The authors provide a brief case study of a three-strategy approach for teaching undergraduate research methods that (1) incorporates active learning assignments and discussion-based learning, (2) integrates a cross-discipline and cross-method faculty guest discussion facilitators series, and (3) focuses on the challenges and rewards of conducting…

Discusses the extent to which the existing literature offers insights into effectively teaching statistical inference. Describes an in-class exercise that helps students understand inferential statistics. Explains that students learn more about concepts such as population distribution, sampling distributions, and standard error of the estimate.…

Describes the "Dating Game," an exercise for use in marriage and family courses that enables students to learn about the theories of mate selection by simulating random mating. States that the dating game helps make mate selection concepts relevant to the students' lives. Discusses the students' reaction to the exercise. (CMK)

Provides a four-step process for teaching about racism: (1) the articulation of experience, (2) codification, (3) decodification, and (4) empowerment. Teaches students to describe what they see around them, define the problem, share similar experiences, question why there is a problem, and strategize what can be done about the problem. (DAJ)

Describes a bingo game that focuses on sociology of the body in which students answer questions with either a yes or no as opposed to the traditional way the game is played. Explains how to construct the game and addresses practical strategies to use after the game. (CMK)

Summarizes literature on techniques for teaching social stratification. Describes the three parts of an exercise that enables students to understand economic and political inequality: students are given a family scenario, create household budgets, and finally rework the national budget with their family scenario groups. Discusses student…

Outlines a plan for helping undergraduate students appreciate Max Weber's theoretical achievements, teaching critical thinking about what constitutes 'the good life' in rationalized societies. Uses the book "The McDonaldization of Society" (George Ritzer) to encourage student interest in Weber's work. Describes field exercises and…

Describes a course designed to teach students qualitative methods and to engage them in collecting data and reflecting on the experiences of students at their college. Explains that during the semester course, students spent one month engaged in participant observation followed by one month conducting qualitative interviews. (DAJ)

Describes an active learning approach to teaching sampling and measurement in an undergraduate course on research methods. Students complete a content analysis on desired partner attributes in personal advertisements. Discusses concerns and issues in relation to sampling, content analysis, and other potential problems. (CMK)

Although many of us would like to get beyond lecturing, we often lack concrete strategies for doing so, particularly in our larger classes. This paper suggests one such strategy for creating a discussion-based course. The success of such a course is predicated on students reading and thinking about the course material (receiving "first exposure")…

Demonstrates that popular music's potential as a tool for teaching interactive introductory sociology courses is enhanced when a cultural analysis of a specific music genre is incorporated into the classroom. Presents a two-part model for integrating a cultural analysis of heavy metal music and its subculture into the introductory course. Includes…

Describes an experiential learning activity using a kindergarten crayon inequality concept. Illustrates applying this concept to teaching about social inequality. Recommends a reading assignment be included with the crayon exercise. Concludes active learning motivates student learning and offers instructors another option beyond the formal…

Social scientists, particularly sociologists, seem to place great value in small classes and group projects, especially in teaching research methods. However, in the authors' department, the sophomore-level research methods class ranges from 70 to 105 students, which would result in 14 to 21 small groups for one instructor to supervise without a…

Asserts that sport is a pervasive aspect of society. Presents and describes four learning activities designed to help students understand the significance of sport as a social institution. Maintains that, while the activities focus on the institution of sport, they can be used in a variety of sociology courses. (CFR)

This article suggests ways in which a current research article on employment discrimination from the "American Sociological Review" can be used in the undergraduate classroom to facilitate deep structure learning (Roberts 1986, 2001, 2002). The exercises are designed for different levels of the undergraduate curriculum and adopt the strategies of…