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Helping students deal with Ethical Reasoning: The Proto-Guidelines for Ethical Practice in Mathematics as a deck of cards

Stephen M. Walk, Rochelle E. Tractenberg

Abstract

Tractenberg, Piercey, and Buell 2024 presented a list of 44 proto-Guidelines for Ethical Mathematical Practice, developed through examination of codes of ethics of adjacent disciplines and consultation with members of the mathematics community, and gave justifications for the use of these proto-Guidelines. We propose formatting the list as a deck of 44 cards and describe ways to use the cards in classes at any stage of the undergraduate mathematics program. A simple game or encounter with the cards can be used exclusively as an introduction, or the cards can be used repeatedly in order to help students move to higher levels of achievement with respect to the proto-Guidelines and ethical reasoning in general. We present, in Appendix A, a sample semester long sequence of assignments for such a purpose, with activities at various levels of Blooms taxonomy.

Helping students deal with Ethical Reasoning: The Proto-Guidelines for Ethical Practice in Mathematics as a deck of cards

Abstract

Tractenberg, Piercey, and Buell 2024 presented a list of 44 proto-Guidelines for Ethical Mathematical Practice, developed through examination of codes of ethics of adjacent disciplines and consultation with members of the mathematics community, and gave justifications for the use of these proto-Guidelines. We propose formatting the list as a deck of 44 cards and describe ways to use the cards in classes at any stage of the undergraduate mathematics program. A simple game or encounter with the cards can be used exclusively as an introduction, or the cards can be used repeatedly in order to help students move to higher levels of achievement with respect to the proto-Guidelines and ethical reasoning in general. We present, in Appendix A, a sample semester long sequence of assignments for such a purpose, with activities at various levels of Blooms taxonomy.
Paper Structure (8 sections, 3 figures)

This paper contains 8 sections, 3 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. RULES OF THE GAME
  3. Players
  4. Cards
  5. The Deal
  6. The Play
  7. VARIATIONS
  8. CONCLUSION

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1: One page of cards (nine of 44) corresponding to the second set of nine Guideline elements. This illustration is an example; a printable .pdf version of the entire deck is in Appendix B. The four suits of the deck correspond to the four categories of proto-Guideline elements: elements 1--12 address the behavior of the ethical mathematics practitioner "in general," 13--22 address their behavior "as a member of the profession," 23--33 address their behavior "in their scholarship," and 34--44 address the additional responsibilities of one who is "a leader, employer, supervisor, mentor, or instructor." It is up to the instructor to provide this context for students.
  • Figure 2: A sheet of backs for the proto-Guidelines cards. The proto-Guideline elements for Mathematical Practice have two common stems: Proto-Guideline elements 1--33 use the stem "The ethical mathematics practitioner … ," while 34--44 use the stem "An ethical mathematics practitioner who is a leader, employer, supervisor, mentor, or instructor follows all of the above items and also … ." The first, shorter, more general stem is used for all cards---as with any card game, the backs of the cards should all look the same---so it is up to the instructor to explain the context.
  • Figure 3: A "big-picture worksheet" for keeping track of cards played.