1st Edition
Navigating the Moral Maze: A Teaching Guide to the Problems of Life, Death, Freedom and Justice
Navigating the Moral Maze is a teaching resource to help students understand and critically engage with the most pressing issues in the world today. From the destruction of Gaza to the climate emergency, from the repeal of Roe v Wade to rising inequality, young people are growing up in a world beset with moral concerns and predicaments. With this book teachers can equip students with the critical skills and conceptual clarity needed to navigate through these issues and reach a clear and articulate understanding of their own views.
Each chapter features several lesson plans with activities, texts and thought experiments that help refine and enrich students‘ thoughts on the topics and promote discussion, thought and reflection. Topics covered include:
- Reproduction
- Euthanasia
- Poverty
- Environment
- Borders
- War
Applicable to Religious Studies, Philosophy and Ethics, and touching on topics relevant to PSHE, History and Geography, this will be a valuable resource for secondary teachers wanting to enhance their students‘ critical writing and thinking skills.
1. Reproduction 2. Euthanasia 3. Animals 4. Environment 5. War 6. Terrorism 7. Poverty 8. Wealth 9. Borders 10. Punishment 11. The State 12. Autonomy and Bodily Integrity
Biography
David Birch teaches philosophy and religion at Highgate School, UK. He also works for the Philosophy Foundation, an award-winning charity that brings philosophy to schools and the wider community.
‘In this clear and lively guide David Birch equips both teachers and pupils with the tools needed to tackle some of our most urgent moral problems. The well-chosen questions and activities will stimulate discussion, reflection and genuine understanding – Socrates would approve!'
Angie Hobbs, Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy, University of Sheffield
‘Imaginatively presented and well-written, David Birch’s latest book gives teachers and their pupils useful tools and activities on profoundly challenging topics. I highly recommend this teaching guide as an instrument for helping young people develop their thinking on the issues that affect us all.’
Emma Swinn MBE, co-founder of the Philosophy Foundation
‘Navigating the Moral Maze contains a multitude of engaging questions, extracts and scenarios that can get even the most disengaged class going. It offers teachers numerous scaffolding tools and activities that they can lift straight off the page to help their pupils think more clearly about the trickiest topics.’
Philip Gaydon, Head of Character Education, St Paul’s School
