Introductory Sociology Course Research Articles

A Conversation on Classroom Etiquette in Introductory Sociology Courses

A Conversation on Classroom Etiquette in Introductory Sociology Courses

Critical Thinking in Introductory Sociology Classes: A Program of Implementation and Evaluation

Educators have long recognized the importance ofteaching critical thinking skills in the college classroom. A core group of sociology faculty members at a midwestern university introduced critical thinking into their introductory sociology courses as a specific instructional component. In this paper we review the objectives of four instructional programs and the specific strategies these faculty members used in nurturing critical reasoning skills. We developed a four-page questionnaire to assess the students' perceptions of these programs. Overall the programs appear effective in the eyes of the students; 70 percent believed they had adequate opportunities to develop their critical reasoning skills, and 62 percent reported an increase in those skills. We discuss the findings from this project in terms of the relevance of critical thinking to the sociology curriculum.

Research Methods in the Introductory Course: To Be or Not to Be?

Introductory sociology courses usually fail to provide adequate information about gathering, interpreting, presenting, or evaluating data, a situation that is goodfor neither students nor society. Tradition, students' predispositions and preparation, lack of materials, and lack of support from colleagues all work against teaching research methods to beginning students. Nevertheless, students need to be familiar with the basics of the entire research process and able to spot simple errors in research. In order to teach methods well to introductory students, instructors need to devote significant time to the topic, use thorough, complete, and well-written materials, assign homework, space instruction in methods throughout the course, integrate methodological issues into discussions of substantive topics, use well-chosen extended research examples, and employ computer software judiciously. By using such techniques, it is possible to teach methods in the introductory course successfully and to minimize students' resistance.

Understanding Group Life:

Abstract From the wide‐ranging body of material included in the introductory course in Sociology a list of 10 major understanding is nominated which contributed to the comprehension of group‐individual relationships Drawn from over 40 years of teaching Sociology courses at all levels in several university settings, the suggested list is advanced as a challenge to others for additions and deletions in an attempt to filter out the significant from the peripheral, the sinews from the adornments statistical manipulation of data and attempts at esoteric theorizing, valid as they may be may obscure the “liberal arts” contributions (philosophy, history and the arts) which for the vast majority of Basic Sociology students, are the important residue

Enhancing Study Skills in an Introductory Sociology Course: Extension and Replication

As noted in an earlier paper (Zeller and Wells 1990), many students come to their university classes without the requisite study skills necessary to function effectively at the college level. In addressing the concerns of these students, universities establish programs that assist in the development of the necessary skills. The programs often are created to meet the needs of the students with serious skill deficits. Such programs, however, often provide instruction that is useful to the average and the strong student as well as the weak one. As a program designed for weak students matures, it ultimately may attract stronger students unless they are prohibited from attending. An inherent Catch-22 is involved in managing an academic enhancement program. On the one hand, if the program directors place a limit on the academic qualifications of students who participate, the program will gain the reputation of being remedial and will take on a negative label. On the other hand, if there is no limit on participants' academic qualifications and if the program is truly effective, then both the weak and strong students will be motivated to participate. Moreover, the strong students achieved that distinction by identifying and capitalizing on opportunities for enhancing their own academic standing. Indeed, when a course is more challenging than expected, the motivated student will look for a way to obtain the necessary abilities to master the material. When standards of performance are well defined, failure to achieve the standards should motivate students to try harder (Kennedy and Willcutt 1964, p.323). If an academic enhancement program does in fact enhance students' performance, it is not surprising that the strong students will be drawn to such a program.

Teaching Strategies in Introductory Sociology for College Students with Learning Disabilities

This paper focuses on teaching techniques that can be used effectively to reach students, specifically learning-disabled students, with handicaps that were unnoticed or unidentified until a few years ago. The sociological literature places considerable resources at the professor's disposal; these techniques may increase effectiveness for teaching students without handicaps as well as those with learning disabilities (LD). The teaching of large introductory courses is complicated by students with handicaps who require special considerations. Most colleges and universities are experiencing steady increases in populations of handicapped students. Students with physical disabilities such as hearing impairments may be obvious to faculty members and to other students, but learning-disabled students may become apparent only after the first test is graded. Such students generally hesitate to approach instructors for fear that they will be viewed as unprepared or as offering an excuse for a poor performance. This hesitancy often is based on previous experience, including a resistant or uninformed professor. Such an instructor usually operates with good intentions, but may be unaware of learning disabilities and effective teaching techniques that increase the opportunities to reach LD students. By design, the introductory sociology course is available to or required of students with a variety of majors and backgrounds. As part of the core curriculum of most colleges and universities, it is intended to be a viable component of a liberal arts education. Whether as a requirement or as an elective, such a service course usually is in demand; thus enrollments generally are high.

