Untitled

Web Schedules

Fall 2024
Spring 2024
Summer 2024

One Credit Courses

Fall 2024
Spring 2024
Summer 2024

No Cost Textbook/Resources Courses

Fall 2024
Spring 2024
Summer 2024

Low Cost Textbook/Resources Courses

Fall 2024
Spring 2024
Summer 2024

Course Planning by Program

2023-24

Essential Objectives

Course Syllabus


Revision Date: 22-Dec-23
 

Spring 2024 | PHI-2080-VO01 - Science & Spirituality


Online Class

Online courses take place 100% online via Canvas, without required in-person or Zoom meetings.

Location: Online
Credits: 3 (45 hours)
Day/Times: Meets online
Semester Dates: 01-23-2024 to 05-06-2024
Last day to drop without a grade: 02-11-2024 - Refund Policy
Last day to withdraw (W grade): 03-24-2024 - Refund Policy
This course has started, please contact the offering academic center about registration

Faculty

Beth Torpey
View Faculty Credentials

Hiring Coordinator for this course: Collin Lee

General Education Requirements


This section meets the following CCV General Education Requirement(s) for the current catalog year:
VSCS Humanistic Perspectives
    Note
  1. Many degree programs have specific general education recommendations. In order to avoid taking unnecessary classes, please consult with additional resources like your program evaluation, your academic program catalog year page, and your academic advisor.
  2. Courses may only be used to meet one General Education Requirement.

Course Description

This course examines the evidence of potential common ground between mystical, spiritual, and scientific perspectives on the nature of reality. Modern scientific discoveries relative to the writings of clerics, mystics, and poets from major religions and other spiritual traditions will be discussed and explored.


Essential Objectives

1. Compare and contrast the writings of selected mystics, clerics, poets and other spiritual sources with those of prominent theorists and scholars from the scientific community.
2. Discuss recent scientific experiments where evidence seems to confirm that there are links between the natural and supernatural previously considered to be outside the realm of science.
3. Describe those aspects of scientific theory that confound our previous beliefs about the nature of physical reality.
4. Trace the history of scientific inquiry and the evolution of scientific thought from Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas to the mechanical universe of Newton and Descartes and on to Einstein, Niels Bohr, David Bohm and the "new" science.
5. Describe the nature of "unseen reality" from the perspective of different spiritual sources.


Required Technology

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV IT Support page. https://support.ccv.edu/general/computer-recommendations/

Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.


Required Textbooks and Resources

This course uses one or more textbooks/books/simulations.

Spring 2024 textbook details will be available on 2023-11-06. On that date a link will be available below that will take you to eCampus, CCV's bookstore. The information provided there will be specific to this class. Please see this page for more information regarding the purchase of textbooks/books.

PHI-2080-VO01 Link to Textbooks for this course in eCampus.

The last day to use a Financial Aid Advance to purchase textbooks/books is the 3rd Tuesday of the semester. See your financial aid counselor at your academic center if you have any questions.


Methods

There are several books that we'll use in class, but we're not going to be fully reading each one. However, much of the information the we will be discussing will be found on the interne,t through various websites, as well as through social media. Intellectual curiosity will be rewarded. We will be searching the internet for new, interesting and strange material to discuss in class and evaluate sources and efficacy.

Discussion forum.

Youtubes and TED talks.

Readings from required textbooks, online sources, and other provided sources.

Quizzes

Short essays.

Final paper/essay/project


Evaluation Criteria

These are approximate percentages for the evaluation criteria:

40% - Discussion forum participation;

20% - Assignments - Quizzes/Homeworks;

20% - Short essays;

20% - Final project


Grading Criteria

CCV Letter Grades as outlined in the Evaluation System Policy are assigned according to the following chart:

 HighLow
A+10098
A Less than 9893
A-Less than 9390
B+Less than 9088
B Less than 8883
B-Less than 8380
C+Less than 8078
C Less than 7873
C-Less than 7370
D+Less than 7068
D Less than 6863
D-Less than 6360
FLess than 60 
P10060
NPLess than 600


Weekly Schedule


Week/ModuleTopic  Readings  Assignments
 

1

Introduction

  

Watch: the movieMindwalk

Participate:in the Discussion Forums (2)-Each discussion forum requires onesubstantivepost, addressing each aspect of the forum prompt, and one response to another students posts. You'll find guidance for online discussion forums at the top of the class page inGeneral Instructions, Reviewing theRubric for Online Discussion Forumswill also be helpful!

