Project 3 Proposal

Shannon Ryan
April 11, 2009
New Millennium Studies
Project #3 Proposal

For my third New Millennium Studies Project, I have decided to create a fictional, short story based off the information in the stem cell research articles (pbs.org, wgbh, nova and science now) for the Ethical Perspective Assignment.
The guiding questions that I would like my project to focus is how can an ethnical code be formed to honor the beliefs and values of the past, but still support the changing values and scientific methods of the future at the same time, even if these advancements go against the ways of the past or our religious beliefs.
The story will most likely be similar to the story of the girl with diabetes in the documentary we watched in class. The plot will focus on a young child with a serious disability or disease who is going to receive stem cell research. As the family prepares for the process, the family reflects on their hope that it will work and the negative criticism they have received from their neighbors about the process because of religious and vegetarianism beliefs. They wonders if stem cell research is the right thing to do. In the end, they decide that stem cell research is the right thing to do, because their hope that it will work is more important to them then the ways of the past or the values of others.
I will fill the story with scientific information from the articles to characterize the neighbors and their reasons against stem cell research (religious beliefs and vegetarians) as well as those characters who believe that stem cell research is the right course for the child because of the hope that it could make a difference in the child’s condition.
The undertone of this story will be to teach my audience that only they can create their ethnical code by deciding what matters to them most, what they have been taught by mentors, parents and experiences, as well as how their ethnical code guides their decisions.