A ÉTICA QUÍMICA E SEU ENSINO A ESTUDANTES DE QUÍMICA

Abstract

CHEMICAL ETHICS AND ITS TEACHING TO CHEMISTRY STUDENTS. This paper aims at broadening the understanding of scientific ethics by addressing chemical ethics, which deals with the benefits, risks and uncertainties associated with or arising from chemical activities. Chemical ethics is a theme of the Philosophy of Chemistry and its discussion has been recommended in Chemical Education. The purpose of its teaching is to recognize and analyze ethical problems, as well as to evaluate the possible paths that can be followed to make better decisions. In this paper, the implementation of a didactic intervention based on a historical case and on a hypothetical case in an undergraduate course is described. The aim of the intervention was to promote the development of ethical reasoning, instead of prescribing a specific ethical path, solution, or behavior. The historical case allowed students to understand the risks and uncertainties associated with the use of chemical substances. The hypothetical case made it possible to make ethical decisions by dealing with a problem situation, in which the characters’ possible decisions and their consequences were analyzed. Results show that the different approaches enable complementary understandings, which favor the development of students’ ethical reasoning