The need for formal education in scientific ethics at the undergraduate level has been well established.  The American Chemical Society includes a specific requirement that ethics be taught in any department that it accredits.    While teaching ethics can be challenging at any level, it is especially difficult to introduce to undergraduates.  Many undergraduate students are not yet aware of the potential ethical pitfalls that can arise in science as they lack extensive first-hand research experience and thus may not see the relevance of an education in research ethics.                 There have been several reports of methods for introducing research ethics to undergraduates, including creating specific courses in research ethics, providing undergraduate researchers with ethics seminars, and working through ethical dilemmas in a peer-led setting.  While all of these methods can be effective, they may prove problematic for some students.  Specifically, if a student's ethical education is confined to one particular course (or seminar series, or activity), the student may assume that ethical training is just another �hoop� to jump through toward their degree and not an integral part of their education as scientists.                In order to address this issue, we instituted a new program in our department called �Ethics Across the Curriculum.�   In this program, ethics education is spread across all majors classes (both upper and lower division) in a specific and coordinated way.  As students progress through their courses, they also receive instruction in all of the ethical topics outlined by the ACS and have ample opportunities to discuss and think about general ethical dilemmas faced by scientists.  The specifics of this program, its advantages over traditional ethics education, challenges to implementation, and the steps that are being taken in its implementation will be addressed.

Ethics across the curriculum: A coordinated system for introducing research ethics as a part of the standard chemistry curriculum

247th National Meeting (2014)

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