  

Complete Quiz 1 -Read the assignment questions before watching the movie. The questions are generally in chronological order.

 

2

One Mind

  

Watchthe videos linked below

Read: One Mind - Author's note, Introduction and Chapters 1 - 3

Participate in the Discussion Forums (2)- Remember to fully address each prompt with a substantive post and respond to one other post in each forum. Additional responses will be considered extra credit in your Class Participation grade.

  

Complete: Week 2 Quiz

Optional: Try to find some applicable articles and post them in the News and Miscellaneous Information Forum at the top of the class page. Be sure to include an explanation and what you think about it. This will be considered extra credit.

 

3

Quantum Weirdness

  

Watchthe video(s) linked below

Read: One Mind- Chapters 4, 5, 6 and 8

Transcendent Mind- Chapter 2

Participate in the Discussion Forums (2)- Remember to fully address each prompt with a substantive post and respond to one other posts in each forum.

  

Complete Week 3 Quiz

Optional: News Forum participation

 

4

Near Death Experiences (NDEs) and More!

  

Reviewthe video(s) and articles provided

Read:One Mind- Chapters 10, 11 and 12

Transcendent Mind- Chapters 4 and 5

Participatein the Discussion Forums

  

CompleteQuiz 4

 

5

Remote Viewing

  

Watch the video(s) provided

Read:One Mind- Chapters 14through 18

Participatein the Discussion Forums (4) - Remember to fully address each prompt with a substantive post and respond to one other posts in each forum.

  

No Quiz or Homework this week!

Use this time to start working on your One Mind Essay

Feel free to post in the Meditation Experiences Forum at the top of the class page under General Information

 

6

Global Consciousness

  

Watchthe video(s) linked below

Read:One Mind -Chapters 20 through 26

Transcendent Mind- Chapter 6; pp. 125-131

  

Participatein the Discussion Forums (2)- Remember to fully address each prompt with a substantive post and respond to two other posts in each forum.

CompleteWeek 6 Quiz

 

7

Evolution?

  

Assignment:

ReadChapters 27 through 29 of One Mind to complete the book

Watchthe videos provided

  

Participatein forums

Complete: Part 1 Class Participation assignment

Work:on your One Mind Assignment. Be sure to review and use the additional links provided this week for your essay.

 

8

Down the Rabbit Hole

  

Read/watchprovided links

ReadWhat the Bleep Study Guide,pp. 2,3; 9-21

  

Participatein Forum(s)

CompleteWeek 8 Quiz

 

9

Wacky Weird World of Quantum

  
ReadQuantum Reality (pp. 22-29) in theWhat the Bleep Study Guide.
*Transcendent Mind:Chapter 3 Rethinking Time
RevisitThe 2-Slit Experiment in Chapter 6, Section c of Transcendent Mind
Watchadditional video(s) andreadadditional link(s)
  
Participatein the Discussion Forums
Complete:Quiz 9
 

10

What is Consciousness?

  

WatchWatchWhat the Bleep? parts 8-11

Read:Creating Our Days(pp. 32-45) of theWhat the Bleep Study Guide

*One Mind: Chapter 9

*Transcendent Mind: Chapter 1

* The other linked documents

Watch the linked youtubes.

  

Participate in 3 forums

complete Week 10 Quiz

 

11

What is Consciousness? (continued)

  

Watch:The rest ofWhat the Bleep?

Read:

*Transcendent Mind:Chapter 8

* Healing the Past (pp. 49-56) of theWhat the Bleep Study Guide.(Forum discussion next week

Reviewthe other links provided

  

Participatein twoforums

Workon Essay 2

 

12

Co-Creator in Evolution

  

Reviewthe links provided

Participateinfour forums

  

For the rest of the semester, the forum questions are from that week's assignment

 

13

HOPE

  
ReadThe New Science and Spirituality Reader, Afterword and Fostering an Effective Worldshift (pp, 143- 160)
Reviewthe links provided
Complete: WatchingInner Worlds, Outer Worlds
  
Participatein the discussion forums (3)

Work on Essay 3

 

14

Mystic Traditions

  

Review links provided

  

This week, you're going to be the instructors in three forums.

