Educating Young Researchers in Environment Ethics

在21世纪，科学研究将对人类产生更加重大和直接的影响。关于测量什么、在哪里、如何测量以及如何组织科学家和公众（包括政策专业人员）之间的接触的决定，将涉及重要且往往微妙的伦理层面。本研究寻求更深入地了解结构和干预措施，可以促进年轻研究者的道德成熟。该项目及其研究人员将汇集研究科学家、教育工作者和伦理学家，在三年多的时间里，分三个阶段开展工作：(1)建立一个讨论和理解科学教育中的伦理学的框架；(2)创建一种方法来衡量年轻研究者的道德成熟度；(3)在正式和非正式的科学学习环境中进行试点研究。研究人员假设，科学中的伦理行为在很大程度上受到科学家与其实践社区联系的情感、情感和人际方面的影响。因此，在严格的科学协议背景下，强调团队和项目为基础的学习的教育计划将比那些严重依赖（更不用说完全依赖）基于文本的学习的教育计划在鼓励道德实践方面做得更好。如果成功的话，该框架及其相关方法将把科学教育与情感成熟、情感反应和适合最佳伦理实践的人际关系联系起来。它将在城市公立学校网络和城市青少年暑期课程中这样做，这些设置可以有非常广泛的应用。希望从中吸取的教训能改善科学家思考自己专业活动的方式。在主要是科学消费者的学习者中，也有可能提高伦理深度。在科学学习的背景下定义和衡量道德成熟度的能力将是教育工作者的宝贵工具，特别是那些与年轻研究人员一起工作的人。如果该项目的中心假设（以团队为导向，以研究为基础的教学法有利于情感和情感的成长，并导致更多的道德选择），那么这项研究将支持这些高效，但在逻辑上困难的教育策略。此外，更好地理解地球和环境科学主题、伦理选择和科学伦理实践之间的联系，将使那些进入STEM职业的人为21世纪公民将面临的技术复杂选择做好准备。

In the 21st century, scientific research will have even more significant and immediate human impacts. Decisions about what, where, how to measure, and how to structure the engagement between scientists and the public, including policy professionals, will entail important and often nuanced ethical dimensions. This study seeks a deeper understanding of structures and interventions that can facilitate ethical maturity in young investigators. The project and its investigators will bring together research scientists, educators, and ethicists to work over three years, in 3 phases, to: (1) develop a framework to discuss and understand ethics in science education; (2) create a method to measure the ethical maturity of young investigators and (3) conduct a pilot study in formal and non-formal science learning settings. The investigators hypothesize that ethical behavior in science is substantially impacted by the affective, emotional, and interpersonal aspects of scientists' connections to their communities of practice. Therefore, educational programs that emphasize team- and project-based learning in the context of rigorous scientific protocols will do a better job of encouraging ethical practice than those that rely heavily, let alone exclusively, on text-based learning. The framework and its associated methods will, if successful, link science education with emotional maturity, affective reaction, and interpersonal connections appropriate to best ethical practices. It will do so in a network of urban public schools and summer programming for city teens, settings that can have very broad application. Hopefully the lessons learned will improve the ways that scientists think about their own professional activities. There is also potential for improved ethical depth among learners who will primarily be science consumers. The capacity to define and measure ethical maturity in the context of science learning would be a valuable tool for educators, especially those working with young researchers in their formative years. If the central hypothesis of the project (that team-oriented, research-based pedagogy is advantageous for affective and emotional growth and leads to more ethical choices), then this study will support these highly effective, but logistically difficult, educational strategies. In addition, a better understanding of the links between earth and environmental science subject matter, ethical choices, and the ethical practice of science, will prepare those headed into STEM careers for the types of technically-complex choices that citizen will face in the 21st century.