Challenges and Opportunities for Education About Dual Use Issues in the Life Sciences (2011) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
4 Gaps, Needs, and Potential Remedies
4 Gaps, Needs, and Potential Remedies
Pages 73-106
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From page 73... ...
One of the plenary sessions on the first day and the first breakout session focused on providing additional information about the current state of education and the availability of online materials to supplement the background papers commissioned for the workshop; the results of these discussions were presented in the previous chapter. The remaining breakout sessions focused on specific topics, with the first four groups listed below addressing one set of common questions and the other four groups addressing a second common set.
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From page 74... ...
The three sections are: • Educational Materials and Methods, with "materials" defined broadly to include a variety of online resources; • Implementing Education About Dual Use Issues: Practical Consider ations, including teacher/faculty development, implementation at different stages of education and via existing programs such as bioethics or biosafety, and assessment and evaluation; and • Broader Implementation Issues, such as financial resources and the roles of scientific organizations, governments, and international organizations. Some of the sections begin with "Background" that offers an intro duction or information from other sources.
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From page 75... ...
In this way, dual use issues would be seen as more directly relevant to the student and could be integrated into broader training programs rather than presented solely as standalone information. This also highlighted one of the most significant gaps identified by the participants: how much of the currently available online resources on dual use issues appear to be targeted to the U.S.
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From page 76... ...
from the Bradford Disarmament Research Center and its collaborators, has been translated into Japanese and Russian.
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From page 77... ...
. At the workshop, some participants proposed including materials about dual use issues in the resources available from a number of online centers that already exist to promote better science education; see Box 41 for a list and brief description of some examples.
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From page 78... ...
MERLOT's strategic goal is to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning by increas ing the quantity and quality of peer-reviewed online learning materials that can be easily incorporated into faculty-designed courses. www.merlot.org SENCER Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENC ER)
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From page 79... ...
is a community of scientists, teachers, and learners who are interested in supporting biology education that reflects realistic scientific practices. The efforts in science education build on a commitment to engaging learners in a full spectrum of biological inquiry from problem posing to problem solving and peer persuasion.
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From page 80... ...
The plan includes an online com munity resource that would provide the capacity for discussions among specialized groups that could also use it to collaborate on activities such as the development of materials. One issue raised was the capacity of the VBC to reach beyond the biosecurity community that will be its natural constituency to engage more traditional science and science education organizations, but the organizers have already made progress in that area by engaging several U.S.
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From page 81... ...
In terms of active learning approaches, using either real cases or sce narios as part of role playing was cited as an effective method to deliver content, since it engaged students in experiencing the perspectives of different stakeholders. A number of participants also discussed ways to incorporate newer media, such as audio and video podcasts and YouTube, and virtual reality settings such as Second Life.
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From page 82... ...
Participants stressed again that the most effective teaching strategies were likely to depend on the targeted audiences. Conclusions Based on its understanding of the materials currently available, as described in Chapter 3 and above, on the additional material about teach ing strategies in Chapter 2, and on the discussions at the Warsaw meeting, the committee concluded that: • Additional materials are needed that will be relevant to diverse audiences in many parts of the world, as well as those at dif 3 An account of research about such efforts at the K12 level was presented at the 2010 conference of the International Society for Technology in Education and offers potentially relevant suggestions for more advanced settings.
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From page 83... ...
• Teaching strategies need to focus on active learning and clear learning objectives, while allowing for local adaptation and application. IMPLEMENTING EDUCATION ABOUT DUAL USE ISSUES: PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS Opportunities to Implement Education in Varied Settings A recurring theme during the workshop was the variety of settings in which content about dual use issues could be introduced.
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From page 84... ...
Workshop participants felt that both types of training offered fruitful paths to achieving the goal of responsible scientific conduct and that any opportunities to introduce the concept of dual use into ongoing educa tional discussions should be taken, whether this was through biosafety, bioethics, biosecurity, or other avenues. Some participants also suggested that the growing interest in expanding education about dual use issues, such as the proposal to require such education for all federally funded life scientists in the United States (NASBB 2007, Rocca 2008)
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From page 85... ...
At these stages, the importance of mentors, the research laboratory environment, and incentives also become more significant. Support from senior fac ulty for the importance of a culture of responsibility and for considering broader societal issues, including dual use, was cited as very important in creating an environment in which students would feel encouraged and enabled to think beyond their particular research.
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From page 86... ...
Participants also noted that examples of research having potential dual use implications could be drawn from multiple areas of biology, not sim ply the highly dangerous pathogens that are the usual focus.5 As a result, it was suggested that students and scientists across the spectrum of the life sciences could broadly benefit from an awareness of the fundamental ethical norms of science, the concept of research with dual use potential, and how this issue might be relevant to them. There could also be valu able lessons for the design and implementation of education to be learned from the experience of other disciplines in addressing issues of ethics and responsible conduct (NAE 2009)
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From page 87... ...
Designing effective programs to discuss ethical issues in the life sciences, including implications of dual use research, requires not only decisions on the content to be taught but also on the process employed to teach and assess it. An important aspect of the Warsaw workshop was its effort to combine subject matter experts in biosecurity and biosafety, practicing life scientists, and people with expertise in effec tive teaching and learning strategies.
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From page 88... ...
Working in a fully supported online learning community, participants will be able to communicate and interact with peers, developing their practice through sustained reflection and participation in a range of activities and scenarios. Participants will be encouraged to bring their own personal ideas and experiences to the course, sharing these with peers in order to contextualise their knowledge and understanding in ways that will help them meet the ethical challenges thrown up by dual use (Bradford Disarmament Research Centre website 2010)
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From page 89... ...
