ETHICAL VALUES AND OTHER KINDS OF VALUES

1 ETHICALVALUES ANDOTHERKINDS OFVALUESPURPOSE To help students begin to understand what ethicsmeans To distinguish ETHICAL valuesfrom OTHER KINDS of valuesPREPARATION ANDMATERIALSP hotocopy the ETHICAL VALUES and OTHER KINDS of VALUES handout. Photocopy the EthicalValues and OTHER KINDS of VALUES worksheet . Arrange your classroom so students canwork in small groups on this activity. PROCESS Read the text together as a whole class, or in small groups if that seems moreappropriate. Discuss the ideas in the text and the different terms targeted. Next, break your class into small groups, if you have not already done so.

2 Pass outcopies of the ETHICAL VALUES and OTHER KINDS of VALUES worksheet . Ask students towork together in their small groups to determine the ETHICAL and nonethical valuesin each example. Ask them to mark E over the ETHICAL and N over the nonethi-cal VALUES , as per the directions at the top of the sheet. Then, as an extension to the worksheet , invite each group to choose a scenario toperform for the class (or assign one to each group). Give students time to preparetheir skits. After each group presents to the class, use the opportunity to firm up the differ-ence between ETHICAL VALUES and OTHER KINDS of VALUES through discussion aboutthe FORGLOBALETHICSE lementary Decision Skills3.

3 Defining ETHICAL Va l u e s71 Elementary Decision SkillsINSTITUTE FORGLOBALETHICSETHICALVALUES ANDOTHERKINDS OFVALUESThe word ethicshas to do with good or doing the right thing. Anethical decisionis the kind of decision that has to do with making agood choice. When people talk about VALUES ,they are oftenreferring to ethicalvalues the kind of VALUES that have to dowith being good or doing the right thing. They mean the valuesthat are good for a family. There are lots of VALUES , however, that have nothing to do withethics. It is important to be able to tell the difference betweenethical VALUES and nonethical VALUES if you want to get at themost basic ideas about goodness or doing the right thing.

4 In thescenarios on the worksheet , you ll be exploring the differencebetween ETHICAL and nonethical VALUES . If you feel some confusion about the difference, try this test. Askyourself, Is this value about goodness, or doing the right thing?Would you consider a person with this value to be a better per-son than someone without this value ? INSTITUTE FORGLOBALETHICSE lementary Decision SkillsETHICALVALUES ANDOTHERKINDS OFVALUESIn each of the following examples, the ETHICAL VALUES and thenonethical VALUES are underlined. Write an E over the ethicalvalues. Write an N over the nonethical VALUES .

5 The first one isdone for #1:Jeff is very athletic and he plays on the basketballteam. What I like most about the way he plays is that he s such ateam player. He would never keep the ball just to make a fancyplay. He s considerate of everybody else on his team. NIs being athletic about goodness or doing the right thing? EIs considerate?SCENARIO#2:Sheila is one of the most responsible people Iknow. She is very adventurous and likes to challenge herself inall sorts of ways, but she doesn t forget to be sensible. Oncesome of us climbed a really tall tree together, and then I hadtrouble getting down.

6 Sheila didn t just run off, but helped mefind a way to the ground. She knew I could have hurt myself ifshe hadn t stayed to Decision SkillsINSTITUTE FORGLOBALETHICSIs being responsible about goodness or doing the right thing? Is adventurous?SCENARIO#3:I like visiting Rakesh s family because they re sohospitable. They re pretty wealthy, but they never make me feeluncomfortable at their home. Just the opposite is true. Theymake me feel like a part of the family and we always have lots of being hospitable about goodness or doing the right thing? Is wealthy?SCENARIO#4:I like Samantha because she s respectful of every-body, even though she can be really funny.

7 Some kids tell jokesthat are hurtful and mean. Samantha knows how to make every-body laugh, and nobody gets being respectful about goodness or doing the right thing? Is funny?INSTITUTE FORGLOBALETHICSE lementary Decision SkillsSCENARIO#5:Barry is very musical, and sometimes I wish Icould play the guitar as well as he can. I also admire his OTHER day, when band practice didn t go very well, he wasthe first to admit that he hadn t really practiced the way he dpromised. Is being musical about goodness or doing the right thing? Is honesty?SCENARIO#6:Jill is very creative and will probably become anartist someday.

8 She s a great help when we work on group proj-ects because she always has good ideas about what we shoulddo. She also is cooperative with everyone else. When we worktogether, I never feel like she s bossing me around, even thoughshe usually knows the best way to go about getting the being creative about goodness or doing the right thing? Is cooperative?CATEGORIZINGVALUESPURPOSE To continue exploration of ETHICAL VALUES and OTHER types of valuesPREPARATION ANDMATERIALSP hotocopy the Which is It? worksheet . You can make a copy for each student, to fill outindependently, or enough copies for students to work with in small groups (one copy pergroup).

9 Or, if you think this would benefit your class more, transcribe the worksheet svalues list onto chart paper and work as a whole group. Have chart paper and markersready to make a class :You can use this activity to assess students understanding of the concept of Have your students work through the worksheet individually, in pairs, or as awhole class. Once the worksheet is complete, check answers and make sure the meaning of eth-ical valueis clear. Now use the students work to make a poster. List ETHICAL VALUES in one columnon the poster. List Nonethical VALUES in another column.

10 Leave space in the ETHICAL VALUES column for more words. Throughout literature,history, science, and OTHER content area studies, you will come across more exam-ples of ETHICAL VALUES . Add to the list as your students discover new words, helpingthem to make connections to ethics from a variety of subject FORGLOBALETHICSE lementary Decision Skills3. Defining ETHICAL Va l u e s77 Elementary Decision SkillsINSTITUTE FORGLOBALETHICSWHICH ISIT?All the words listed below represent VALUES . Circle the wordsthat represent RespectfulAttentiveHospitableOpenFairAmb itiousBraveCHARACTERTRAITS: FAMOUSPEOPLEPURPOSE To further explore ETHICAL VALUES and how they differ from OTHER KINDS of valuesPREPARATION ANDMATERIALSA rrange reading groups as you deem appropriate.