Lab

From Valuescience

Members of the instructional team perceive that knowledge is often more complete when evidenced by action. By including a lab component in the course we aim to provide opportunity to experiment with change in the company of others. We use the term "experiment" to denote consciously chosen behavioral change that we carefully observe, record, and analyze. Please design experiment(s) to be completed in 2-3 hours per week, the Stanford benchmark for an academic unit. Plan to engage in experimental behavior, to journal your practice, and to note differences in other aspects of life that you perceive to be possibly related to practice. For example, you might:

• Sleep an additional 15-20 minutes each night
• Exercise 40 minutes on each of three days
• Meditate 30 minutes on each of four days
• Write emails or letters of appreciation for an hour on each of two days
• Take a two-hour hike or bike ride once a week
• Alter idiolect to affect feeling, thought, and perception (e.g., use negative words less often)
• Change dietary pattern (e.g., eliminate corn syrup)
• Do some combination of the above.

Instructional team members are engaged in some of these and in related practices, so if you choose one of them, you may have at least one partner among us. You may also have one or more partners among other course participants. Feel free to mix and match - you may choose to adopt one practice for the entire quarter, or you may choose one for two weeks, another for two weeks, or different ones on different days of the week, etc. You can author a life you want with experiment(s) you deem well suited to you. For more ideas, see Shake Up Your Life, a website Chris and Nick set up last year.

Please document what you do and plan to submit your journal or other documentation weekly during the quarter. As with other elements of this course, we ask that you begin immediately and write regularly. Journal submissions are due by 5 pm Friday, and like other writing, they will be marked down approximately one-third of a letter grade for each 24 hours or portion thereof that they are late.

As soon as you've even preliminary ideas about your proposed experiment(s), please describe them on your People page, and email Chris to let the instructional team members know that you've done so. We look your partnership in being and doing more as we intend.