AB028. Teaching bioethics and bioethics research using inquiry-based pedagogy

Background: Bioethics, which was previously confined to the related studies of philosophy, ethics, biology, and medicine is a growing field of study that has broadened to include public health, law, and globalization among others. This has made the teaching of bioethics and bioethics research education increasingly significant. In this light, this paper discusses how bioethics and bioethics research can be taught using an inquiry-based pedagogy, particularly, through building a community of inquiry.

Methods: The succeeding discussions detail each aspect of the Lipman-Sharp five-point approach to building a community of inquiry. The method is then applied to several concepts and issues in bioethics and bioethics research. These concepts and issues serve as sample cases to determine how they can be taught to students using the Lipman-Sharp approach. There is a clear distinction between bioethics education and bioethics research education.

Results: For this reason, several cases are presented to entirely cover both areas of investigation. The result of this application is a pedagogical approach to teaching bioethics and bioethics research. It is expected that if the results of this research are adopted by educational institutions and organizations that are concerned with bioethics, it can help improve how bioethics and bioethics research is taught and practiced in many parts of the world.

Conclusions: Such conclusions are drawn from the inherent nature of the community of inquiry to be democratic and reasonable. As such, the teaching of bioethics as well as bioethics research education will avoid being didactic, infallible, and teacher-centered. Rather, it would be reflective, open to questions, and student-driven.

Keywords: Bioethics; education; community of inquiry; global health; research