Citizenship Education in Nanotechnologies as a Means of Developing Ethical Thinking Among Students

Abstract

As pertains to the didactics of SAQs (Socially Acute Questions), we have experimented with educational devices contributing to the development of (i) controversial questions, (ii) engagement abilities and (iii) ethical thinking among learners. The work described in this paper has a praxeological aim. The combination of several theoretical fields related to nanotechnologies (nanoethics, sociology and political science, political philosophy) and their evolution during the past several decades, enables us to point out the lacunae and deficiencies that need to be addressed in order to build a citizenship education around this issue. Care Ethics provides some elements for building practical pedagogical devices capable of contributing to the development of hybrid, cosmopolitan and ethical thinking among—and even the empowerment of—learners. These elements can then be used as a guide for engineering debates and moral questioning on an SAQ related to nanomedicine.