Experiential and Integrative Assignment #2
(Value: 20%)
What is this assignment?
This is an experiential-embodied learning opportunity followed by a descriptive and expository essay
that considers the two modular questions, “Is the good life found in pursuing happiness?” and “Is the
good life found in pursuing moral goodness/virtue?”
You will be conducting your inquiry by thoughtfully selecting and undertaking an experience, and then
analyzing it and synthesizing it with other prompts (i.e. sources) that are representative of at least two
(2) other ways of knowing, to help you gain a wider or clearer understanding of the good life.
For example, you could choose to analyze and synthesize your experience with the following prompts:
- A Rocha website or video (topic: Stewardship)
- Frank Stephens’ speech (topic: Ability)
- a relevant visual image or musical work on one of the module unit topics
- a relevant biblical passage, literary quotation, or poem
What do I have to do?
1. Choose an experience that is something you don’t normally do that will call on your senses and
sensibilities. You should spend a minimum of one hour participating in the activity or event.
Here are some possibilities:
• Attend a live play, concert, performance, or sporting event
• Attend a public lecture, presentation, conference, or author’s reading
• Visit a museum or art gallery that you have never visited before
• Try a new kind of recreation, such as a fitness class, an escape room, horseback riding,
geocaching, swing dancing, snowshoeing…
• Volunteer at a senior or care home, homeless shelter, youth shelter, or animal shelter
• Go on a nature walk, hike, or outdoor adventure if this is something you don’t normally do—or
go somewhere you have never before visited.
• Make a meal that you have never tried before or try a unique restaurant experience
• Try something artistic that you have never tried before
• Attend a church or place of worship that differs significantly from your previous experiences
• Please consult your professor if you have other ideas.
2. Write a 1200 word paper that describes the experience and then provides an exposition
directed by the two modular questions. You will describe the experience in both a factual and
observational way, then analyze what you learn from the experience, and integrate this with at
least two other prompts to gain new insight. These other prompts must represent two different
ways of knowing to go alongside the experiential and embodied way.
Remember: “Prompt” does not mean topic or question. It means a topical “source,” a specific article,
video, speech, painting, composition, poem, experiment, etc. that can be used to explore the topic
relative to the question.
How do I organize this? (descriptive and expository essay)
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Write a very short introduction (approximately 3-4 sentences) that sets up the experience and
introduces the concept(s) you examine. Include a statement of what your experience and
synthesis of the prompts has shown you about the good life.
Write a brief one paragraph summary (approximately 100-150 words) describing the facts of the
experience: who, what, when, where, and why. If you refer to any information about the
organization or event, such as a website, be sure to quote and cite your sources.
Describe your observations (approximately 200 words). What did you notice? What did your
senses tell you? what did you feel? Provide concrete, specific details. Use first person to
describe your insights.
Proceed to analysis: How do you interpret what you saw/heard/felt in response to the question,
“What is the good life?” Be specific: what guides your interpretation? what does the experience
tell you about the good life from the perspective of happiness and/or moral goodness?
Remember that you can look at factors that contribute to the good life, factors that are not
important, and factors that destroy the good life (depending on what you experienced).
Proceed to connect to two other prompts (one from each module), identifying the way of
knowing and including evidence that help you interpret your experience or offer comparisons.
Each paragraph should address one specific topical point that connects with the thesis. Be sure
briefly but clearly to identify the prompt before you explicate it to show how it sheds light on
the topic. Evidence includes specific quotations and details, using in-text citation.
Write a very brief conclusion that tells how the experience and prompts, as different ways of
knowing, have helped you address the question of this course. Do you find yourself leaning to
the good life as the pursuit of happiness, the pursuit of moral goodness, or a combination? Are
you more clear about your presuppositions and/or orientation that determine what you value as
part of the good life? Is there a certain model of the good life that is making the most sense to
you now?
Criteria
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Be attentive to scholarly writing standards, including style/format (of your discipline),
documentation, grammar, and vocabulary. Go to the Writing Centre. Read your own work
several times, and read it out loud to try to catch errors and awkwardness.
Summarize, paraphrase, quote and/or include details from the prompts that you study. Cite
your sources correctly.
Draw conclusions from the connections that arise in selecting and analyzing the sources
together, not from your personal thoughts and feelings, alone.
What NOT to do
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Do not simply retell or summarize the information in the prompts. Your explication must involve
analysis and synthesis
Do not write this as a personal reflection essay.
Do not research the topics themselves. This is not a research paper.
Ways of Knowing (Core and Foundational)
Aesthetic and performance (eg. fine or graphic art, music, creative writing, film, photography, etc.)
Cultural and linguistic (eg. a study of a people group’s food habits, values & taboos, language, literature & art)
Experiential and embodied (eg physical participation in a field trip or sport; practical application of a skill)
Historical and archival (eg. artifacts in archives such as letters, maps, speeches; various accounts of past events)
Logical and ethical (eg. article applying philosophical reasoning to advance understanding of right conduct)
Quantitative and computational (eg. statistics, data tables and charts, coding)
Religious and spiritual (eg. sacred writings; theological discussions; spiritual practices, such as prayer)
Scientific method and lab research (eg. empirical evidence from experiments in biology, chemistry, geology, etc.)
Social and global (eg. sociological research; academic article on a socio-political topic; news item on a global issue)