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A Quarterly Publication of
The American Sociological Association
ABSTRACTS
Volume 33, Number 3, July 2005100 YEARS OF TEACHING SOCIOLOGY
- 95 Years of Teaching Sociology ..... Michael DeCesare
- Teaching Scholarship during the 1990s: A Study of Authorship in Teaching Sociology ..... Jonathan Marx and Douglas Eckberg
Conversation
- The Sociology of Teaching Graduate Statistics..... Timothy Patrick Moran
- Learning by Doing or Learning by Studying the History of Statistics? ..... George Farkas
- Sociological Paradoxes and Graduate Statistics Classes ..... Melissa Hardy
- The Sociology of Teaching Graduate Statistics: Another Perspective ..... Richard Williams
- "Bring the Sociologist Back In" to Graduate Statistics ..... John F. Zipp
- Teaching Graduate Statistics toward a Continuing Conversation ..... Timothy Patrick Moran
ARTICLE
- Introducing Multimedia Presentations and a Course Website to an Introductory Sociology Course: The Effects of New Technology on Student Perceptions of Teaching Effectiveness ..... Charles Koeber
NOTES
- The Advantage of a Focus on Advantage: A Note on Teaching Minority Groups ..... George Wooddell and Jacques Henry
- Stratification on the Menu: Using Restaurant Menus to Examine Social Class ..... Wynne Wright and Elizabeth Ransom
- Enriching Sociology 100: Using the Novel Things Fall Apart ..... Cheryl Hartman
APPLICATION
- The Research Article as an Instrument of Active Learning for Teaching about Violence, Sexual Abuse, and Union Formation among Low-Income Families ..... Diane M. Purvin and Edward L. Kain
95 Years of Teaching High School Sociology
A neglected part of the history of teaching sociology is the history of teaching high school sociology. The American Sociological Association's centennial in 2005 affords sociologists an opportunity to reflect on the teaching of sociology-anywhere and everywhere that it happens. In the spirit of contributing to the history of teaching sociology in the United States, this paper outlines the roughly 95-year history of the teaching of high school sociology. I rely upon published course descriptions written by high school sociology teachers and empirical studies conducted by academic sociologists. They demonstrate that past high school sociology courses have focused primarily on examining social problems and current events, and on promoting citizenship education. This remains the case today. I offer several reasons why the courses have looked as they have over the past 95 years, and conclude with four predictions about the future of teaching high school sociology.
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Teaching Scholarship during the 1990s: A Study of Authorship in Teaching Sociology
While the scholarship of teaching has risen in prominence in the past few decades, little is presently known about the structure of knowledge creation and dissemination in that area of scholarship. Such basic facts as the characteristics of programs that perform and publish the research (e.g., B.A., M.A., or Ph.D. ), or the identities of specific schools that are leaders in teaching scholarship remain undocumented. This article explores the topic through counts of articles and notes published in a major outlet in the scholarship of teaching, Teaching Sociology, during the decade of the 1990s. We address the following: (1) Does publication of teaching scholarship vary by the type of degree program (e.g., B.A., M.A., and Ph.D.) or by other characteristics? (2) Are some institutions centers of teaching scholarship? (3) How wide is the scope of teaching scholarship across the nation's departments? Overall, we find that a variety of sociology departments have established records of teaching publishing. Yet, some departments are leaders and appear to create a climate favorable to teaching scholarship.
Conversation on The Sociology of Teaching Graduate Statistics
Abstract forthcoming.
Introducing Multimedia Presentations and a Course Website to an Introductory Sociology Course: How Technology Affects Student Perceptions of Teaching Effectiveness
I use a quasi-experiment and follow-up questionnaire to ascertain the effects of PowerPoint multimedia presentations and a Blackboard course website on the course grades and perceptions of teaching effectiveness of introductory sociology students. Results of t-tests showed no statistically significant difference in course grades between experimental and control groups. However, students' responses to standardized teaching evaluations were considerably more favorable in the experimental group; all measured dimensions of perceived teaching effectiveness yielded statistically significant increases, with substantial increases in perceptions of instructor rapport and grading. I use the ideas of George Herbert Mead to interpret the results and increase sociological understanding of the relationship between the introduction of instructional technology and student perceptions of teaching effectiveness. In Mead's terms, the introduction of technology is not merely a self-involved act performed by the instructor that changes the modality of course presentation but a social process involving both instructor and students. Within this process the introduction of technology is both a nonsignificant gesture, which elicits from students an unconscious or "instinctively" favorable impression of the course, and a significant symbol, which calls forth behavioral responses from students, conscious actions that substantially alter their perceptions of the course. Students not only reacted positively to the instructor's use of technology but through their own use of the technology increased their involvement in the course and came to perceive its teaching more favorably.
