Course Description

What does it mean to be mindful, and why has mindfulness become so influential in psychology, health, and personal development?

In this course, we will explore two major Western approaches to mindfulness: Ellen Langer’s psychological mindfulness and Jon Kabat-Zinn’s meditation-based practices. We will examine the science behind mindfulness, with a particular focus on cognitive neuroscience. We will also learn practical mindfulness techniques for self-improvement and explore how these techniques can be applied in therapeutic, educational, and organizational settings.

Learning Outcomes and Assessment Measures 

Below are the course’s learning outcomes, followed by the methods that will be used to assess students’ achievement for each learning outcome. By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• identify some changes in how Italians have eaten over the last three millennia (Weekly Quiz, Course Journal, Final Essay);
• summarize connections between Umbria’s culinary past and larger themes in Italian and world history, with particular attention to the implications of race, gender & sexuality, religious faith, and class (Course Journal, Final Essay);
• distinguish between primary and secondary sources (Weekly Quiz, Course Journal, Final Essay);
• analyze different kinds of primary sources—texts, objects, and images—for their meaning (Final Presentation);
• integrate primary and secondary sources on the environmental, sociocultural, and economic factors in Italian food history into an argument (Final Essay).