New and Emerging Technologies

Extension Unit

If some of the many thousands of human volunteers needed to test coronavirus vaccines could have been replaced by digital replicas—one of the Top Emerging Technologies—Vaccines like COVID-19 might have been developed even faster, saving untold lives. Soon virtual clinical trials could be a reality for testing new vaccines and therapies.

Other technologies could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by electrifying air travel and enabling sunlight to directly power the production of industrial chemicals. With “spatial” computing, the digital and physical worlds will be integrated in ways that go beyond the feats of virtual reality. And ultrasensitive sensors that exploit quantum processes will set the stage for such applications as wearable brain scanners and vehicles that can see around corners.

Unit 9 Ethical Activity

Activity #9: Code of Ethics

Timeframe: 1 hour

Skills Required/Ethical Principles Involved: Self-Reflection, Teamwork, Respect, Fairness Supplies: Paper, pens/pencils

Description: This activity encourages students to reflect on their own morals, ideals, and beliefs while creating a business code of ethics.

Process: Instruct students to reflect on their own personal values and then work together with a team to create a business code of ethics. To get students thinking about their own personal values, ask students to brainstorm a list of individuals (personal or famous, living or dead) they admire or look up to. You can list the names on a whiteboard or simply encourage discussion. Ask students to consider the reasons why they look up to these people and the personal qualities that have made them successful. Encourage students to think about their strengths and weaknesses, how they see themselves, how their friends see them, what they believe is important in life and why, etc.

After reflecting on these characteristics and values, separate students into groups of four to six and explain that students will be creating their own business organization and an accompanying code of ethics. As a group, they’ll decide their business name, industry, and mission and then use their personal reflection to create a business code of ethics. Review How to Create Your Code of Ethics (With Examples) from Indeed (https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/create-code-of-ethics). Encourage students to research other business codes of ethics as examples when creating their own. Team members will need to juggle their personal values, others’ personal values, and their organization’s mission. Students should consider how the type of organization might affect its values (e.g., a small environmentally conscious shoe company may have different values than an educational nonprofit or an international bank). Teams should create a paragraph-long code of ethics to present to the class.

Wrap-Up: Ask students how they determined which values were important to their organization. Did they follow any belief systems? How did they incorporate their personal values into the business code of ethics? What challenges did they face?

Sources: Creating a Personal Code of Ethics:

http://www.syracusecityschools.com/tfiles/folder1925/Creating%20a%20Personal%20Code%20of%20Et hics%20Grade%209%20Health%20lesson%20plan_0.pdf

How to Write a Personal Ethics Statement: https://classroom.synonym.com/write-personal-ethics statement-4912361.html

How to Create Your Code of Ethics (With Examples): https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career development/create-code-of-ethics