The Summer Institutes bring approximately 40 life sciences faculty members together for a week devoted to learning about effective methods of teaching and developing innovative curricular materials that partici pants implement in their own classes in the following academic year. The Summer Institutes also seek to develop a sense of community among the participants and build a network of life sciences faculty devoted to high quality life sciences education (Pfund et al.
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From page 90... ...
There was also some concern that assessment not become so intrusive or burdensome that it would discourage either students or faculty from undertaking the new approaches and content. In spite of the challenges associated with assessment of educational programs about life sciences research with dual use potential, participants felt that assessment would be feasible and could draw on some of the 7 An introduction to the enormous literature on program evaluation may be found in Wholey, Hatry, and Newcomer (2004)
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From page 91... ...
Perhaps the most serious, participants agreed, is the continued lack of awareness among practicing scientists about the concept of dual use or about the potential issues posed by research in the life sciences with dual use potential. Ironically, the fun damental purpose of education is to raise awareness and foster norms of responsible conduct, but until that happens, limited awareness frequently translates into limited support for including dual use issues in the curricu lum.
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From page 92... ...
These barriers include, for example: • A crowded curriculum that makes it difficult to add new or addi tional material. This is a common problem in efforts to introduce education about responsible conduct, and it also affects efforts to expand the training that life scientists receive about other, increas ingly relevant disciplines, such as physical sciences or mathematics and computer sciences.
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From page 93... ...
Conclusions Based on its understanding of the courses and materials currently available, as described in Chapter 3, on additional material cited above and in Chapter 2, and on the discussions at the Warsaw meeting, the com mittee concluded that: • Incorporating education about dual use issues into the channels through which life scientists already receive their exposure to issues of responsible conduct -- biosafety, bioethics and research ethics, and RCR -- offers the greatest opportunity to reach the largest and most diverse range of students and professionals. Biosafety training reaches those with the most capabilities, knowledge, and motivation relevant to dual use.
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From page 94... ...
. This section addresses a number of such issues in the particular context of expanding education about dual use issues worldwide, with a focus on the roles of scientific organizations, gov ernments, and international agreements and organizations.
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From page 95... ...
• Support the creation of clearinghouses or resource centers, which could be linked to form an international network, where mate rials could be deposited, shared, and developed and vetted collaboratively. • Undertake meeting sessions, workshops, articles and other pub licity to engage students and faculty through various scientific organizations and professional associations.
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From page 96... ...
Participants acknowledged that capacity varied greatly among the organizations and that the splintering of the life sciences among many separate groups at the national and international level made the task of engaging "the life sciences community" more difficult. A number of these organizations are already active in biosecurity, however, as their roles as conveners of the workshop illustrated.
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From page 97... ...
Workshop participants discussed other contributions that they believed scientific organizations could make to education and the ways to promote and sustain such engagement. Participants suggested mak ing use of existing fora, such as scientific conferences, science education conferences, and other meetings to discuss dual use issues and foster engagement.
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From page 98... ...
The code articulates guiding principles to inform responsible conduct. Of particular relevance to the question of education is the section on "Raising Awareness," which recommends in part to "devote specific attention in the education and further training of professionals in the life sciences to the risks of misuse of biological, biomedical, biotechnological and other life sciences research and the constraints imposed by the btwc [sic]
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From page 99... ...
Perhaps the most obvious role, given the many needs identified during the course of the workshop, is financial support. The sums are not very large relative to other expenditures, for example, on science education, and certainly not relative to the expenditures that a few nations such as the United States are making in biodefense.
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From page 100... ...
The Role of International Agreements and Organizations This report has already given substantial attention to the contribu tions that the work of international organizations, as well as the imple mentation of international agreements, is already making to support for biosecurity, and, in a number of cases, to education about dual use issues. Two organizations, the WHO and UNESCO, along with the processes related to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, stand out.
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From page 101... ...
. The report of the 2008 BWC states parties meeting specifically offers an opening: States Parties are encouraged to inform the Seventh Review Conference of, inter alia, any actions, measures or other steps that they may have taken on the basis of the discussions at the 2008 Meeting of Experts and the outcome of the 2008 Meeting of States Parties, in order to facilitate the Seventh Review Conferences consideration of the work and outcome of these meetings and its decision on any further action, in accordance with the decision of the Sixth Review Conference (BWC/CONF.VI/6, Part III, paragraph 7 (e)
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From page 102... ...
In addi tion, the upcoming Seventh Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention in 2011 will provide an opportunity for member states to build on prior work and take affirmative steps in support of education about dual use issues. SUMMING UP: THE COMMITTEE'S RECOMMENDATIONS In Chapter 3 the committee presented a number of its findings about the extent of current education about dual use issues internationally and the availability of online materials to support it.
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From page 103... ...
, as well as inclusion of examples of research with dual use potential in general life sciences courses. • Insights from research on learning and effective teaching should inform development of materials, approaches to teaching stu dents, and to preparing faculty.
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From page 104... ...
2006. Sixth Review Conference of the States Parties to the Biological Weapons Conven tion.
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From page 105... ...
Como, Italy: Landau Network Centro Volta and Bradford Disarmament Research Centre. Mancini, G., and J
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From page 106... ...
Report of the Bradford meeting, July 2010. Bradford, UK: Bradford Disarmament Research Centre.
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