
(This posting includes a handout which you are welcome to use with your students.)
Some reasons why students seemed stimulated by this discussion:
- Many of the Asian students were surprised at how much Westerners think about happiness.
- They enjoyed comparing with their classmates what made them feel good, and they realized that they were often quite different.
- Some students were surprised that some of their classmates actually were uncomfortable with the idea of feeling happy.
This and future discussion activities include four parts:
1) A one-page article usually including a brief summary of a high-interest research study.
2) Ten true-false comprehension questions.
3) Pre-Discussion Exercise in which students read and think about several questions about their own experiences about the topic.
4) Small-group discussions of the article in which each student is given a paper with different questions in the form of Student A, B or C.