Tackling Complex Ethical Issues in Debates
Boys Command the Hayden Planetarium for Original Space Show Presentations
Tackling Complex Ethical Issues in Debates
Each spring, our eighth graders eagerly take to the stage in pairs to engage in structured competitive debates about pressing public health issues that raise complex ethical questions.
Consider a few from this year:
Performance enhancing drugs should be allowed in American professional sports leagues.
The U. S. should invest in new nuclear energy facilities for the sake of public health.
Social media companies should ban the use of their products by children younger than 16 years of age to preserve their mental health.
The actual debate comes at the end of a learning process that begins with the boys framing questions, picking sides, doing research on a timely and relevant public health issue, and practicing various debating strategies.
As they research, argue, and reflect on complicated public health issues, they learn to think critically, speak persuasively, and grapple respectfully and thoughtfully with opposing viewpoints.
Boys Command the Hayden Planetarium for Original Space Show Presentations
The dome of a hushed, darkened Hayden Planetarium sparkled with arresting visuals of planets, stars, exoplanets, and galaxies in motion. Our sixth-grade boys were at the controls, sharing in narrative form with the audience, the results of months of their astronomical inquiries. What have the missions to Mars taught us about the planet? What is the structure of our observable universe? Where are the best places to search for life in our solar system? were among the topics of this year ' s shows.
Each year, sixth graders at Saint David’ s step into the cosmos through The Digital Universe Field Study, an ambitious interdisciplinary unit co-taught with the American Museum of Natural History. A first-of-its-kind collaboration, the program blends science, technology, and English into a single, integrated unit, and has become a cornerstone of our broader“ learning in action” theme across divisions.
( see related article on page 34.)
Summer 2026 • 65