180006 LPS Moral Growth and Mental Health (2025S)

1. Active participation & weekly discussion questions: 20%
2. Short presentation: 10%
3. Participation assignments: 70% (20% + 20% + 30%)

1. Active participation & weekly assignments: 20%
- Active participation during class involves regularly contributing to the discussion of the class. This entails both attentive listening and the ability to critically respond to peers' contributions, moving the discussion forward. Quality of contributions counts more than quantity.
- Passive attendance does not count as participation. If you do not contribute meaningfully to discussions or show clear evidence of preparation, this will negatively affect your final grade.
- For each session, students are required to submit two discussion questions on the reading to Moodle. These questions should be well thought through, show that the student has read the readings carefully, and enable the group to further discuss the readings. Questions are to be uploaded to Moodle two days before the seminar (12pm).
- In general, good discussion questions are open (no yes/no questions) and invite the audience to participate in a discussion. Discussions are fruitful when there is no one ‘right’ answer, but when different opinions and perspectives can interact with one another. See if you can develop questions that allow your peers to contribute their own perspectives. Examples of good discussion questions are:
o “This passage by [author] reminded me of the text we read by [other author]. The main difference seems to be that […]. Which account did you find more convincing?”
o “[author] gave the following examples for his account: […]. However, these are obviously outdated. A more contemporary example might be […]. Can you think of a similarly fitting example? Why is this a good example?”
o “The author argues for […]. However, what seems to be missing is […]. I therefore suggest […]. Would you agree?”
o “The author seems to be implying […]. However, if we look at […], the two become difficult to reconcile. How could we attempt to reconcile them?

2. Short presentation: 10%
In each session, several students will give a short presentation (2–5 minutes) that responds to the readings and initiates a fruitful plenary discussion (10-20 minutes). To prepare their presentation, the presenters can gather the discussion questions uploaded by other students to Moodle and select those they find most interesting. Based on these questions, they can develop their own responses (e.g., to one or two questions they find most engaging) and moderate the ensuing discussion. It is thus up to the students to decide which topics will be discussed each week. Similar questions can be grouped if common themes emerge, and the presenting students have the authority to emphasize or steer discussions in directions they find most interesting.

3. Participation Assignments: 70% (20% + 20% + 30%)
Students will complete three participation assignments throughout the course: two shorter ones (300–500 words) and one longer assignment (500–800 words). These assignments require critical engagement with the course readings and discussions. Rather than simply summarizing the material, students are expected to develop original reflections and engage with the texts analytically. While the length of the assignments is rather short, the time to be invested in each assignment is substantial and a good assignment will require that the student invests substantial time in preparing, developing, and improving their assignment. Content, language, and form will be graded. AI-generated texts are not accepted and may result in failing the assignment.