Ethics Education for Professional Science Master's Programs

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This project is creating ethics education materials in the growing area of Professional Science Masters (PSM) education programs. Its goal is to enhance student awareness of important ethical issues and develop critical thinking skills of future science professionals working in three PSM fields: computational, biological, and environmental sciences. The model for developing materials is designed to be adaptable by any of the PSM programs within the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system and can also be used by PSM programs nationally. After evaluation, these materials will be integrated into course materials. Project teams are preparing learning materials that reflect the ethical dilemmas and challenges often faced by PSM professionals in the workplace, using a problem-based learning approach and case exploration. Mentoring in an internship setting is providing guidance for curricular integration. The project also has a comprehensive evaluation component. Broader impacts derive from the fact that the California State University (CSU) System has launched fifteen PSM programs throughout California and is in the process of creating 15 more. Nationally, there are more than 120 Professional Science Masters (PSM) programs in 60 universities as of January, 2009. PSM programs combine science with employer-relevant graduate education in business, management, communications, and law. This project extends ethics education models beyond graduate academic education to graduate professional education. As PSM graduates take professional positions, understanding of ethics and integrity in scientific research outside of the academy will grow. Ethics education materials developed here will be placed in established on-line educational repositories: the National STEM Digital Library (NSDL) and the international MERLOT higher education repository.