Classes and Advisory

K–2 students are introduced to the practice of identifying values and navigating difficult decisions through our curriculum “Be Ethical Everywhere,” which was developed right here at the Ethics Institute at Kent Place School.

The purpose of this seminar is to strengthen student’s ethical awareness. Students will explore ethical values from a personal, community, and global lens in order to better understand themselves and others as ethical people. Students will learn about what an ethical dilemma is, and develop thinking and talking strategies for navigating difficult situations in a way that aligns with their values and the KPS conversation norms.

The purpose of this one-trimester elective course is to strengthen each student’s moral awareness while helping each student to develop respect for herself and others in a global community. Participants discover the definition of “values” by exploring their own personal values, the values of their school community and the values of their greater community, along with the values that are learned through religion, home and other institutions. The foundations of ethical thought and decision-making are taught in order to guide the students through ethical dilemmas discussed in class.

Be a part of the Middle School Ethics Bowl, a competitive team that allows students to learn and strengthen skills of ethical decision- making, persuasive communication, and public speaking while engaging with challenging issues facing individuals and communities. The winners of the 2021–22 Middle School Ethics Bowl, our KPS team is selected through a rigorous application and audition process. Members of the team/elective will compete in the NJ Middle School Ethics Bowl in February 2023.

​​Students in this trimester-long course will explore the intersection of Design Thinking, Technology and Ethics. Students broaden their insight into the lived experience of diverse populations, through interaction, collaboration and research, and dive into and utilize a Human-Centered Design Process. After identifying a population to serve and researching a topic of service of choice, students collect data and identify existing technological advances that have been created for this population.

Students then create a new or improve an existing product that will enhance the area of need they identified. This course will allow students the time to engage in all aspects of the Human-Centered Design Process while also exploring the ethical implications of creating improvements for a specific, under-served population. In addition to building ethical decision-making and design thinking skills, the students will also be afforded the opportunity to develop relationships with the population for whom they are creating a solution. They will work collaboratively, giving students an opportunity to learn from and engage with diverse populations.

The course will include Human-Centered Design thinking and doing, understanding real-world design challenges, creating an original product, integrating technology, developing entrepreneurial spirit, working as a team, and creating a prototype/product that will have a direct impact to benefit society. Students will be trained on and learn how to use the tools in the Innovation and Fabrication labs, such as the laser cutter, 3D printers, Arduino circuits, soft circuits, and power tools.

In this trimester course, students will be introduced to the values- based ethical decision-making model after a deep analysis of their own system of beliefs, including its origin, influences and challenges. Additionally, they will utilize some important ethical theories including: the duty ethics of Immanuel Kant; the utilitarianism of John Stuart Mill; ethical relativism; and the virtue ethics of at least one of the following: Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and/or Confucius. Ethical
theories will be applied and understood through the lens of current ethical issues, including civil discourse, big data, medical innovation and societal events. Questions considered may include: What is the good life? Do we have a moral duty to act in certain ways? Why? Does intention matter? How do we weigh benefits and harms? Are there such things as natural human rights? Are some values more compelling than others?

The Learn. Live. Lead. program Health and Wellness curriculum explores issues that affect the physical and psycho-social development of students. Through class discussion, group activities and role-play, emphasis is placed on the development of self-regulation skills, problem solving, decision making, ethical decision making, coping and communication. In addition, relevant topics generated from students’ concerns and current events are addressed. Grade 12 Peer Educators are trained to facilitate discussions and mentor Grade 9 students during their transition to the Upper School. Topics include utilization of resources, promoting healthy decision making, developing study skills and responding to peer, family and academic pressures. All Grade 9 students participate in the Peer Education and Learn. Live. Lead. program.

Biomedical Science is advancing at an ever rapid pace. In many cases we need to discuss the ramifications of new technologies before they have even been fully developed or implemented. With these advances come complex ethical questions dealing with personal freedom, privacy, access to health care and fairness. Each year, the Bioethics Project will choose a broad topic to explore. Past topics have included: Genetically Modified Life: Science, Ethics, and Medical Innovation, Medical Decision-Making & the Human Lifespan, The Medically Modified Human: Is Better Always Good?, and Donor: What is the Value of the Human Body? This intensive course pairs each participant with a biomedical ethics scholar as a mentor. Students will conduct research on a topic regarding a biomedical ethical issue related to our topic and present a paper on the findings. This course does not fulfill a science credit.
 

This course will introduce students to contemporary and historical artwork from different political and social movements through the lens of ethics. Students will explore four key themes as ethical viewers and makers of art: (1) war and conflict, (2) gender, (3) race, and (4) sexuality. Each of these themes will highlight influential artists within a given time period and the central ethical issues of the artwork in their historical contexts. Students will be asked to produce an art-based project for each unit that demonstrates their understanding and personal connection to the theme. This course will require in-depth class discussions around questions that naturally arise when thinking about art, such as: What role should a person’s identity have in their art and our viewing of their art? When does taking risks in art cross an ethical line? How can art be powerful and how should artists use this power? What obligation, if any, do artists have to the public?

Where do engineering, ethics, and entertainment intersect? What is the engineering Code of Professional Ethics, and how does it impact innovation? To what extent can we anticipate unintended uses of engineering innovation? What ethical considerations must engineers ponder as they develop movies and entertainment devices or platforms? Students will address these questions as they explore and create at the intersection of engineering, ethics, and entertainment. Throughout the course, students will enhance their awareness of various engineering fields; STEM-literacy (science, math, engineering, computer programming, critical thinking, and 2D and 3D visual spatial skills); and engineering habits of mind (systems thinking, creativity, optimism, collaboration, communication, and ethical consideration). Students will also learn and utilize Aruino microcontrollers, facets of machine learning, principles of discriminatory design, and various designing thinking protocols.

What is reading? As our world becomes increasingly complex and interconnected, “reading the world” as a means of thinking critically about it is a vital skill. As such, the goal of English 9 is to develop engaged listeners, articulate speakers, discerning readers, confident writers, critical thinkers and proficient users of technology. This course provides students with a genre approach to literature through close reading and interpretation of a variety of texts, including The Odyssey, a Shakespeare play, short stories, poetry and novels, and the contemporary world around us. Class activities foster the development of skills that enable students to read, discuss and write about sophisticated literature skillfully, analytically and critically.

Through discussion, class presentations, projects and essays, students formulate ideas; make comparisons; perceive connections across centuries, geographical locations and cultures; and draw conclusions based on their reading. They develop self-knowledge and sensitivity to others’ points of view in order to become more responsible world citizens. The ultimate lesson to be gleaned from the literature is the awareness that despite our human limitations, confronting life’s adversities will allow us to emerge as stronger and wiser individuals.

The overarching goal of this course is to develop and bring an app to market utilizing a human-centered design framework and innovating through an ethical lens. Mobile apps are increasingly popular tools in our daily lives. New apps are marketed frequently to solve problems and perform tasks. These innovations continue to advance our digital world, as well as raise questions about our ethical decision-making framework. In this advanced app development course students will engage in the process of app development via the design thinking process and the software development life cycle. Students will enhance their programming skills, ability to perform a needs analysis, design an algorithm, develop code, test code, and ultimately maintain app software once it is released to users. Throughout the courses students will develop computational-thinking practices, systems-thinking skills, and creativity to solve problems using computer programming.