Service learning (SL) is growing in our universities and in Spain. However, still much action and research are needed with a gender perspective. This article aims to evaluate an SL project that consisted of workshops in schools on gender and technology. We evaluated the experience with a mixed-methods approach and a gender perspective. This includes qualitative self-reports of 19 university students

The current research examines whether a visual syllabus aids in information retention compared to a traditional text-based syllabus. The data derive from two lower-division sociology classes, each having a different syllabus format. Utilizing a syllabus quiz during the first week of the class provides the data about whether syllabus format matters. The data suggest the visual syllabus class retained

Teaching topics that implicate student identities, traumas, and/or activism is challenging because students often come with very personal attachments to curricular and extracurricular topics, such as in courses on sexualities, race, gender, and/or social movements. These classes may be described as “wobbly,” responding to outside events and occasionally tipping over. Wobbly classes present an opportunity

While most sociology majors must take a statistics course, the content of this course varies widely across departments. Starting from the assumption that sociology students should be able to engage effectively with the sociological literature, this article examines the statistical techniques used in 2,804 journal articles—from four generalist sociology journals from 1990 to 2019 and 11 additional sociology

This article details an exercise for the first day of class in an introductory sociology course. Students in two sections of Introduction to Sociology taught by the same professor and covering the same content, with the exception of the exercise on the first day of class, were surveyed at the end of the semester regarding the first day. Student responses in the section with the experiment reveal that

The sociology of disability has emerged relatively recently as a subfield in sociology and has seen growing institutionalization within the field, including the establishment of a section in the American Sociological Association. The field, however, is still emerging. There is not yet an American journal dedicated to it or more than a few textbooks. The small set of professors in this field, therefore

This article argues for the incorporation of library instruction into research methods courses to foster information literacy skills important to disciplinary specialization. The evidence in support emerges from a collaborative teaching and assessment project conducted by a research methods instructor and a faculty instructional librarian. The project evaluated the effectiveness of library instruction

A common learning goal of law-related courses taught in sociology classrooms is for students to gain an understanding of the sociological approach to law. This approach emphasizes viewing law as a social process and studying law by analyzing both legal and nonlegal phenomena. A challenge to students’ achievement of this learning goal is their preconceived notions of law as an inherently impartial and

Sociology faculty are accountable to multiple stakeholders to demonstrate that our academic programs are effective and that students are learning. Despite the ubiquity of mandated program review practices, which often include the assessment of student learning, research is lacking on the extent to which these efforts lead to improvements in departmental outcomes and student experiences. Similarly,

Sociologists consistently try to activate students’ sociological imagination even as they focus on teaching substantive and methodological information and skills. Teaching international development and other global topics pose particular challenges for engaging students actively in the local context while teaching about global and macro processes and outcomes. In this article, we connect international

Podcasts and podcasting are not new. Although there is a surprising amount of variability in the exact timeline, there seems to be consensus that Adam Curry and Dave Winer invented podcasting (International Podcast Day n.d.). In August 2004, Curry’s program Daily Source Code drove the digital-consumption model of podcasting into the mainstream, while Winder helped create Really Simple Syndication (RSS)

by music and features outstanding narration by Reynolds.) The podcast 1619 (Hannah-Jones 2019) would also work well with Holy Hierarchy, since they both strongly locate systemic racism within its historical context and could provide students with opportunities to compare and contrast various influences on the social construction of race. The film, in whole or in part, is also a good fit for Sociology

Research on educational travel has shown significant student outcomes for personal, academic, and professional growth. However, there are financial and cultural barriers that make it harder for some groups of students to participate in programs such as study abroad and shorter-term educational travel. This article examines the unique challenges and opportunities for first-generation and low-income

Couch’s work has yielded rich insights into social processes, and he has been memorialized in the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction’s Couch­Stone Symposium (Gregory P. Stone from the previous chapter). Unfortunately, his many contributions remain largely unrecognized outside several of his students and internet studies, includ­ ing those by Katovich and Chen themselves. A creative deviant

As the emphasis of Cults is on “destructive” cults, the use of music and sound effects within the podcast seems to be employed in a manner that creates a sense of mystery and danger to help emphasize the distinction of the cults being examined. This is in combination with certain dialog that enhances this effect. For example, in episode 1, “The Manson Family: Charles Manson,” the narrator states, “Manson

challenge “the country’s oligarchic structure, its patriarchal authority, and its primitively fundamen­ talist moral values” (p. 207). In all, Has the Gay Movement Failed? is a his­ toric reckoning of the last half century of the gay movement and a critique of a politic of normativity that has sidelined more radical and transformative goals. Though Duberman is a renowned historian, select chapters

