ERIC Number: EJ890039
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Jul
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0092-055X
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Learning to Understand Inequality and Diversity: Getting Students Past Ideologies
Goldsmith, Pat Antonio
Teaching Sociology, v34 n3 p263-277 Jul 2006
In this paper I present a pedagogical method called Writing Answers to Learn (WAL) which combines Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Exploratory Writing to address the interrelated pedagogical problems of misconceptions, resistance, retention, and transfer. I analyze the use of this combined method in a course on racial and ethnic relations and provide examples to suggest that students commonly use four ideologies to understand racial and ethnic inequality: blaming the victim, justification, naturalization, and colorblind racism. I describe how I helped students identify and unlearn these ideological misconceptions and replace them with a sociological conceptual framework. I analyze the results of a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up test showing that students' use of ideology declined on each subsequent exam while their use of sociology increased during the semester and was partially retained months later. Finally I discuss the study's limitations and the utility of students learning the falseness of ideology. (Contains 2 figures.)
Descriptors: Problem Based Learning, Ideology, Misconceptions, Teaching Methods, Intergroup Relations, Ethnic Diversity, Racial Discrimination, Racial Bias, Intergroup Education, Student Attitudes, Racial Attitudes, Ethnic Stereotypes, Teaching Models, Sociology, Pretests Posttests
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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