What bioethics contents are addressed in 11th grade Scientific Culture books? How and what do teachers work in their classrooms?

Abstract

In this paper, we seek to analyse the content and activities on bioethics in six different textbooks for the subject of Scientific Culture in the first year of the Spanish baccalaureate. It also considers how 26 teachers deal with this content and what didactic methodologies they use in the classroom. The methodology was framed in content analysis. Regarding to the textbooks, a system of categories based on evaluation criteria of the curriculum was carried out. To find out the way these teachers worked, a questionnaire with six open questions was also designed. The results show that there is a certain heterogeneity in the type of content about bioethics included in the textbooks, highlighting those related to the pharmaceutical industry, as well as in the curricular content developed by the teachers in the classroom. In terms of methodologies and working approaches, debate stands out as one of the tools most used by teachers to work on bioethical dilemmas.