Students often identify research methods classes as one of the most difficult and intimidating classes of their academic career. The objectives of this study were twofold. The first was to ascertain whether the use of group-centered, collaborative learning would improve student mastery of material compared to traditional, lecture-based classes. The second objective was to examine a possible differential

The COVID-19 pandemic forced all face-to-face college courses to transition to remote instruction. This article explores instructional techniques used in the transition, student perceptions of effectiveness/enjoyment/accessibility of those techniques, barriers that students faced due to the transition, and race/class/gender inequality in experiencing those barriers. We used surveys in introductory

The instruction of classical sociological theory at Lehman College of the City University of New York (CUNY) underwent significant transformation to make it more activity-based and better aligned with departmental learning goals. The article focuses on the effectiveness of an “edited book” project that came of this endeavor, where students become editors and curate “chapters” on a topic by identifying

The introductory sociology course is typically the only course most students take in sociology; hence, the introductory textbook becomes the only sociology textbook they may ever read as college students. The textbook, however, often lacks rigor in explaining concepts. This study focused on the thoroughness of explanations of the relations of substructure and superstructure of society by Karl Max (economic

Team-Based Learning (TBL) is a highly structured, immersive teaching strategy that emphasizes active learning through peer teams. Despite its many potential benefits for teaching introductory sociology, it has been slow to gain traction in the discipline. Instructors may debate whether the value of TBL is sufficient to justify its challenges, which may include student resistance, increased time demands

We did it! Just prior to writing this comment, I submitted my final grades and let out a huge sigh of relief. I pause now to recognize the immense achievement of the collective sociology teaching and learning community consisting of faculty at colleges and universities of all types, high school teachers, graduate teaching assistants, students, and all those who have supported and enabled the continued

Colorblind ideology provides individuals with numerous ways to minimize racism. This poses a challenge for instructors who teach about race and racism as students deploy this ideology to derail classroom discussions. Student resistance may be amplified when discussing microaggressions because students often characterize focusing on microaggressions as being “too sensitive” or trying to see racism where

Teaching race and ethnicity in various sociology courses, we found students in our classes can be very reluctant to approach the subject of race, discrimination, and racism. Moreover, during class discussion, they often have a hard time defining and analyzing these concepts. In this study, we examine how popular culture can be a useful tool to teach difficult subjects, such as race and ethnicity. Instead

Criticism but Silences Collective Expression.” American Political Science Review 107(2):326–43. Lazer, David, Alex (Sandy) Pentland, Lada Adamic, Sinan Aral, Albert Laszlo Barabasi, Devon Brewer, Nicholas Christakis, Noshir Contractor, James Fowler, Myron Gutmann, et al. 2009. “Life in the Network: The Coming Age of Computational Social Science.” Science 323(5915):721–23. McAuley, Julian, and Jure

This note overviews a class activity and an assignment for engaging poetic transcription. Poetic transcription is an arts-based research method commonly employed in the analysis and representation of qualitative data. The discussion provides some background on arts-based research, poetic inquiry, and poetic transcription as research practices within the qualitative tradition. Furthermore, it shows

absence is felt as they take with them their social capital and their volunteer labor. The chapter concludes by outlining four themes the authors gleaned from their interviews about why church refugees are done with church: “They wanted community . . . and got judgment. The wanted to affect the life of the church . . . and got bureaucracy. They wanted conversation . . . and got doctrine. They wanted

In this article, we propose a campus-based pedagogy to teach sociology. We offer the example of a project designed to critically assess university Title IX policy and situate it within existing sociological research on gender-based inequalities and violence. Students engage in sociological research regarding issues such as sexual harassment and assault, intimate partner violence, consent, and rape

we are referred to as “new” despite historical evidence to the contrary in much of today’s social science as eerily similar to the ways the members of the symposia at the end of The Testaments—and The Handmaid’s Tale—express confusion, ignorance, or disbelief about the women’s narratives in these two books. As such, this section could be utilized to encourage students to think about the social construction

