CASE Library

Explore The Issues that Matter.

We excitedly invite you to browse, search, and explore our newly redesigned library of over 300 case studies which render some of the most complex and controversial moral and political issues of our time. These cases were formerly used for official NHSEB competitions at the Regional, Divisional, and National Championship levels. They are freely available for public use under Creative Commons licenses.

The NHSEB Case Library is an excellent tool for competitive preparation, internal or intramural competition, or beyond the context of the Ethics Bowl activity completely—as a classroom resource for Grades 9-12 and beyond.

Featured Cases

NAVIGATING THE LIBRARY

NHSEB’s Case Library is now fully browsable by individual case, or by Case Set—using the filters below. Or, if you already know a bit about what you’re looking for, the entire library of over 300 Ethics Bowl cases is newly indexed, referenced, and searchable by title, topic, keyword, year, and category. Each individual case entry contains the full text of the case and discussion questions as they originally appeared for competitive use, all references assembled in hyperlinked footnotes, and additional contextual resources curated by NHSEB HQ.

CASE SET COLLECTION

FIND AN ETHICS BOWL CASE

ATTRIBUTION AND CITATION

All National High School Ethics Bowl cases are the intellectual property of the Parr Center for Ethics, and all are freely available for public use under Creative Commons licenses once retired from use in NHSEB competitions. This library represents thousands of hours of work from our Contributing Authors, Editors, and others. Please do not reproduce NHSEB cases or sets—in part or in whole—without attribution, or modify the text of individual cases or sets. If you reproduce or make reference to NHSEB cases from this library (e.g., in classroom materials, academic papers, etc.), please attribute and/or cite those materials:

National High School Ethics Bowl (Ed.), <YEAR>. “<Case Title>.” National High School Ethics Bowl Case Library. UNC Parr Center for Ethics: Chapel Hill, NC. http://nhseb.org/case-library

Browse The Library

2022-2023 National Case Set Katie Leonard 2022-2023 National Case Set Katie Leonard

It’s Corn!

Bt-corn, a Genetically Modified Organism (GMO), is produced to make corn toxic to European corn borer larvae. More broadly, genetic modification produces crops with increased nutritional value and further health benefits that boost quality of life across the world. However, some express concern about unknown health effects of GMOs, as well as potential biodiversity loss their growth prompts. When a specific type of crop (e.g., bt-corn) displaces other strains, different varieties of that crop grow rarer. How should the immediate benefits of GMOs be weighed against future risks posed by a loss of biodiversity?

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2018-2019 Regional Case Set Katie Leonard 2018-2019 Regional Case Set Katie Leonard

De-Extinction

Proponents of de-extinction argue that humans have an obligation to bring back species that were driven to extinction by human activities, such as the dodo bird. Opponents of de-extinction point out that de-extinction will draw away resources and attention from other scientific efforts to preserve biodiversity.

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