For the First Forum, you're going to do a little bit of research about the perspective of historical spiritual sources, such as mystics, clerics, poets, etc. As you've seen throughout the semester there has been a "knowing" about the deep interconnection that we've been exploring. Find some specific writings/traditions that allude to what science is now confirming experimentally. For example, the Dalai Lama wrote a book called,The Universe in a Single Atomand often talks about how Buddhism relates to science. The Hindu Upanishads were looked to by famous physicists and inventors, such as Erwin Schrodinger and Nicolai Tesla. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a Jesuit who developed a concept of consciousness evolution and David Bohm was a physicist who was interested in spirituality and the "Implicate Order". Look in the back of your textbooks in the Indexes - There are many sources out there. You'll also get some ideas from Cassandra Vieten's talk (Week 9) about the Science of Interconnectedness (the first part of this talk is most applicable - the second part, we've already gone over, but it's still interesting). Provide a description of what you found, including links, and how it relates to what we've learned so far.

In the Second Forum, you'll each be assigned a reading/essay from the first part of theNew Science and Spirituality Reader.You'll summarize the reading/essay and discuss how it relates to the class.

Forum Three is the same as the second forum, but you'll be assigned an reading/essay from the second part of theNew Science and Spirituality Reader

 

15

Final Paper Reviews

    

You'll be receiving your Draft Final Paper Review assignment through your CCV (or VSC) email. If you're used to communicating through Canvas, CHECK YOUR EMAIL!

Reviewthe links provided

Participatein the final two forums

Submityour Final Paper to the Final Paper Submission Portal by May 9

Completethe post-course survey

 

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance and participation in classes are essential for success in and are completion requirements for courses at CCV. A student's failure to meet attendance requirements as specified in course descriptions will normally result in a non-satisfactory grade.

  • In general, missing more than 20% of a course due to absences, lateness or early departures may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.
  • Attending an on-ground or synchronous course means a student appeared in the live classroom for at least a meaningful portion of a given class meeting. Attending an online course means a student posted a discussion forum response, completed a quiz or attempted some other academically required activity. Simply viewing a course item or module does not count as attendance.
  • Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require students to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class. Faculty members will individually determine what constitutes participation in each course they teach and explain in their course descriptions how participation factors into a student's final grade.


Participation Expectations

Your forum participation represents 40% of your grade, so try to stay up to date.Foreach forum, your original post andonesubstantiveresponse to another student’s post isrequired.Your original posting should consist of a thorough paragraph responding to each aspect of the forum prompt. Please refer to theRubric for Online Discussion Forums,at the top of theclass page, for guidance to a higher grade. The earlier the posting, the better adiscussion can form, so earlier postings are encouraged. The first posting of the week isdue Wednesday night. Generally, the reading(s) for the forums are assigned the weekbefore so you should have plenty of time to craft a response by Wednesday night. In the forums, we’llstart the semester out without late penalties; however, if a pattern of consistently latepostings emerges, a structure of late penalties with be developed and enforced.
Your forum responses will be graded separately and posted in the gradebook twice duringthe semester at the mid-term and final. It has occurred that students have not responded to any other forum posts for the first half of the semester and they have received aZEROin class participation, which is 20% of your grade.


Missing & Late Work Policy

A 5% reduction perday will be assessed for each day late,unless you communicate with the instructor prior to beinglate!


Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:


CCV strives to mitigate barriers to course access for students with documented disabilities. To request accommodations, please
  1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/discover-resources/students-with-disabilities/
  2. Request an appointment to meet with accessibility coordinator to discuss your request and create an accommodation plan.
  3. Once created, students will share the accommodation plan with faculty. Please note, faculty cannot make disability accommodations outside of this process.


Academic Integrity


CCV has a commitment to honesty and excellence in academic work and expects the same from all students. Academic dishonesty, or cheating, can occur whenever you present -as your own work- something that you did not do. You can also be guilty of cheating if you help someone else cheat. Being unaware of what constitutes academic dishonesty (such as knowing what plagiarism is) does not absolve a student of the responsibility to be honest in his/her academic work. Academic dishonesty is taken very seriously and may lead to dismissal from the College.