Philosophy Team (UW La Crosse)

Logic Proof Lesson Plan

1. Reminder what the 5 Famous Forms Are: MP, MT, HS, DS, CD (5 min)
2. Recognition Exercise on Visualizer
3. Introduction of Three Additional Implication Rules: Simp, Conj, Add (10 min)
4. Recognition Exercise on Visualizer
5. Introduction of the definition of a Proof (5 min)
6. Introduce: 3 Reasons why proofs are important
7. Provide 3 simple examples of doing proofs on visualizer (10 min)
8. Generalizing from these three examples to three kinds of proofs (10 min)
   [1] Constructive proofs
   [2] Deconstructive proofs
   [3] Reconstructive proofs
9. Additional examples of the three kinds of proofs on visualizerGroup work in producing each of these kinds of proofs (15 min)
10. Use of Overheads to produce proofs in groups
11. Sharing of proofs from groups with explanation provided by groups
12. Discussion of what the various groups constructed (10 min)
13. Summary and Homework Assignment

The lesson was designed to build upon previous experiences in the class. It is an algorithmic process so that the students can internalize a systematic decision making process.

We predict that there will be a variety of student-responses. There may be some who find this easy whereas others will see it as more challenging.

Lesson Plan #2

Objective: Guiding students to “practice” “doing phenomenology.”

Setup: In the center of the room a small table with a ceramic pot on it.  We will call this pot the “jug.”  All students are sitting in a circle and are equidistant from the jug in the middle. [Observing faculty are in the circle and participate along with the students.]

Motto for doing phenomenology: Attend, observe, interpret (the latter including language, or expressing in words)

Part 1: Intentionality.  Students will be directed to observe the jug, then to recognize the perspectival  character what they are conscious of.  Then they will pay attention to the consciousness-of, as in noema-noesis structure.  ``Then they will be directed to recognize the act of consciousness and its “eidetic structure”—otherwise known as universal essence of the act of consciousness.  [Husserl] (15 min)

Part II: Perceptual consciousness.  Students will be given paper and pencil and will be asked to draw the jug, first the way it appears, then upside down, then with keeping their eyes on the jug and not looking at their paper. 

Reflection: They will be directed to be aware of the meaning-giving activity that takes places within the realm of perception itself, already and before any cognitive or reflective consciousness is involved.  Reflect on how body-language, gesture, and language function on this fundamental level.  [Merleau-Ponty](20 min)

Part III: Knowing awareness of what self-shows, the phenomenon as self-showing.  Students will be given a marker.  They will be asked to draw the jug with the pencil, then to draw it with the marker, then to draw it with the pencil.  During this last phase I will secretly “steal” their markers.  Then when I ask them to use the marker again, they will notice its absence. In this awareness of the absence they become knowingly aware that the marker was always already part of their engagement-in-the-world.  The knowing awareness is then awareness that comes prior to any division of subject-object. [Heidegger] (20 min)

Part IV: Apply what has been observed, learned, and interpreted (as in: expressed in words as part of the interpretation process) to more subtle and complex phenomena, e.g. interpersonal dynamic, experience of the sacred, relationship to one’s world of meanings. [Note: This last part becomes very complex, and the goal here is simply to extend the learning of the first parts to these new areas—with the goal of simply becoming aware of what is possible. (15 min)

This lesson was designed for students experience phenomenology. That is, to go beyond what appears in the textbooks.

Some students may be resistent to parts of the activity for fear of looking silly, but overall those that embrace the experience will find it fun and informative.

Criteria for observation:
1. Are the students actively participating in the exercise?
2. Do they exhibit an interest in this activity (asking questions, active nonverbal response)?
3. Are they able to put into words what the lesson plan suggests is being learned?
4. Do they show comprehension of what the exercise is about?

Contacts: kraemer.eric@uwlax.edu, maly.kenn@uwlax.edu, ross.sher@uwlax.edu
Previous Logs: 1 | 2

Comments

[Sheri Ross]

Lesson Study Plan “Doing Phenomenology” Revised

I. Objective: Introduce Phenomenology as a Philosophical Method
II. Student Learning Outcomes
a) students will have noticed the perspectival nature of attention/perception
b) students will become aware of how language and words bring something to the perception and how lived experience is historical and part of what we bring to perception.
c) students will note how structured absence makes us aware of the objects as perceived and aware of meaningful engagement in the world.

III. Begin with music selection & Introductions (10 minutes)
a) Setting the scene: there will be a yellow chair with a statue in the middle of the room. It will be turned slightly so that not everyone has a direct view of its contents.
b) On board: Motto for Doing Phenomenology : Attend, Observe, Interpret.
c) Distribute blank pieces of paper and writing instruments for those in need.

IV Exercise One (10 minutes)
a) Students will be asked to observe the chair, then to recognize what they are conscious of… They will be directed to recognize the “consciousness of” as a structuring feature of consciousness.

IV. Exercise Two (20-25 minutes)
a) students will be asked to draw a the chair as it appears to them, then upside down, then keeping their eyes on the chair and not looking at the paper.
b) Reflection: students will be asked to if this exercise caused them to notice anything more about the chair or about the chair-as-perceived or about the act of perceiving itself. Examples: The teacher who told the students to go to their backyard to get grass clippings, could not hear the student who was worried about getting leaves because he lived in an apartment, because her mind-set was such that she presupposed all her students live in houses.
c) Students will be directed to be aware of the meaning-giving activity that takes place within the realm of perception itself, already and before any cognitive or reflective consciousness is involved.
d) The Aiden Wears Panties Story.

V. Exercise Three (15 minutes)
a) Students will be directed to draw the chair with their eyes closed. The lights will be turned off, and the statue will be taken off the chair while the lights are off.
b) Students will be asked to draw the chair again with the lights on, and without the statue.
c) During this last phase students become aware that the statue was part of their engagement with the world.
d) Structured Absences in Art—the movie Crumb.

VI. Conclusion: (10 minutes)
a) draw picture of the mind on the white board to illustrate how some theorists have thought about the role of observation, language and society in perception.

Criteria for observation:
1. Are the students participating in the exercises?
2. Are the students able to recognize the role that language plays in observation?
3. Are the students able to recognize that the absence of objects makes us aware of their former presence and of how the thing is part of the totality of meanings, i.e. in the absence is revealed the presence and the thing as tool, i.e. as being-engaged in the world?
4. Are they willing to entertain how the mind interacts with the world through art?

[Wally Thompson]

Thank you for providing this affective way of demonstrating phenomonology.