Adapting ‘Ethics Bowl’ Strategies for Teaching Introductory Ethics Course–A Case Study of an American Community College

Teaching introductory ethics course or courses with strong ethics content to first- and second-year undergraduate students presents numerous challenges. Most students register for these courses to meet a general education requirement or believe they do not need education in ethics because they have received cultural, social, and religious instructions. Furthermore, many college and university administrators, employers, and policymakers confuse ethics with compliance and misunderstand their connection. In this context, this paper argues that undergraduate students can learn ethics subject content (e.g., metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics, etc.), attain course objectives, and apply their learning in professional and personal situations. Strategies used to prepare students for the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl (IEB) competition have proven effective means of introducing and reinforcing ethics course content outside of the classroom setting. The qualitative data obtained from the respondents suggests that the methodology and strategies adopted to prepare students for ethics bowl competitions reinforced the ethical theory participants learned in courses where ethics content was prominent and led them to make rational and ethical decisions. These findings also suggest that strategies to prepare ethics bowl teams for the IEB competition can similarly impact non-ethics bowl team members in a traditional classroom setting.