This paper explores dynamics of students' critical consciousness development in the context of a thematically organized service-learning sociology course titled Health, Illness, and Community. The integrated components of the course were designed to cultivate critical consciousness by framing the study of health in terms of social justice issues…

Although there is widespread agreement among academics that critical thinking is an important component to the college classroom, there is little empirical evidence to verify that it is being taught in courses. Using four sections of introductory sociology, we developed an experimental design using pretests and posttests to assess students'…

Uses Project Censored to open a dialog about important issues that have not received media attention, to reflect on the sociological reasons why we are not learning about these stories, and to develop strategies to address these issues. Students met these objectives by writing a report and giving an oral presentation. (DAJ)

States that an important goal of introductory college sociology courses is to make the discipline come alive for students and to encourage active involvement in learning. Describes a student project approach in which students interview three people and analyze the data relevant to four theoretical perspectives. (CFR)