The Essential Wisdom of Sociology

Although the introductory sociology course typically conveys some information about society (primarily American society), I think most sociology instructors would agree that it is more important for students to grasp some fundamental sociological concepts: role, interaction, structure, conflict, socialization, and so on. I am not so naive, however, as to imagine that we would ever agree on precisely what the most important concepts are. In my own teaching and writing, I have found it even more important to ground students in some basic principles or metaconcepts that distinguish the sociological view of things and that make sense of the concepts we weave together in the sociological construction of society. Below I will identify and describe briefly ten basic principles, not in the hope of reaching agreement with my colleagues, but with the idea that our disagreement might be productive.

The Library Scavenger Hunt: Teaching Library Skills in Introductory Sociology Courses

Most educators agree that successful undergraduate education requires students to develop a working understanding of how to use the academic library. Yet many express shock and disappointment on discovering that juniors and seniors may not have this skill. Despite our agreement about the importance of library skills, few of us take the responsibility to teach them as part of our substantive course work. In this paper we challenge the assumption that library skills are not a legitimate aspect of sociology courses. Rather we argue that these skills can be incorporated appropriately into an introductory sociology course. Students enrolled in such courses tend to be in their first or second year. The earlier in the undergraduate education we teach library skills, the more likely it is that students will succeed in college. Furthermore, teaching library skills need not be maligned as remedial work that is irrelevant to our substantive material. We can teach these skills as an

Public Issues and Private Troubles: Teaching Suicide Prevention Techniques in Introductory Sociology

This paper describes in detail how the topic of suicide prevention may be integrated into the introductory sociology course. This approach brings to life some basic sociological concepts, including that of the sociological imagination; relates well to Durkheim's classic study of suicide; and immediately makes social science research and its results relevant and interesting to the students by giving them usable information and potentially life-saving skills.

Teaching Communication Skills in the Context of Introductory Sociology

Communication is an important socialfact that is critical to the existence and maintenance of social life and to the individual's development and self-concept, as well as a critically important skill for the everyday functioning of individual members of society. It is maintained in this paper that colleges and each college instructor are responsible for helping students to develop their communication skills. This development in turn will help them to improve their critical thinking skills because the two skills are linked. The classroom is viewed as the natural setting for such activity. To facilitate development of communication skills (writing, speaking listening), a unique pedagogy is described that includes a small-group exploratory discussion, a summary of the discussion written in a memorandum format and small-group comparison of memoranda for accuracy and completeness of recall Data on the experimental testing of the pedagogy across disciplines are presented. Implementation of the pedagogy in an introductory sociology course is described. Results suggest that this pedagogy is more effective than conventional pedagogies in facilitating development of communication skills.

Encouraging Students in Large Classes to Ask Questions: Some Promising Results from Classes in Chemistry and Sociology

With rising class sizes at many of our colleges and universities, increased attention is being given to the teaching of large survey courses (McGee 1986). The disadvantages of large classes to students and instructors alike are notorious: both instructors and students suffer a lack of personal interaction; instructors cannot modify what they do to accommodate the needs of individual students; and examinations, typically of the objective, multiplechoice variety, aggravate these disadvantagesinstructors receive no insight into how the students are thinking and the students recognize that they need only memorize to succeed. In view of these disadvantages, the two authors independently adopted a policy of encouraging students in their large, elective introductory courses to formulate and hand in spontaneous written questions concerning any material presented in lectures. The data reported in this research note were gathered from students enrolled in introductory sociology and chemistry classes at a large land grant university. The introductory sociology course (WES) has enrollments ranging from 300 to 550; the introductory chemistry course (HHB) usually enrolls approximately 150 students. Encouraging students to turn in written questions has been shown to help counteract the disadvantages of large classes enumerated above and to stimulate critical

A Response to the Market Mentality

After reading the stimulating papers by sociology editors Sheryl Fullerton (Wadsworth) and Frank Graham (Mayfield), I chose to address the idea of a in college textbook publishing. In the first part of this brief response I underscore the market mentality which appears currently to pervade the relationship between professors and publishers. Next I suggest some possible negative responses to the on the part of those teaching the introductory sociology course. Finally I hypothesize that we sociologists may be contributing to the problem of the in publishing, and I suggest how we can stop doing so.

