Assignments

Assignments

Assignments

Do you want your students to graduate with moral purpose–a commitment to something that transcends their own self-interest–and with character traits such as humility, compassion, and courage that help them live into their purpose and navigate their work? Cultivating this kind of character can happen as students study particular subjects rather than through supplemental programs. This library of sample assignments has been collected from faculty who are part of the Virtues & Vocations social movement and who are integrating virtue into their courses.

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Not profession-specific

Assignment: Gratitude Journaling

Students maintain a 14-day gratitude journal and analyze how the practice affected their mood, perspective, and well-being in relation to course concepts and research.

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not profession-specific

Assignment: Gratitude Mapping

Students map a personal or academic achievement to recognize the people, resources, and circumstances that contributed to their success and reflect on their interdependence.

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data analytics

Assignment: Identify Interesting Time-Specific Patterns

Students collect and analyze time-series data, create visualizations in Tableau and with AI, and reflect on the data’s limitations, sources, and the people and tools behind it.

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not profession-specific

Assignment: Unsung Heroes

Students write and deliver a letter of appreciation to an often-overlooked person, then reflect on how expressing gratitude affected both themselves and the recipient.

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not profession-specific

Assignment: Portraits of Long-Suffering Leadership

Students examine examples of patient leadership under pressure and identify traits from a patient role model they would like to emulate.

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Neuroscience

Assignment: Resilience Club Applications

Students reflect on a challenging lab experience, evaluate how they responded, and identify what they learned through persistence and problem-solving.

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not profession-specific

Assignment: Patience Breakdown and Re-scripting

Students reflect on a recent loss of patience, identify its triggers and consequences, and consider how practical wisdom could have guided a more constructive response.

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not profession-specific

Assignment: Mapping Occupational and Digital Hazards

Students examine examples of patient leadership under pressure and identify traits from a patient role model they would like to emulate.

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Engineering

Assignment: Civic Professionalism Reflection

First-year engineering students explore civic professionalism, humility, and the responsibilities engineers may have to support democratic and ethical change.

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Business

Assignment: Futuring

A future-focused business assignment in which students apply hope and curiosity to imagine strategic opportunities, using reflection, discussion, and a collaborative “Thing from the Future” exercise.

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Education

Assignment: Teacher Observation Role Play for Leaders

A leadership role-play assignment in which aspiring school administrators practice teacher observation and post-conference feedback, using courage and integrity to support meaningful professional growth.

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mathematics

Assignment: Triangles on Grids

Students count and generalize triangles on square grids, using curiosity, beauty, and perseverance to explore mathematical patterns and extend them into new questions.

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Philosophy

Assignment: Intellectual Responsibility

Using at least three reputable news sources, students describe a real-world case involving a controversial use of data by AI, consider the ethical implications of how data is being used, and recommend ways to avoid unethical data practices.

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Business

Assignment: Foundations of Ethical Behavior

Business students analyze ethical dilemmas from the textbook using a structured decision-making model, and focusing on virtues like integrity, empathy, and courage.

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Computer Science

Assignment: A Thought Experiment Career Pitch

A computer science ethics assignment in which students imagine a future career role and pitch a technology project that demonstrates how their work can serve the common good.

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Engineering

Assignment: Imaging & Richard Feynman

Students explore Richard Feynman as an exemplar of intellectual wonder, using curiosity and imaginative questioning to consider how new tools can expand the limits of scientific discovery.

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Physics

Assignment: Cecilia Payne’s PhD thesis

An astrophysics assignment in which students examine Cecilia Payne’s landmark thesis and Henry Norris Russell’s response to it, considering how curiosity, open-mindedness, and intellectual courage shape scientific discovery.

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Engineering

Assignment: Spectroscopy & Rosalind Franklin

A science discussion assignment in which students examine Rosalind Franklin as an exemplar of moral courage, intellectual attentiveness, and integrity in research.

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Business

Assignment: Failing Wisely Paper

A case study assignment in which entrepreneurship students analyze a failed venture or founder, identifying the decisions, conditions, and missing virtues that shaped the failure and what it means to fail wisely.

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Philosophy

Assignment: Attention and Empathy

A reflective philosophy assignment in which students practice “philosophical living” through focused attention, listening, dialogue, and empathy, then connect those experiences to the virtues of hopeful citizenship.

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English

Assignment: Ethics Journal

A reflective journaling practice in which students use fiction to examine ethical questions, moral exemplars, and the habits of compassion and empathy in literature and in their own lives.

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Civics

Assignment: Campus Speech Policy

A team-based assignment in which students design a campus speech policy that balances First Amendment principles, Duke’s institutional values, civil discourse, and the virtues of compassion and empathy.

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intellectual humility

Assignment: Intellectual Humility Quiz

This quiz is a useful tool to start a conversation about humility and its connection to learning and living well within diverse communities.

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Engineering

Assignment: Data Analysis & Jean Duhamel

Students write responses to thought-provoking questions in the associated online class discussion board, and also provide a thoughtful response to two of their peers.

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