In seventh grade English class, students in Mr. Green’s class moved from various stations in the hallway to consider ethical issues around human and animal experiments. Students considered what they would do if they were involved in various science experiments or studies in the context of the short story “Flowers for Algernon,” by Daniel Keys. In the story, the main character participates in a scientific study that increases his IQ dramatically. As students moved between the various scenarios, they decided what they would do if they were faced with each experimental situation. One hypothetical experiment included “a new technology has been created that allows people to have one painful memory erased. You have been given an opportunity to get one memory erased, and the process is free and painless. What would you do?” By examining stories in the context of moral and ethical issues, students ground their readings int he real world and also consider the impact of various technological innovations on the world.
An Experiment on Experiments