Mastering Introductory Sociology: A Teaching Innovation

When our university changed its calendar from quarters to semesters a few years ago, I was troubled by an increasing number of D grades in my introductory sociology courses. After 24 years of teaching this course and thinking I was doing a pretty good job,1 I was puzzled as to why this was happening. My text was the best I'd ever used,2 as was the study guide that accompanied it. I had no reason to think the caliber of the students had

A Case-Study Method for Teaching Industrial Sociology

An exciting trend in the sociology of organizations is the revitalization of the discipline of industrial sociology. Instead of taking prevailing social arrangements in organizations for granted, the approach of the new industrial sociology is to investigate the origins of the division of labor and to treat as problematic the issues of legitimacy and motivation to work. The goal of the industrial sociology course discussed in this paper is to help students analyze the social origins of technology and structures of authority and how they operate to increase productivity and reproduce domination in society (Thompson 1983; Littler 1982; Burawoy 1979). The purpose of this paper is to suggest a case-study technique for teaching industrial sociology that stresses the evolution of the division of labor, or how people have come to perform different jobs. The division of labor is treated as a key to understanding both the macro system of social organization and such micro organizational issues as decision-making and work motivation. The remainder of the paper will review theoretical perspectives and methods of instruction for an introductory course in industrial sociology.

Some reflections upon teaching Sociology at a distance

This article reviews an introductory sociology course taught at a distance. After an outline of the course structure, the major teaching strategies adopted are discussed with an emphasis upon those which seek to foster sociological understanding by requiring students to explore links between their own social experience and the sociological concepts, theories and methods to which they are being introduced. Results from an evaluation study of students’ responses to these teaching strategies are also discussed.

Using a Research Team and Microcomputers to Teach Basic Sociological Principles

This paper illustrates one way in which a small research team can use microcomputers to learn sociological methods as part of a large introductory sociology course. Data from the research team can be used to teach a number of basic sociological principles to the larger class. In addition to beginning the process of integrating microcomputers into the classroom, this approach provides a strong empirical base for the instruction of sociology, provides students with skills as well as facts and ideas, and increases the relevance of introductory sociology by developing student-generated examples of sociological concepts. While the example in the paper is drawn from the experience of a mass class, the same principles can be applied using a sociology methods class as the research team.

Active Learning in Large Introductory Sociology Courses

The method of teaching introductory sociology courses has been debated over the past 20 years. The standard lecture format for large (200 plus students) introductory courses has been criticized and a more active learning approach has been recommended. This report emphasizes the positive aspects of the active learning approach and describes one such module as it developed over a two-year period. We discuss the conditions leading to a restructuring of the course and describe specific portions of the course. Objective evaluations of the outcomes of active learning need to be developed. However, subjective evaluations suggest that active learning offers new insights about sociology to students.

What Do Introductory Sociology Students Know and When Do They Know It? The Results of Pretesting Students

Ways in which both instructors and students can benefit from the administration of a pretest in introductory sociology courses are described. Among other benefits, instructors are able to assess the amount of learning that occurs during the course and students are able to get a practical illustration of course content and testing format. Research results from three introductory sociology classes which used pretests at two different types of schools are presented. Students with higher g.p.a.'s, students with more years of college completed, and students from higher social class backgrounds score better on pretests. High school sociology coursework and prior college coursework in the social sciences do not improve pretest scores. Pretest scores, as well as college g.p.a., predict overall grades for the course. Students who learn more in a course, judging firom their improvement on their pretest grade, do not report significantly greater satisfaction with the course.

The Effects of Computer-Based Drill and Practice Exams in Introductory Sociology: A Mainframe Orientation

The central focus of the article discusses the effects of a mainframe based drill and practice program in a large introductory sociology course. The major topics examined are: 1) the development of the program itself, using DEC's CAS language and 2) the effects of the program on students' grades in the course [1–3].

The Provincialism of Introductory Sociology

This article addresses the provincialism of most introductory sociology courses in this country. It suggests that the striking lack of comparative and historicalfocus in the introductory course is peculiar given such recent trends as the growing reconvergence of sociology and anthropology and the recent rise of historical sociology, as well as the fact that European sociology is notable for its strong comparative and historical outlook. Several serious consequences are held to follow from this provincialism: the virtual impossibility of presenting sociology as a discipline oriented to formulating general scientific principles when no serious comparative analyses are undertaken; an inability to expand students' cultural horizons to the extent usually desired by sociologists; and a crippling of the capacity of sociology to get a proper hold on the crucial problem of social change. A highly comparative and historical introductory course is then discussed as a means of overcoming these serious deficiencies.