Abstract:

At a time when the progress in biomedical and information technologies are going faster and faster, it appears essential to integrate ethical and societal issues stem from this evolution into scientific and technical curricula. In such context, ethics and ethics applied to biology and medicine (bioethics) stand out as crucial skills for the 21st century student in biological engineering. Indeed, they help to develop debating competences as well as interdisciplinary knowledge, thanks to the creation of spaces for reflection where to address different ways of doing and where to highlight issues concerning human beings. Hence ethics and bioethics are interdisciplinary sciences that are essential in research as well as in the implementation of its findings and the relation to the patient [1].

Aiming at addressing this social as well scientific need, Sylvie Falempin (English teacher), Raphaëlle Farcy-Pauthe (Clinical psychologist, PhD) and Violeta Rodriguez-Ruiz (University lecturer in Biology and Biomaterials for health) teamed up to transform three disciplinary courses (English for Research work, Bioethics and Bibliographic research) into one meaningful cross-curricular training for undergraduate Engineering students specialized in Biomaterials for Health.

The aim of this teaching experience was to guide students towards the construction of multidimensional knowledge (integrating linguistic, ethical and biological aspects) which could help them to develop holistic, open and precise research at a later stage. Thus, Bioethics was used as a common thread for all the aspects of ethics that were tackled over this module:
i) bioethics proper,
ii) a comparative study of the different media (vulgarisation versus scientific communication) on bioethics issues and
iii) the writing of a scientific review (in English) on the same bioethics issues.
A project-based approach in small groups was privileged, thus making for a more active and meaningful learning. That learning method also created the need for the knowledge that was transmitted in the very few lectures (definitions, historical or legal bioethics aspects, etc.) that were kept. For the module to be even more in line with the professional world, a roundtable debate was organized between intensive care doctors from the GHT-NOVO hospital (Pontoise, France) and the students. Besides, the assessments were based on written reports and oral presentations. Concerning the “writing of a scientific review” project, the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) method allowed the students to learn about research integrity, review writing and the Bioethics topics they had chosen to research and review while improving their skills at general as well as professional English written and oral communication.

Thus, disciplinary knowledge and skills that are essential to the 21st century engineers were built as early as the 2nd year of Bachelor’s degree through this innovative cross-curricular module and its projects, led by an unusual interdisciplinary team. That is what will be described, analysed and assessed in this article.

Reference:
[1] F. Caeymaex « Biotechnologie et bioéthique, Enjeux philosophiques », unpublished paper presented at the conference «Biotechnologies et bioéthique. Perspectives et enjeux de la recherche en Europe », ULg, 9 mai 2006

Keywords:

Ethics and Bioethics, interdisciplinarity, critical thinking, holistic research, CLIL, project-based learning.