Engaging Introductory Philosophy Students Through Overarching Question Assignments

Erica Lucast StonestreetCollege of St. Benedict | St. John’s

Universityestonestreet@csbsju.edu

Introductions & Interests

Motivations

• Hard to work from text to motivations

• Survey courses can seem uncohesive

• Students expect to learn about philosophy

The Assignment: Overview

1. Answer the question based on what you know now.

2. Answer the question again, in dialogue with our texts and discussions.

Exercise

What are the requirements for a distinctively human life? How about a meaningful human life? Are these the same thing?

Syllabus design• Read a variety of texts that can be

seen as contributions toward answering the question

• Bicentennial Man, Tolstoy, Camus, Wolf, Plato

Details: The Unit Essay1. Present and explain a philosophical

problem based on the OAQs.

2. Explain in some detail the ways thinkers have thought about this problem.

3. Give your own take on the problem, supported by reasons.

Strengths• Requires a certain amount of metacognition,

which helps them to notice what they’ve learned

• Requires mastery of texts

• Provides practice with things like charitable reading, articulating others’ positions, evaluating and criticizing arguments, and articulating their own ideas

Strengths• Gives the students a sense of engagement

with the larger conversation about things that matter

• Makes the architecture of the course and the purpose of each unit clear to them

• Gives them a toehold for wonder and ownership of the material because it begins with their own thinking

Pitfalls• Some students just threw some

quotes into their original essay

• Many didn’t display any understanding of what was at stake

• Few pitted texts against one another and wrestled with opposing answers

Remedies• Clear and detailed instructions

• Sharp questions

• More intentional discussion of what’s at stake

• More intentional teaching of the skills involved

Discussion