Image by pencil parker from Pixabay Much has been written in the few months since ChatGPT’s release. You can find information about how the program works, reports from teachers and professors about the impact ChatGPT has already had on how they manage their classes, and opinion pieces on how ChatGPT may or may not change the future of education. Absent amidst the deluge of information, though, are resources for students and educators on how to make informed, ethical decisions about how to engage with ChatGPT. School leaders in particular are faced with the challenge of setting policies for if ..read more

By Ms. Maura Crowe, US and MS Science Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay During the winter trimester, after students in the Bioethics Project course have chosen their specific research topic, they are each given the opportunity to lead a class through a lesson called, “Bioethics in the News.” There are two main goals of this activity: 1) to help each student to learn more about a particular facet of their research, and 2) to help each student, as the facilitator, practice the skills needed to carry a discussion for approximately thirty minutes. Through this activity, we all benefit, as a ..read more

By Ariel Sykes, Assistant Director of the Ethics Institute Below are two sample lesson plans on environmental ethics. There are links to each lesson plan in a word document format for easy downloading or printing. Exploring Values & Virtues within Environmental Ethics: Sustainable Food Systems Lesson material developed from material by Healing Earth & Loyola University Introduction: When we talk about ethics, we think about what is important to us and why. This is what we VALUE.  Then we reflect on whether how we live and act are aligned with what we say is important. This is cal ..read more

This is an activity from the Ethics and the Arts summer program in which you have to pick which works of art you want to save and which you will leave behind to be destroyed.  After you have completed the activity, there are reflection questions to prompt further discussion. We have included a list of works of art to pick from for the activity, but feel free to create your own list! Activity The world is going to end in 10 minutes and you are tasked with choosing which works of art to bring on the ships to the moon colony and which to leave behind. (The list of artworks you must pick from ..read more

By Ariel Sykes, Assistant Director of the Ethics Institute The following lesson plan is from the 9th grade required course called Introduction to Ethics. As part of this course students learn about the different ethical frameworks and theories that can be used to make ethical decisions. As part of the “consequentialism” unit, students are introduced to the timeless philosophical thought-experiment of the “Trolley Problem.” To make the scenario more realistic, I have introduced the variation of “self-driving cars” and use the simulation provided through MIT via moralmachine.net. After completi ..read more

Kent Place School Teachers’ Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence To introduce our new theme of Ethics and Artificial Intelligence (AI), we asked several Kent Place community members to share their thoughts on AI and why it is important to think critically about the role AI plays in our world. Our contributors this week are:Elena Iannuzzi, Upper School Math teacher Mark Semioli, Middle School History teacher Dr. Evelyn Hanna, STEM, Computer Science, Engineering & Mathematics Chair What is your background in AI? What interests you most about AI? Elena Iannuzzi (EI): Just like most peo ..read more

This article is republished piece from Net Assets Magazine, with permission (November/December 2020 Issue). By James R. Palmieri, NBOA Download the original article here KPS Ethics Workshop for Faculty & Staff, led by Dr. Karen Rezach the Director of The Ethics Institute at Kent Place School Pressures on the financial aid budget aren’t just financial. Agreeing upon values and sticking to them help make every dollar count — and the school community stronger. Kent Place School (KPS) is in an enviable position, literally. The preschool-grade 12 girls’ school is located in the metropolitan N ..read more

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Letting Students Live in an Anonymous World By Dr. Karen Rezach, Director of the Ethics Institute at Kent Place School KPS Middle School Student Engaging in Hybrid Learning Only a decade ago, people were expected to “stand by” the opinions they expressed. They signed letters and added their names to emails. When they didn’t do that and contributed opinions anonymously, many people tended to dismiss what they had to say. If a student wrote an anonymous letter to report about being bullied or to complain about a coach who wasn’t being fair, school administrat ..read more

Perspectives from Social Science Research, Philosophy and the Ethics Institute at Kent Place School By Ariel Sykes, Assistant Director of the Ethics Institute Center for Innovation, home of the Ethics Institute at Kent Place School This blog is part of our Exploring Ethical Leadership Blog Series Question #3: What are the outcomes and impacts of ethical leadership? Social Science Lense The value of ethical leadership is often assumed: if leaders act ethically, then organizations and communities will benefit. There is also the belief that those who work with and for ethical leaders will thereby ..read more

Now is the time to bring Philosophy and the study of Ethics into our schools, communities, and businesses By: Ariel Sykes, Assistant Director of the Ethics Institute; Alida Liberman, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Southern Methodist University; and Jonathan Spelman, Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Ohio Northern University This document was created by the others during a working group session of the 2020 American Association of Philosophy Teachers (AAPT) Virtual Conference The Importance of Philosophy for this Moment Philosophy has an especially powerful role to play dur ..read more