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Lesson 2

We will continue our exploration of ethics by focusing on choices: how we make them individually, how we make them collectively, and how the consequences of those choices impact others. We will take an online quiz as a class and read about ethical decision making.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I express an accurate understanding of what ethics is and is not?

  • Can I recognize and interpret important relationships between key details and ideas within and across texts related to ethics?

Texts

Core

  • Digital Access
    • “Moral Machine Quiz,” Iyad Rahwan, Jean-Francois Bonnefon, and Azim Shariff, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, 2016
  • Unit Reader
    • “A Framework for Ethical Decision Making,” Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University, 2015

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read

We will take the moral machine quiz as a class.

You will take a quiz that is a series of thought experiments related to ethics. A thought experiment presents a hypothesis, theory, or principle for the purpose of thinking through its consequences. Much of this section will deal with thought experiments—these are usually unrealistic scenarios that are constructed to set up an ethical problem so you can think through it. Late in this unit, you will take a similar approach to thinking through real-life ethical problems in a variety of situations.

Your teacher will now project the Moral Machine quiz. This quiz was set up by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to gather opinions about how machines should make decisions when faced with ethical problems.

During a class discussion, you will vote on each decision presented.

Activity 2: Discuss

We will share our responses to the moral machine quiz experience.

Participate in a class discussion by sharing your opinions about the scenarios presented in the quiz and your experience in trying to make a decision.

Discuss the following question:

  1. How does the Moral Machine quiz help deepen your understanding of the ethical dilemma of self-driving cars?

Activity 3: Read – Discuss

We will start reading a text focused on defining ethics and the various approaches to solving ethical problems.

Step 1

Read and annotate the What is Ethics? section of the “A Framework for Ethical Decision Making” by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.

Discuss the questions below with a partner, and write your answers in your Learning Log, making revisions or adjustments based on your conversation:

  1. What does "standards of behavior" mean as used in this context?

  2. Why is it useful to distinguish ethics from religion, science, law, and culturally accepted norms?

  3. How do standards of behavior relate to the self-driving car dilemma?

Step 2

As a whole class, share your answers to the questions from the previous activity. Add to your Learning Log answers that reflect the ideas and evidence shared by your classmates.

Activity 4: Read

We will begin working with vocabulary and adding words to our Vocabulary Journals.

For this activity, you will use a Vocabulary Journal. You might use a Vocabulary in Context Tool for words you can decipher from the text; for others, you might use morphology to decipher the meaning, or a reference resource to check if your meaning is accurate. For some words, your teacher might present you with definitions.

Write down the words and definitions in your Vocabulary Journal presented by your teacher. For each word, identify the vocabulary strategy (e.g., context, morphology, reference resource) you used to determine its meaning.

Activity 5: Read – Write – Discuss

We will interact with the words we defined to cement our understanding of their meaning.

Work with a partner or group to respond to the vocabulary exercises, as directed by your teacher.