¨Write the phrase “ethical dilemma” on the board or flip chart and ask the students what they think it means. Write what they say, helping them to break the words apart.

¨Divide the class into small (3-5) groups and ask each group to try to come up with definitions of the following terms:

Ethics, morals, values, dilemma, conflicts, belief system, options, point of view, personal perspective, altruism, deontology, hedonism, hypothesis, nihilism, utilitarianism, pragmatism,  absolutism.

All vocabulary words need to be written on the board.

¨Point out that ethics is about looking at your values and morals. You can encourage the students to use dictionaries or any other resource, such as other teachers, if time and rules permit. As a class, come to agreement on these definitions and ask for some sort of drawing or picture that will help everyone to remember the definitions.

¨Write the consensus definitions on large pieces of paper with accompanying pictures and post them where they will be visible during the rest of the course.

¨ Are any of these words familiar to you? Maybe you have heard the phrase “point of view” in an English class.

¨Can you think of somebody to ask about these terms? Is there another teacher at your school? Can you use the Internet? What would be the fastest? Do you want to break your group into smaller parts to get the answers faster?

¨ Who is going to explain to the class what your group decided?