A2 Making decisions about science and technology activities
Activities
The following activities develop ideas about making decisions. These ideas are also referred to in other activities.
3.1 Cannabis and the Law
3.2 Teenage crime
3.4 Political responses to climate change
3.5 Renewable energy for a Nepalese community
3.5 Costs and benefits of a Severn barrage
3.5 The nuclear power debate
3.5 Energy futures
3.6 Madagascar out of time?
Weblinks
The Cabinet Office strategy unit and the Government office for science both publish reports on a range of issues, setting out the many factors to be considered in making decisions
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/strategy/publications.aspx
http://www.dius.gov.uk/office_for_science
Cost benefit analysis
Reports from National Institute for Clinical Excellence which evaluates medicines for clinical effectiveness and cost effectiveness.
http://www.nice.org.uk/
An explanation of cost-benefit analysis from the Health and safety executive.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/theory/alarpcheck.htm
An explanation of cost benefit and cost effectiveness from the Prime Minister’s strategy unit.
http://interactive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/strategy/survivalguide/skills/ao_cost.htm
Evidence and other factors
A POST note on handling uncertainty in scientific advice
http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/POSTpn220.pdf
People and Science, the magazine of the British Science Association contains articles on topical issues, with a strong focus on decision making.
http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/web/News/ReportsandPublications/Magazine/index.htm
Ethics
A thorough resource list for teaching bioethics, including academic papers, books and web links.
http://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/ftp/ethics/bioethresources.pdf
Guidance on teaching ethics from the Ethical Emporium.
http://www.windfalldigital.com/ethicalemporium/site/teaching_ethics.html
Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects from the World Medical Association declaration of Helsinki.
http://www.wma.net/en/20activities/index.html
A toolkit for making ethical decisions from PEEP.
http://www.peep.ac.uk/content/691.0.html