Final Projects: The Paper and Beyond

Several faculty members went beyond assigning papers for students’ final projects for the recently wrapped-up fall semester. Students in Chris Edler’s US History: Shared Voices class used a board-game template to create a foreign policy game demonstrating their understanding of the subject matter. During the last day of classes, they played one another’s games, which included themes of economic foreign policy; domestic times of turmoil, such as the Great Depression and the Red Scare; and international strife.

Two court cases were tried in Susan Kennedy’s Ethics class. Students were lawyers and judges arguing cases on hate speech and free speech. “They must know the law, any legal cases that have been tried, and then use their knowledge of ethical theories and arguments to present their case,” she says. In her Violence and Nonviolence class, students wrote and presented their own children’s books on the topic of social injustice.

Karen Levitt’s students took on the role of president-elect Barack Obama’s National Security Advisor, and created a comprehensive foreign policy plan for his administration. “Their work is based on discussions we have had all semester about America’s role in the world,” according to Levitt. Students discussed engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as relations with European allies and addressed threats to US security.