As of late, the AP Psychology teacher at Shadow Ridge High School, Steven Bedingfield, has started his notorious “unethical projects” unit. To further explain, the Un-Ethicals are a series of 18 experiments that have been deemed unconscionable. These studies are assigned to students at random. Students then must take their experiment and research the topic in depth.
Through their research they prepare to “battle” other student’s during in-class presentations. The point of these duels is to argue why students believe their own experiment to be more unethical than their opponents.
This presentation based learning tactic has been implemented in Bedingfield’s class for years and is a well known tradition throughout the student body. Even students who are not enrolled in AP Psychology have been called on to present for the class. To explain, it is possible to bring someone, not within the class, to participate in another student’s presentation as a “witness” to the experiment.
Even though the project is all good and fun, it has been known to cause contention between classmates. This is due to the way in which the project itself works.
Un-Ethicals are done in a bracket form. Mr. Bedingfield described it to be, “sort of designed like March Madness where there’s a winner and loser each round.” There is a twist, however, whoever students lose to, they must now join them in the following round. It goes without saying that more often than not, losers of the previous round aren’t very willing to help their new teammates.
Another side of the Un-Ethicals is Mr. Bedingfield’s personal preference. He explained that, “All the experiments are unethical but some experiments are more unethical than others. But I’m biased in favor of someone who can demonstrate the skills of public speaking and bring maybe a less ethical experiment into the next round and all the way beyond that. Even to go as far as winning.”
So, even though Mr. Bedingfield prioritizes the deliverance of each experiment over all else, the fact still stands that he has his favorite experiments. For example, he said, “ I’m biased mainly towards outstanding presentations. The presentation of the experiment can make or break the project.”
The Un-Ethicals, though they may seem frightening to the students presenting them, and repetitive to Mr. Bedingfield after all these years, still shows students and staff alike that project based learning can help students overcome, create, and have some fun with their own learning.
