Using Frankenstein-themed science activities for science ethics education: An exploratory study

ABSTRACT

In order to help students become scientifically literate citizens, science education should allow them to gain a more concrete understanding of the potential social and ethical impacts of scientific and technological change. Using Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as an imaginative tool, we designed simple hands-on activities and a digital narrative game experience for middle school students, to open up new ways for students to think and talk about ethical issues around scientific creativity and exploration. After taking part in these activities, we interviewed 16 participants to investigate how the activities and the game affected their perceptions of science ethics. Although our respondents had difficulties conceptualizing science ethics in the abstract, we found that the activities gave them a variety of new ideas about the ethical and social implications of scientific work. Results from this study can help educators and researchers design, implement, and evaluate science ethics activities for middle school students.

KEYWORDS:

• Science ethics
• ethics education
• narrative based learning
• handson activities
• middle school
• elementary school

Acknowledgments

This research was conducted as part of the Frankenstein Bicentennial Project at Arizona State University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. 1516684.

Notes on contributors

Areej Mawasi

Areej Mawasi is a PhD student in Learning, Literacies, and Technologies in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. Areej earned her master’s in Educational Technology at ASU in 2017, where she also was a Fulbright Scholar. Areej earned her bachelor’s degree at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Business Administration and Education in 2012. Areej’s research interests include learning sciences, educational technology, and digital media.

Peter Nagy

Peter Nagy is a media scholar with a master’s degree in psychology from Eötvös Loránd University and a PhD in management from Corvinus University of Budapest. Before joining the Center for Science and the Imagination, Peter worked as a psychologist at a high school and as a research fellow at Central European University’s Center for Data, Media and Society in Budapest, Hungary. Peter’s research interests include the impact of communication technology on identity formation as well as the public understanding of science.

Ed Finn

Ed Finn is the founding director of the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University where he is an associate professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and the School of Arts, Media and Engineering. He is the author of What Algorithms Want: Imagination in the Age of Computation (MIT Press) and coeditor of Frankenstein: Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds (MIT Press) as well as several collections of science fiction. He completed his PhD in English and American Literature at Stanford University in 2011 and his bachelor’s degree at Princeton University in 2002.

Ruth Wylie

Ruth Wylie is the assistant director of the Center for Science and the Imagination and an assistant research professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. Ruth earned her PhD in Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University in 2011 and her bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Berkeley in Cognitive Science with minors in Computer Science and Education. Ruth concentrates on interdisciplinary, translational research that leverages knowledge and insights from theory and laboratory studies to answer real-world problems. Her previous research projects have been on the design, development, and implementation of educational technology for students and teachers in middle schools, high schools, and universities.