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The QuIRK project website hasn't been significantly updated since 2010. We are preserving the web pages here because they still contain useful ideas and content. But be aware that the site may have out of date information.
You may be interested in checking out the Developing Quantitative Reasoning module of Pedagogy in Action.

Cases and Ethics

  • Cases can introduce ethical issues into traditionally positivist courses By setting the ethical issues into a distinct pedagogy, they can be raised without fundamentally altering the course.
  • Assign roles in controversial issues. When it is hard to find people to take one side of a debate and yet there are good arguments to be made and examined, assign the position.
  • If the class seems to fall only on one side of the debate, you may play devil's advocate.
  • Be explicit that understanding ambiguity is one of the course goals. Ethical questions can't necessarily be concluded with a nice bow. Instead, the objective is often that the students come to recognize the complexity of the issues and learn how to sharpen their perspective in light of strong alternative views. Telling them this in advance reduces frustration that "we didn't conclude anything."