Implementing the Tenth Strand - Page 8 of 18

Suggested laboratories (3 hours):

1) Have students read two articles with different viewpoints on the same ethical issue and evaluate the articles by identifying and discussing the ethical standards mentioned in each article.

2) Have students read and discuss a case study in which a computer professional has to make a difficult choice.

3) Have students read an article in which the author displays one of the naive approaches to ethical reasoning and write an analysis of it.

Connections: Related to: ES1,ES3, ES4 Prerequisites: a semester of computer programming

ES3: Basis Skills of Ethical Analysis

1) arguing from example, analogy, and counter-example,
2) identifying stakeholders in concrete situations
3) identifying ethical issues in concrete situations,
4) applying ethical codes to concrete situations, and
5) identifying and evaluating alternative courses of action.

Since these are basic tools of ethical reasoning, computing professionals need practice in using them in relationship to technical issues. These skills should be introduced in an ethics module early in the curriculum and students should be given enough time to move from their own intuition, to specific reasons, to concrete cases and back again in intense discussions with other students and faculty. These skills should then be used in subsequent technical courses with case studies and design exercises.

Recurring Concepts: conceptual and formal models, tradeoffs and consequences, complexity, abstraction