Gingerbread Ethics

I was doing training for my colleagues last week on Depth and Complexity and I told them Ethics is by far my favorite D&C concept to teach! (Yes, I know it makes me a total nerd that I have a favorite. :)  Ethics is all about taking a side and developing reasoning for that argument. Is it right or wrong? Are you pro/con? When my students first come to me it is very important for them to give me the "right" answer-what does she want me to say? After doing these activities throughout the year, they end up students who are capable of having an opinion and making an argument for it. I don't know if their parents particularly like that I'm making them better arguers :) but maybe there will be a future litigator in the bunch.

We read Gingerbread stories and I asked the students to write whether it was right or wrong that the Gingerbread cookie ran away? The little old lady and the little old man were sad and the Gingerbread Man certainly didn't get very far after he met the fox. Was it the right thing to do? Many of the students did say that it was "right". When this happens sometimes I even assign them a side like they do on debate teams-this half of the room say how it was "right" this half "wrong".

 

 

Now I do get these answers in the beginning. It's almost as if they are thinking it's a true/false question instead of right/wrong. It was right because that is what happened.

Gingerbread Self-Defense argument :) 

I love that she took the other side of the argument. She said if she was hungry she would not want her cookie to run away.