Students put ethics of ‘Frankenstein’ on trial

Dressed in their Sunday best, students from Bonita Springs Charter School held a mock trail recently to determine the ethics of creating or cloning people as it relates to Mary Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein.”

The students spent months reading the classic 1817 novel and preparing for the trial in which they took on the roles of jury, lawyer, and even judge to figure out if Dr. Victor Frankenstein, the main character of the book, is guilty of medical negligence and ethics violations.

“This is the conclusion of this project that we have been doing since November. I asked them to research the topic, write papers and prepare what they would say during the trail,” said Evan Olson, the seventh- grade teacher who created the project two years ago as a “twist on learning.”

Olson says the twist comes in when he asks his reading and language arts class to connect the dots between what Shelley was trying to say and how that relates to modern day issues.

“Discussing cloning now is similar to what Shelley was dealing with then and through this book we see where science is going today with stem cell research and other practices,” Olson said.

Apart from researching modern day cloning, students appointed class members to take on roles in the trial including Dr. Frankenstein and his monster.

They also created a virtual mouse online to better understand what cloning is and its meaning in modern day society.

“I learned a lot about the court system and how it works and some of the questions that were asked were surprising,” said Stephanie Spear, 13, who presided as the judge during the trail.

The courtroom dialogue was scripted and practiced once but students still felt they got a firsthand account of what it takes to have a fair trail.

Another literature class sat in as an unbiased jury and it was their job to deliver a verdict.

“It was fun because I got to see what I will do when I get older. The things I learned were great and I was proud of my team,” said Bill Busby, 13, who played the lead prosecutor during the trail.

Busby may want to become a lawyer but that wasn’t Olson’s ultimate goal. He wanted students to understand the court system and the ethical aspects of the book.

“They saw the connection of what they read and how it relates to today,” said Olson, who teared up at the end of the trial while thanking his students for a job well done.

The prosecution was able to find Dr. Frankenstein guilty on both counts although previous trials in other classes have lead the jury to find him guilty on one count and not the other or lead to a mistrial.

“This class has blown my socks off with their research and their questions,” Olson said. “They really worked hard and understood what I was trying to teach them.”