This seminar will examine various ethical and moral issues that permeate today's society. These will include social, political, economic, and religious issues. The backbone of the course will be constructed through a series of modern ethical topics that deal with morality and value judgments in a variety of societal contexts. The heart of the course will bring to light various topics saturating the news and society today, such as capital punishment, abortion, euthanasia, genetic engineering, anabolic steroid use, gun control, gay rights, affirmative action, and Internet censorship. Each topic will receive a week's worth of attention and be delivered in various types of Web-enhanced teaching-learning environments. The weekly schedule will be as follows:

Requirements and Evaluation

The goal of the course is to help each individual student develop their own understandings concerning morality and value judgments. The goal will not be to shape the students' morality with any set agenda. Hopefully, as a result of the curriculum, each student will be a better informed and educated citizen who has the capability to make better decisions in an increasingly confusing world.

At the end of this history seminar, students should be able to:

• understand various ethical dilemmas which transcend various paradigms in society today, such as: (1) political and diplomatic issues; (2) intellectual and cultural concerns; (3) social and economic concepts;

• develop the ability to see historical, economic, and societal facts in context, distinguish courses of movements or trends, establish causes, results, and significance in terms of morality;

• read current and historical materials in a discriminating way and to write effectively;

• develop the ability to weigh evidence and reach conclusions on the basis of facts, not prejudice;

• learn to use primary documents and secondary sources as research materials.

For independent work, students are expected to complete a 6-10 page term paper focusing on one specific argument within a topic of modern applied ethics, while rejecting any existing counter-arguments. Students will choose this in consultation with the teacher. The term paper and final research presentation will count for 25% of the final grade. The remaining 75% of a student's grade will be determined through various rubrics outlined in each of the nine WebQuests presented in this Ethics & Morality Web site. One common area of assessment will be an on-going weekly journal that students will submit to the instructor at the close of each week. Once again, the content categories will include capital punishment, abortion, euthanasia, genetic engineering, anabolic steroid use, gun control, gay marital rights, affirmative action, and Internet censorship.

Performance-Based Goals & Objectives

This seminar course will examine the moral and ethical dilemmas that shape our existence in modern society. We will begin with an exploration of timeless fables, determining their significance and continual importance. The shaping of ethical values will then be discussed vis-a-vis nine modern day social and political issues, ranging from euthanasia to gun control to the death penalty.

At the end of this one-term seminar, students should be able to:

1. understand various ethical dilemmas which transcend numerous paradigms in society today, such as political and diplomatic issues, intellectual and cultural concerns, and social and economic concepts;

2. develop the ability to analyze historical, economic, and societal facts in context, distinguish courses of movements or trends, and establish causes, results, and significance in terms of morality;

3. think, read, write, and speak critically on ethical topics - including learning to sustain a discussion by making assertions, asking questions, and defending their opinions, learning to formulate a thesis with evidence, and learning to examine primary sources, extract data, and use the data as evidence in an argument;

4. improve their ability to read by inferring and describing the thesis, bias, and validity of articles and research presented to them;

5. practice the skills of note-taking and outlining;

6. write clear, coherent answers to interpretive questions within their sphere of knowledge and ethical values;

7. find information in books and periodicals in the library and on the Internet, and to incorporate such information in a properly documented research paper;

8. develop greater self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-motivation to the extent that they can fulfill the academic expectations of a college-preparatory curriculum;

9. develop a strong sense of academic integrity - including learning to take personal responsibility for the quality and honesty of their work, learning to fulfill all academic commitments, and learning to respect the formal and informal conventions of citing sources and giving credit to others.