The Advantage of a Focus on Advantage: A Note on Teaching Minority Groups
Teaching undergraduate sociology courses dealing with ethnic, racial and minority groups presents a particular set of challenges. One is the problematic nature of the concepts themselves; the other results from the confusion stemming from the multiplicity, overlap, and inadequacies of the major theoretical approaches. To improve the clarity of classroom presentations, we advance a three-part model that integrates the concept of advantage (the benefit, economic or not, actually or potentially derived from discrimination) with the traditional dyad of prejudice and discrimination. By tying these three concepts together we obtain a simple yet solidly structured pattern and coherent approach quite useful for the classroom. Finally, although our pedagogical model does not aim at building theory, we review its limitations in the instrumentalization of concepts and the measurement of structural relationships.
Stratification on the Menu: Using Restaurant Menus to Examine Social Class
For most of the twentieth century, food has been an invisible part of our culture that middle class Americans could take for granted. Yet, food is increasingly becoming a signifier of social class and cultural capital. Whether it is through gourmet magazines, "yuppie chow", celebrity chefs, or chic cooking schools, food is growing in cultural prominence. It no longer simply sustains us, it has become a symbolic marker to differentiate us as well. In this paper, we chronicle our effort to demonstrate how social class differences can be embedded in the ways in which we eat. We use restaurant menus to teach students to analyze economic and cultural social class markers. The menus and ensuing analytical discussion become a launching point to examine how consumption differences can become structured inequalities impacting such areas as nutrition, health, or cultural capital.
Enriching Sociology 100: Using the Novel Things Fall Apart to Access Sociological Concepts
In order to clarify sociological concepts and to internationalize the curriculum in the introductory sociology course I teach, I have begun using the novel Things Fall Apart by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe (1959) as a supplementary text. The novel gives students access to a culture very different from their own, allowing them to view a society vividly portrayed through storytelling and to study sociological concepts in the context of story. Things Fall Apart compassionately portrays a well-functioning African society's customs, rituals, and institutions--making no attempt to conceal the negative aspects of the society such as wife beating and infanticide--and offers insight into the changes that came with the arrival of white colonial government and white missionaries. In this note I suggest methods of helping students understand sociological concepts through a shared reading experience while giving them a glimpse into a culture different from their own. In addition, I offer discussion questions on topics central to sociology such as culture, family, society, and gender, which help students draw parallels between the society portrayed in the novel and American society, allowing them to meet the text in ways that are relevant to their lives.
The Research Article as an Instrument of Active Learning for Teaching about Violence, Sexual Abuse, and Union Formation among Low-Income Families
As noted by Goldsmid and Wilson a quarter of a century ago, a "curious gulf" exists between teaching and research in sociology. This article addresses this problem by suggesting ways in which a current research article from the American Sociological Review can be used in courses at three different levels of the undergraduate curriculum. The active learning exercises are linked to explicit student learning outcomes that build upon recommendations from Liberal Learning and the Sociology Major Updated: Meeting the Challenge of Teaching Sociology in the Twenty-First Century.
The Editor of Teaching Sociology is Liz Grauerholz.
For articles, notes, and conversations, send manuscripts to: Liz Grauerholz, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Central Florida, Howard Phillips Hall 403, Orlando, FL 32816-1360. Phone: 407-823-2227, Fax: 407-823-3026.
For book, video, and software reviews, send manuscripts to: Jay Howard, Department of Sociology, Indiana University Columbus, 4601 Central Avenue, Columbus, IN 47203-1769.
For questions about manuscript processing, contact Jori Sechrist, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Purdue University Stone Hall, 700 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2059. Phone: 765-494-5874, Fax: 765-496-1476. Phone: 765-494-5874, Fax: 765-496-1476.
The Webmaster is Pauline H. Pavlakos. Observations on form and egregious spelling may be directed to Ms. Pavlakos.
The Teaching Sociology Web Page is located at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Le Moyne College, the Jesuit College of Central New York.
Page last updated: June 16, 2005
