GH 1030, Section 3
Honors Discussion Group:
Religion, the Professions
TR, 3:30-4:45 August 22-October
26, 2006
GCB 314 Ten Weeks, 2 Units
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| Jill Raitt |
Instructor
Professor Jill Raitt raittj@missouri.edu
Office hours—by appointment.
This is a modified Problem-Based
Learning course in which students, assisted
by the professor, take major responsibility
for their own and their group's learning.
We discuss the relation of religion to culture
and of both to the internal cultures of
eight professions: Law, Engineering, Business,
Social Work, Journalism, Nursing, Medicine,
and Health Professions. Our "case"
book is Anne Fadiman's The Spirit Catches
You and You Fall Down, an illustration
of tragic cultural/religious non-communication
in the case of a Hmong child in California.
Six of the professions relate to this book;
Business and Engineering each provide a
different, but challenging text.
Readings
Bookstore packett of readings.
Borgmann, Albert. Power
Failure: Christianity in the Culture of
Technology.
Grand Rapids, MI:
Brazos Press, 2003.
Fadiman, Anne. The
Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A
Hmong Child, Her American
Doctors, and the Collision
of Two Cultures. NY: Farrar, Straus
and Giroux, 1997.
Zinbarg, Edward. Faith,
Morals, and Money. NY: Continuum, 2001.
To be read by October 5.
How to read Fadiman
Right through! It’s fascinating.
You will then use the book as a means of
solving problems in your groups throughout
the course. Look for issues that relate
to the professions that are part of this
course. The syllabus tells you what professor
from which professional school will be coming
to discuss your research with you.
Some helpful websites:
See http://rpp.missouri.edu
See http://pluralism.org
See http://www.llrx.com/features/islamiclaw.htm
See http://www.religionlink.org
On Sharia and banking in
UAE see http://gulf-law.com/islamic_law.html
On Sharia and investments
see http://www.miraj.com/sharia.html
Look up “Sharia”
on Google or other net explorer
Islamic World http://islamic-world.net/links/hadith_sites.htm
(sometimes works, sometimes not)
Do a Google Advanced Search
requiring the exact phrase, “Religion and
Business”.
Do the same for Nursing,
Medicine, Social Work, Law, Business, Journalism,
Health Professions, and Engineering.
What are PBL and RPP?
What do you understand
from the website?
From the PBL presentation?
Development:
Understanding what globalization
means to the USA: immigration, being citizens,
and “doing business” in the US and the world.
Focus:
The immigrant Hmong Community
of Fremont, California
Method:
This course will use primarily
Problem-Based Learning.
Grades:
Groups will grade their
own members and their over-all effort.
Professor Raitt will also grade each student
and group. Groups will also grade other
groups. We will do a test-run of this method
at mid-term time, although there will be
no mid-term and no final exam since this
is a seminar.
Written work:
Each class member will
keep a portfolio of:
Reading notes that are
handed in each Thursday after their use
in class the preceding Tuesday and returned
the following Tuesday with Raitt’s remarks.
Group reports that each
one contributes to his/her group.
A copy of your group’s
final report due the last day of class,
Nov. 18.
Expectations:
Written work: No
grammar or spelling errors. Typed with
1” borders in Times or New Times Roman 12.
Good, clear exposition. Through the weekly
short essays and the professor’s help, students
often find that their writing skills improve.
Oral work: Clear
pronunciation and enunciation. Organized,
well-argued presentations without “you knows”
and other “spacers.”
Research: Your
research will arise out of your group’s
discussions and needs and will be presented
at the Thursday class. A designated member
of your group will be responsible to see
that assignments are clear and will keep
a record of presentations and grades.
Objectives
for GH 1030: Religion and the Professions
Knowledge goals:
- In what does a culture
consist? Place of world-view.
- What is the role of
religion in forming a culture and a world-view?
- Relation of culture,
religion, values
- What is a profession?
- Relation of professional
values and practices to their own culture
- Relation of professional
values and practices to their country’s
religion or religions
Skills goals
- Finding information
efficiently whether on the net, through
interviews, books, articles, media.
- Analysis and evaluation
of materials
- Organization of problems
and solutions
- Presenting findings
- orally: speaking
clearly, enunciating well, avoiding
spacers
- written report: organization,
argument, grammar, spelling, no padding.
SCHEDULE
August
22 Course overview.
Visiting Lecturer: Richard Oliver,
Dean, School of Health Professions: problem-based
learning
Assignments: PBL working groups receive
Case #1. Begin reading The Spirit Catches
You and You Fall Down through page 92.
24 Due: PBL
research reports and group discussion
Professor Raitt: Mini-lecture
Assignment: Continue reading The
Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down.
29 Professor
Raitt: Mini-lecture and Discussion
Assignments: PBL groups receive Case
#2. Read social work articles in the packet
from MU Custom Publishing.
31 Professor
Raitt: Mini-lecture
Assignment: Finish reading The
Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down.
SEPTEMBER
5 Visiting
Lecturer: Erma Ballenger, Assistant
Director, Director of Undergraduate Studies,
and Assistant Professor, School of Social
Work
Due: PBL research reports and group
discussion
Assignment: Begin reading Faith,
Morals, and Money: What the World’s Religions
Tell Us About Ethics in the Marketplace.
7 Professor
Raitt: Mini-lecture
Due: Reflection paper
Assignment: Finish reading Faith,
Morals, and Money: What the World’s Religions
Tell Us About Ethics in the Marketplace.
12 Professor
Raitt: Mini-lecture
Assignments: PBL groups receive Case
#3.
14 Visiting
Lecturer: Kenneth Evans, Pinkney C.
Walker Professor of Teaching Excellence
and Associate Dean, College of Business
Due: PBL research reports and group
discussion
19 Professor
Raitt: Mini-lecture
Due: Reflection paper
Assignments: PBL groups receive Case
#4. Read nursing articles in the packet
from MU Custom Publishing.
21 Visiting
Lecturer: Glenda Nickell, Clinical Instructor,
Sinclair School of Nursing
Due: PBL research reports and group
discussion
26 Professor
Raitt: Mini-lecture
Due: Reflection paper
Assignments: PBL groups receive Case
#5. Read Power Failure: Christianity
in the Culture of Technology.
28 Visiting
Lecturer: Satish Nair, Professor of
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Due: PBL research reports and group
discussion
OCTOBER
3 Professor
Raitt: Mini-lecture
Due: Reflection paper
Assignments: PBL groups receive Case
#6. Read journalism articles.
5 Visiting
Lecturer: Michael Grinfeld, Associate
Professor of Journalism
Due: PBL research reports and group
discussion
10 Professor
Raitt: Mini-lecture
Due: Reflection paper
Assignment: PBL groups receive Case #7.
Read medicine articles in the packet from
MU Custom Publishing.
12 Visiting
Lecturer: James Campbell, Associate
Professor of Family and Community Medicine
Due: PBL research reports and group
discussion
17 Professor
Raitt: Mini-lecture
Due: Reflection paper
Assignment: PBL groups receive Case
#8. Review The Spirit Catches You and
You Fall Down.
19 Visiting
Lecturer: Frank Bowman, Professor of
Law
Due: Reflection paper on medical
articles.
24 Professor
Raitt: Review of Religion and the Professions
Due: PBL research reports and group
discussion.
26 Wrap-up
discussion
Due: Portfolio containing papers,
notes, and research from PBL cases
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