Objective: Students will read three brief samples of statements of ethics on various subjects, compare and contrast them, and begin a draft of their own environmental philosophy. This philosophy will be revisited and expounded upon in the final assessment to see how their beliefs develop over the course of the unit.
Teaching Plan:
Do Now: What does it mean if something is ethical? What is an example of an ethical action? What is an example of a nonethical action?
Students are encouraged to think of examples beyond the context of environmentalism that are relevant to their daily lives.
The teacher reviews the student-generated definition of ethics. Follow-up questions may include:
- Why might we need to define what our own code of ethics is?
- What are cultural ways that ethics have been defined in different contexts? (if students struggle, prompt them to think of at home, in schools, in religious spaces, among friends, etc.)
- What are the social consequences of not adhering to the group’s code of ethics? What happens when the individual’s code of ethics is at odds with the community’s?
- Who gets to define what the code of ethics for a community is?
These follow-up questions may be prompts at different tables written on large pieces of paper. Students may circulate and add their own ideas. The teacher may need to model how to respond to peer comments so that the ideas are in conversation rather than a series of isolated statements. (for example, “I would like to build off this [circled idea of a peer’s] by adding more detail, asking a question, disagreeing, agreeing, connecting to a real world example.”). In order to do so, consider including the requirement that you respond to the text of another student two or more times per station, and add your own idea only once. This serves to have students validate each other’s thoughts, encouraging intellectual risk-taking in a structured and “safe” way.
Students come back to their seats and dissect samples of three statements (such as mission statements of various organizations or government pages, a short speech of a social change-maker depicting their values, or religious tenets) with a partner.
Students must complete a worksheet for each one to answer the following:
- Summarize the main idea of the statement in a sentence.
- What are three supporting reasons for their claim?
- Who is the individual creating this ethic? How might their background influence their perspective?
- What are you left wondering? Attempt to answer through research, cite your sources!
Students then move on to draft a 1-page environmentalist philosophy. The prompting directions are as follows:
- To what extent is the natural environment important to you? Why or why not?
- What factors into your decision-making when you choose to buy or use stuff?
- What values do you think we as a community should have when using the environment for our needs? What makes you say that?
