Aims of the Research
This project provides:
1) an opportunity for teenagers to explore human well-being and ways to tackle issues related to stress and wellness. Students will also share their findings with adults (their teachers and school leaders involved in this project) so that they may gain insights from the perspective of youths themselves.
2) an opportunity to explore human well-being and issues related to stress and wellness beyond a local perspective. Students will get to work with teenagers from other countries in order to understand how well-being is conceived in similar and different ways across countries. Students will also explore research on wellness and stress and share their finding with adults and with each other.
The focus of this project is to explore more deeply what human well-being and wellness is as well as how to tackle problems related to teenage stress.
The issue of human well-being can be studied from various perspectives. The following are some examples:
1) Sociological - What contributes to stress among teenagers? What do teenagers perceive will enable them to flourish and develop fully as human beings? Is this similar or different across countries?
2) Historical - How have depictions of teenagers differed across time? For example, how did advertisements portray the idealized view of teenagers in the 1960s (or other periods)? How is this similar or different today?
3) Aesthetic and Cultural - How do literature, films, advertisements, popular music construct the idealized image (physical, social, intellectual) of the teenager? To what extent has this contributed to stress and anxiety among teenagers? Is this similar or different across countries?
4) Philosophical - How have philosophers from East and West across time conceptualized human well-being? How is their view of human well-being relevant today? What obstacles impede the development of human well-being that enable individuals to lead flourishing lives? Is this similar or different across cultures?
5) Geographical - How is human well-being discussed by politicians similar or different in different countries? How does the different political, economic system and cultural practices affect the way stress and wellness are viewed in these societies?
Remember: Your task is to develop an idea of what human well-being and wellness for the teenager is. You can explore this through one of the above 5 perspectives or another perspective that you find relevant. Your approach may also include a mixture of these 5 perspectives.