In this class, we will explore the social science of purpose development and use a curriculum called the Wayfinder Navigation Toolkit that has been designed in order to help students embark on a path of purpose. Developed at the Stanford Design School and now an independent curriculum, Project Wayfinder’s Navigation Toolkit is a 32-piece curriculum that helps facilitate students on their own journey of purpose. During the course of the semester, the class will cover 15 of the 32 parts of the Wayfinder curriculum.
The class will be structured to meet for 2-hour periods. Each section will roughly be divided in half between completing a Wayfinder curriculum piece (from the toolkit mentioned above) and discussing the week’s readings and the activity completed in the first part of class. The readings for class will draw from the latest research on purpose development in adolescence, journal articles covering the topic of living a meaningful life, scholarly research articles, and the studies of wayfinding cultures that used physical navigation to find their way in the world. Many of our activities are guided self-reflection with a discussion portion to facilitate collaborative learning. Lessons will also be given on how the activities relate to purpose findings and the reasoning behind these activities to psychological research.
In this class, we will explore core themes by discussing them in class and applying them to our lives. The assignments are a tool for you to reflect on this process. These assignments will vary week to week but are comprised of: readings, writing reflections, activities from the Wayfinder toolkit, and a self-designed mini projects.
Readings will include research articles on purpose finding published by the Greater Good Science Center, chapters from Purpose Rising by Patrick Cook-Deegan, scholarly journals, and research. Reflections will be based on the topics explored in class and activities assigned as homework. Extra activities assigned include self-designed projects which will be to go one step further and act on a personal goal or action item, which will be created in class and vary week to week.
A large part of the class will be experiential. Students who choose to take this class should be interested in diving into their own sense of purpose and want to examine what kind of life they want to live.
Attendance
● Attendance is mandatory.
○ Excused absences include: midterms, illnesses, doctor’s appointments, and other emergencies.
● Please be on time. Being late is disrespectful to the guest speakers and to your fellow students.
○ Tardiness is not acceptable and will result in the equivalence of an absence. (2 tardies = 1 absence)
● More than two unexcused absences or four tardies will result in a No Pass grade.
● The last class of the semester is REQUIRED in order to receive a passing grade. We will be filling out course evaluations.
No day(s) left until application deadline!
Section | Facilitator | Size | Location | Time | Starts | Status | CCN(LD) | CCN(UD) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
WYP Section | Ciara Agrella and Gina Wright | 15 | Zoom | [Tu] 5:00PM-7:00PM | September 8, 2020 | Full | -- | -- |
Name | Download Link | ||
---|---|---|---|