This article analyzes the effectiveness of an activity we developed to help students better understand intersectionality. Intersectionality is an analytic concept that signifies ways that inequalities may overlap to create unique forms of privilege and subjugation. In the activity, students use assigned vignettes from the perspective of research participants in our own ethnographic data (including

someone has privilege because this gives them space and time to think. Crystal Manor symbolizes unlimited time and resources to allow the imagination to bloom and even says so in the welcome letter Peyton reads upon arrival. Leavy may wish to help us all find spaces of imaginative privilege in our own lives, however unlikely those pathways to creativity might seem to others. I also remain unsure of

Edelman, Carol, and Sam Edelman. 2010. “Sociology 153, The Holocaust: Background, Tragedy, & Aftermath.” Syllabus published in TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association. http://trails .asanet.org/Pages/Resource.aspx?ResourceID=11624. Markusen, Erik. 2010. “The Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights.” Syllabus published in TRAILS:

Mastery learning approaches were designed to improve student learning and elevate the level of understanding across a broader swath of students. These approaches operate under the belief that all students are capable of learning if given enough time. Little research has examined the utility or applicability of a mastery learning approach for social sciences outside of research methods courses. This

The topic of human–animal studies (HAS) remains largely ignored within the sociology classroom. While a few sociologists have encouraged teaching about animals, none has assessed whether incorporating nonhuman animals into the curriculum is effective. In this study, three instructors at two universities incorporated animal-related materials in their sociology courses in a variety of ways. Data analyzed

principles. Each chapter is framed with narratives of teaching scenarios that instructors at the college level will find relatable. This book is not written by sociologists; Darby and Lang are both scholars of English. While written for a general audience, the online strategies would be of use in any sociology course. To complement with a sociological perspective, Small Teaching Online would pair well

I presented the 2019 Hans O. Mauksch address at the American Sociological Association annual meeting in New York City on August 13, 2019. In this address, I explore how sociology faculty perceive their physical bodies in relationship to teaching. After reviewing the literature, I surveyed a national sample of sociology faculty from diverse institutional contexts to find out how aware they were of their

The U.S. K–12 public education system is fundamentally unequal. What efforts can facilitate students to become deeply immersed in the realities of the system and to embody the need for social change? This article investigates scaffolded, semester-long writing assignments to demonstrate patterns in the three tenets of critical community-engaged learning (authentic relationship development, reducing

Although there is a great deal of available material on using nontraditional resources for teaching sociology, the pedagogical uses of science fiction have not been examined for 20 years. This essay first asserts the need for an update based on changes in society and in science fiction over the past two decades. The paper then focuses on the uses of SF to teach sociology and critical thinking by describing

Blumer, Herbert. 1969. Symbolic Interaction: Perspective and Method. Berkeley: University of California Press. D’Onofrio, Sarah. 2016. “Using ‘The House I Live In’ to Understand Structural Strain Theory.” Assignment published in TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association. http://trails .asanet.org/Pages/Resource.aspx?ResourceID=12962

The solutions working mothers employ in each country are also highly dependent on the gendered work–family policies present in each context. In Sweden, government policies, like the “gender equality bonus” (p. 33), incentivize mothers and fathers to split leave time equally. As a result, mothers expect men to participate equally in caregiving and feel they can prioritize full-time employment. In former

program requirements—something that might inform conversations around mentorship and advising. In order to preserve confidentiality, Small was not able to disclose the race and ethnicity of his respondents. Scholars looking for a better understanding of how these dynamics might be shaped by race or educators looking to hear more about the experiences of graduate students of color will not find their

types published in TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association. http://trails .asanet.org/Pages/Resource.aspx?ResourceID=11594. Chapkina, Nadejda, Charles Jaret, Guangya Liu, and Angela Pollock. 2010b. “Controversies about the Impact of Immigration.” All resource types published in TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library

Food Justice Now! intersects various subfields of sociology and could be accessible to a variety of courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels of course work. In its entirety, this book would be appropriate for the sociology of food and consumption and for environmental sociology as well as a supplemental book for a course in social movements and an introductory sociology course. Specifically

(2018) “The Handmaid’s Tale through the Lens of Marxism,” which analyzes the book through the lens of Marxism. The Handmaid’s Tale offers an interesting and rich way to delve into important sociological discussions. The novel’s themes and questions remain relevant to society. Inspired by the events of the 1980s, the book endures as an important text through which students can examine and apply important

Debord (1995, 2002), Jean Baudrillard (1994), Murray Edelman (1988), Douglas Kellner (2003), and others recognized is that these mediated representations could assume a trajectory of at least a semiautonomous nature that could exercise significant influence over social life, even when these representations were not obviously authentic. In the case of Trump, David Cay Johnston (2016), a longtime observer

