work that students completed. Most students paid careful attention to the eight steps presented in one of the readings, and those students who paid careful attention received the highest grades. Although students’ thesis proposals did not reflect increased sensitivity to ethical issues, many of the proposals did not consider problems where ethical issues would be of paramount importance.

| Summary

Project Summary

To help students understand the range of ethical issues that academic and non-academic geographers may encounter in their jobs, a geography professor expands his instruction in ethics education.