Ethics Lessons


Ethics Primer
The complete 173-page Ethics Primer is available free for download.
Click here to submit your information and be directed to the Ethics Primer Page.

Preview sample content from the Ethics Primer:

The Ethics Primer provides engaging, interactive, and classroom-friendly lesson ideas for integrating ethical issues into a science classroom. It also provides basic background on ethics as a discipline, with straightforward descriptions of major ethical theories. Several decision-making frameworks are included to help students apply reasoned analysis to ethical issues.

Although the Primer is designed for secondary school science classrooms, it has been used by teachers in a variety of classes and grade levels. It is particularly suited to social studies and integrated/interdisciplinary classrooms. It has also been used with adults. The Primer is not designed to be used cover to cover. Teachers should review materials and select lessons that fit their needs. The Primer is also intended to be used as a general resource, with a wide variety of topics.

The complete Ethics Primer is now available free for download. In order for us to measure how our curriculum resources are being used, we request that you please complete the brief information form before being directed to the download page. We will not share your contact information with anyone but may ask if you are willing to participate in the program evaluation conducted for our grant.

Development of the Ethics Primer was made possible by 'Collaborations to Advance Understanding of Science in Ethics', a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources, National Institutes of Health, 1R25RR016284-01A2.


Ethics in the Science Classroom Lessons Developed by Participants
Developed by the participants of NWABR's annual Ethics in Science summer workshop, these lesson plans illustrate how seamlessly ethics can be tied to content issues in all disciplines in science and readily align with State and National Standards. These lessons are generously shared by teachers and permissions are granted for classroom use, provided appropriate references are included. Over 30 lessons are available on topics as diverse as salmon, research ethics, and reproductive technologies!

2007 Teacher-Developed Action Plans

(Developed individually or in groups) Our program has shifted to allow teachers to develop 'Action Plan' materials of direct relevance to their practice.

2006 Teacher-Developed Action Plans

2002-2005 Teacher-Developed Lessons
(Developed in groups and categorized by topic)


NWABR is a 501(c)3 organization. All contributions are tax deductible.
The NWABR web site was made possible by funding from the National Center for Research
Resources and the National Institutes of Health through a Science Education Partnership Award.

Copyright 1999-2008 Northwest Association for Biomedical Research
All rights reserved.