Sociology students are interested in having meaningful careers that use their sociological knowledge and skills, and higher education institutions are under pressure to show that their graduates achieve career success. A one-credit-hour course focused on careers, professional development, and resources for sociology majors can increase students’ confidence that multiple options exist for them in their

Drawing on a multiyear local research project on the affordable housing crisis, this article outlines a pedagogical approach we call Community-Initiated Student-Engaged Research, or CISER. The CISER model brings together three key groups of actors—undergraduate students, university researchers, and community organizations—drawing on and extending the powers of cooperative “dyads” between them. This

throughout the United States. Van Cleve’s narrative writing style is fluid and easy to read, often leaving me with a vivid image in my head. The time that it took to collect all the courtroom observations is certainly commendable, as well. Last, I appreciated the specific examples of interactions and decision points where racism enters the system. Many studies of racism in the criminal justice system

Scholars of teaching and learning in sociology have argued that introductory courses should teach toward foundational learning goals instead of providing an exhaustive review of the discipline. Nevertheless, prior research has provided far more guidance on what instructors ought to teach than how they can cohesively support learning across the goals advocated. Additionally, few studies have considered

a personalized lens, undergraduates will be challenged to engage their critical-thinking skills and apply theory to their own lived experiences while also building empathy for marginalized groups. To foster even greater empathy in the classroom, I suggest pairing this assignment with MacNamara’s (2017) activity on experiencing misgendered pronouns. This exercise, which helps cisgender students understand

Future without Forgiveness,” which describes how South Africa managed an extraordinary transition from repression to the relative stability of democracy. The main message of this section is this: if South Africa could largely overcome apartheid, then anyone can prevail in the midst of personal struggle. These particular essays could be used in undergraduate courses, such as Social Problems, Minority

This article is guided by two questions: How is age an important aspect of social location that, when forthcoming about it with students, can be beneficial for pedagogical purposes? and How can women faculty of color—particularly those who appear youthful and/or are younger than most of their colleagues—address the marginality of their actual and/or perceived age while simultaneously operating in a

Replicating published studies promotes active learning of quantitative research skills. Drawing on experiences from a replication course, we provide practical tips and reflections for teachers who consider incorporating replication in their courses. We discuss teaching practices and challenges we encountered at three stages of a replication course: student recruitment, course structure and proceedings

Sociology has been slow in responding to the challenge of climate change. In this conversation, we advocate adding more climate change content to Introduction to Sociology courses. To support our arguments, we present data from a content analysis of the top 11 best-selling introductory textbooks in the United States, demonstrating that environmental concerns are usually relegated to the end of books

We discuss findings from a survey of sociology students in Germany and consequences for teaching. We focus on the de facto formation of a sociological canon, the relation between theories and methods, and effects of social and political characteristics on student’s scientific preferences. Our findings suggest that irrespective of an agreement of the sociological professionals on a common definition

Previous scholarship has demonstrated the value of high-impact practices of community engagement, inquiry-based pedagogy, and collaborative learning for engagement and learning in sociology courses, especially undergraduate research methods and statistics. This article explores the changes made to an upper-division undergraduate course focused on applied research practices and community-level interventions

This article investigates the effects of teaching about metacognition in a sociological theory course. I created a series of teaching interventions to introduce students to the science of learning, including an interactive lecture on metacognition, a discussion that models metacognitive strategies, and activities for students to practice metacognition. This article describes those teaching interventions

Data reproducibility is becoming increasingly important in the social sciences, but it has yet to be incorporated into many undergraduate sociology programs. This note describes a service-learning activity that can be added to an introductory statistics course. Students partner with a nonprofit and analyze quantitative data to answer questions selected by the agency. Reproducibility is the central

Assessing course goals is often challenging; assessing an abstract goal, like empathy, can be especially so. For many instructors, empathy is central to sociological thinking. As such, fostering empathy in students is a common course goal. In this article, we report the initial findings of a semester-long assessment of empathy change in undergraduate students (N = 619). We employ a mixed-methods research

office. Therefore, I would have liked to read more about both the former and current mayors and their agendas. For example, current Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been criticized for focusing too much on the downtown business district and not enough on the neighborhoods. Both Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot and the Illinois House of Representatives support legislation to replace the appointed school board with