Starters

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Headlines

Cut out or photocopy stories from the daily papers - a collection soon builds up. Laminate any particularly good ones for future use. NB write the paper and date in the margin first. Metro is a particularly good source as you can pick up a dozen copies at a time for free.

Many websites now supply newsfeeds which will keep you up to date with topical stories. Details about the BBC's service which includes Science specific items are available here.

This is a quick exercise designed to enable students to consider the different parts emotional reaction and logical thinking play in making difficult decisions.

A controversial question such as whether genetic screening should be made freely available is read out and students asked to move to nominated spaces in the room if they agree say yes, without reservation, yes, but only for those with disabling inherited disorders or no, never. The students are then asked to place their hand on their head if they made their decision through logical decision making weighing up the pros and cons or through an emotional reaction. Both are allowed.

This can be a good starter to use before a more thorough risk-benefit analysis to get students thinking about the pros and cons of a situation. It can also be used with subtly changing situations to illustrate the complexity of ethical questions.

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Ever since Concept cartoons became famous teachers have come to realise the value of cartoons for initiating a discussion. There are a wide range available on the internet - type the topic name eg. "cloning" and "cartoons" into Google and click on the Images tab.

We can't show you those here because of copyright issues but there are a few copyright free ones below to start you off.

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There is an article by Tom Kempton in December 2004’s School Science Review (Vol 86 no 315) on using cartoons and paintings to stimulate discussion if you want to follow this up further.

Animations for fun

•  Creating a mouse clone
•  Store Wars - A short animated film where the organic vegetables fight back.

 Structuring discussions