ELEMENTARY
Group Project
Scenario: You and three of your classmates have been assigned a group project in Social Studies. One of your group members, Meredith, hasn’t done any of the work since the first meeting. The rest of your group wants to leave her name off the project since she has not put in the work.
You know that Meredith is going through a difficult time at home, and usually she works very hard on everything, especially projects. If her name is left off, she will get a zero and will not be allowed to go on the field trip next week. Since this is a big group project, she could also fail the class which could put her on probation with National Beta. However, if you insist on keeping her name on the project, the rest of your group will be upset with you.
You also know that giving Meredith credit when she didn’t do much of the work isn’t really fair to the rest of the group—but you feel bad for her because of the difficult situation she is in at home.
Decision: Do you leave Meredith’s name off the project, or do you convince the group to keep her name on it? Is there a different solution you could suggest?
Your Task: Use the Clemson University STAR Ethical Decision-Making Model to choose the best solution and apply at least two harm tests to explain your decision.
JUNIOR
Group Project
Scenario: You and three of your classmates have been assigned a group project in Social Studies. Everyone has met after school and over the weekend to get the project done except one of the group members named Meredith. She hasn’t done any of the work since the initial meeting and the rest of your group is frustrated.
You know that Meredith is going through a difficult time at home. She usually works very hard on everything, especially group projects. If her name is left off when it is submitted, she will receive a zero for the project, which is worth 50% of her grade. If she gets a zero, then she could fail the class and potentially get put on probation for National Beta. There is a huge field day event planned for the class, but she will not get to attend if she gets a zero. If you insist on including her, the group may be upset and refuse to work with you in the future. They might also tell the teacher that you insisted on including Meredith on the project when she did not do much of the work.
At the same time, giving Meredith credit when she didn’t fully contribute doesn’t seem fair to the rest of the group—or to you.
Decision: Do you leave Meredith’s name off and risk her getting a zero with the consequences to follow, or insist her name is included and risk the others being mad at you, along with getting in trouble with the teacher? Could there be another solution?
Your Task: Use the Clemson University STAR Ethical Decision-Making Model and apply at least three harm tests to explain your decision.
SENIOR
Group Project
Scenario: You and three of your classmates have been assigned a group project in Psychology. Everyone has met after school and on the weekends to get the project done except one of the group members named Meredith. She hasn’t done any of the work since the initial meeting and the rest of your group is frustrated.
You know that Meredith is going through an incredibly difficult time at home. She usually works very hard on everything, especially group projects. If her name is left off when it is submitted, she will receive a zero. Since the project is worth 50% of her grade, this could cause her to fail the class and potentially put her on probation for National Beta. However, if you push to keep her name on the project, the rest of your group will be incredibly upset with you. They may refuse to work with you in the future or tell the teacher that you pushed to include Meredith when she did very little work.
At the same time, giving Meredith credit when she didn’t fully contribute doesn’t seem fair to the rest of the group—or to you.
Decision: Do you leave Meredith’s name off and let her face the consequences, or do you convince your group to include her name despite her lack of assistance? Is there a different solution you could suggest?
Your Task:
Use the Clemson University STAR Ethical Decision-Making Model to choose the best solution. Be sure to apply at least four harm tests to guide your reasoning.