Ethics Olympiad

An Ethics Olympiad in an international competition involving high school students. It fosters ethical understanding through the development of critical and creative thinking, ethical discourse and good communication skills in young people. The competition is based on the "US Ethics Bowl" model, however, it includes schools from other parts of the world.
Ethics Olympiads commenced in 2013 with trials between schools in the US and Australia. These trials led to the setting up of a formal framework to enable other schools to participate. Video Conferencing technology, Skype or Google + is used to link up the school groups on the day.
Each school chooses five students to participate in the event. Video conferencing technology, Skype Competing teams are given a packet of case studies that present ethical issues to study. The goal for the team is to be able to formulate well structured, logical arguments and answer questions asked about the cases. Through the process of preparing and participating students develop analytical and critical thinking skills as well as communication skills. Schools use video conferencing technology, Google + or Skype to link up with other schools, locally, interstate and overseas to engage in ethical discourse. Schools are awarded Gold, Silver or Bronze medals based on their success in the competition.
History
The Ethics Bowl competition was the invention of Dr Rod Ladenson from the Illinois Institute of Technology, in 1993. These events bring together teams of US University College students around interesting and relevant ethical issues. In 2013 Mr Matthew Wills, the co-ordinator of Philosophy and Ethics at Hale School in Perth Western Australia participated in the first National High School Ethics Bowl at Chapel Hill in North Carolina. Following the event he conducted trials in 2013 with schools in the US and in Australia which were very successful. Later trials involved junior secondary school students in schools around Australia. Since then he has handed over the management of the event to Dialogue Education. Schools participating in the event include school from the US, Australia, the UK and New Zealand.
Structure
The structure of the event follows the same structure used in the Ethics Bowl in the US. Both teams are each asked a question about different case studies. The team answers questions using the following structure. First, the moderator poses a question to the team, and after two minutes to confer, the team must state their answer. The responding team then has three minutes to present a response to the first team's answer, and the first team then has a chance to respond to these comments. Finally, the panel of judges has the chance to ask questions of the first team, either to clarify a point, or to elicit a team's viewpoint on an ethical aspect raised in their response. The judges then proceed to evaluate the first teams' response and the second team's comment based on the following criteria: clarity and intelligibility, focus on ethically relevant factors, avoidance of ethical irrelevance, and deliberative thoughtfulness. The round then repeats this format with the second team receiving a question about a different case.
There are three stages for participating schools.
Stage 1 Registered schools conduct an internal trial selecting two teams of 5 students to compete against each other.
Stage 2 A school can then compete with another school in their area or elsewhere in their town or city online.
Stage 3 A school can then participate with a school either interstate or in another country.
Medal winners
Gold Medal winning schools - In order to win a gold medal a school must win a regional/local Ethics Olympiad (or Bowl) and an international Ethics Olympiad event.
- Bentley School California United States
- Hale School- WA Australia
- Methodist Ladies College - Vic Australia
-Raleigh Charter High School - North Carolina US
Silver Medal winning schools - In order to win a silver medal a school must win a regional/local ethics Olympiad event.
- Holy Spirit College Corromal NSW Australia
- St Patrick's College- Townsville- Qld Australia
Bronze Medal winning schools -In order to win a bronze medal a school must participate in an international Ethics Olympiad event.
- Austin East High School Tennessee United States

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