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A Quarterly Publication of
The American Sociological Association

ABSTRACTS--Volume 30, Number 2, April 2002

ARTICLES

NOTES

THINKING SOCIOLOGICALLY ABOUT DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY, TEACHING, AND LEARNING: WHAT WE KNOW AND WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW

(Denzel Benson, Wava Haney, Tracy E. Ore, Caroline Hodges Persell, Aileen Schulte, James Steele, and Idee Winfield)

In this paper we synthesize the knowledge available and identify the knowledge needed about ways that new digital technologies may affect student learning, particularly in sociology. We propose that a sociologically-informed Scholarship of Teaching and Learning requires awareness of how social contexts and relationships affect and are affected by the use of digital technologies. The paper suggests that sociological perspectives can inform the structural and cultural contexts that shape key aspects of teaching and learning with digital technologies. Specifically, we examine computer-mediated pedagogy, the use of multimedia in classrooms, access and the digital divide, student and instructor self-concepts, learning styles, and institutional contexts.

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DESIGNING YOUR COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING PROJECT: FIVE QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT YOUR PEDAGOGICAL AND PARTICIPATORY GOALS
(Marion Carter, Estela Rivero, Wendy Cadge, and Sara Curran)

This paper presents a set of five questions that are important to consider in the preliminary planning of a community-based learning (CBL) project. The questions are relevant to most CBL projects, ranging from internships to research projects and field trips. The questions include: Among the goals of the project, are there primary and secondary goals or are the goals given equal weight? Is participation in the project mandatory or voluntary? Should the CBL component of a course be concentrated in one site or dispersed across many sites? How similar or different should each student's individual participation in the project be? How central should direct client/community interaction be to students' activities? Based on a review of the CBL literature in Sociology and feedback from the students and partner organization in our own CBL project, we discuss each question and outline some of the advantages and disadvantages of various decisions, focusing on the competing interests of students, instructors, and partner organizations. The aim is not to advocate one kind of project or design over another but rather to help other project planners anticipate and avoid pitfalls noted in the literature and maximize the benefits of CBL.

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THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE ON MATE SELECTION: AN EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF AN ACTIVE LEARNING EXERCISE
(John F. Zipp)

The individualistic orientation of most U.S. college students presents a persistent problem for teaching sociology, especially at the introductory level where many students find it hard to understand social structure and how it shapes their lives. This paper provides an empirical evaluation of whether an active learning exercise focused on mate selection increases student understanding of the impact that social structure has on marital choice. I fielded the experiment in an introductory sociology course-half the class participated in the active learning exercise while the other half attended a traditional lecture. Results indicate that those who participated in the exercise were significantly more likely to learn the role that social structure plays in mate selection.

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COMMUNITY SERVICE THROUGH FACILITATING FOCUS GROUPS: THE CASE FOR A METHODS-BASED SERVICE-LEARNING COURSE
(Peter J. Collier and David L. Morgan)

This article explores the utility of focus group methodology as a tool for facilitating both community service and student community-based learning through an examination of a service-learning course, "Community Service Through Facilitating Focus Groups," taught by the authors during 1998-99 at a mid-sized public university in the Pacific Northwest. A methods-based capstone is particularly valuable. By linking a course on research methods to a community-based learning project, students receive hands-on experience in using the method that they are studying in the classroom. The course is broken down into twelve elements, with student comments illustrating each class element, and a timeline for the course is provided. The article concludes with a discussion of how the nature of focus group methodology facilitates students' comprehension of sociology.

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CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE: TRANSFORMING COMMUNITY SERVICE INTO SERVICE LEARNING
(Shirley A. Hollis)

Using a quasi-experimental design, this case study outlines the author's application of specific techniques necessary to implement a service learning component in an introductory sociology class. It also systematically compares the outcomes from two groups of students, one of which was involved in relatively unstructured community work and the other in a structured service learning assignment and examines the benefits experienced from this transformation. Although adding the structure necessary to accomplish effective service learning involved careful preliminary reflection, planning, and coordination, the study suggests that the service learning approach enhances students' development of a sociological orientation and understanding of structural linkages to poverty. It also indicates that students involved in structured service learning may better master course materials than students involved in less-structured community work, as measured by objective examination. Finally, the study supports earlier claims reported in the literature that service learning might be a particularly effective way of improving the efficacy of introductory sociology courses.

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CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE: TRANSFORMING COMMUNITY SERVICE INTO SERVICE LEARNING
(Jay R. Howard)

In this study researchers use non-participant observation, survey, and interview to examine the nature of student participation in the mixed-age college classroom at a small Midwestern university commuter campus. Results indicate student age and instructor gender were significant predictors of students' level of participation, while student gender was not significant. The consolidation of responsibility (Karp and Yoels 1976), wherein a few students assume the responsibility for the majority of participation in discussion, was clearly in operation. Student responsibilities are defined; then students who accept the consolidation of responsibility are contrasted with those who rarely participate in class discussion.

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A STOP SIGN AT THE INTERSECTION OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY: ILLUSTRATING MILLS'S IMAGINATION WITH DEPRESSION ERA PHOTOGRAPHS
(Chad M. Hanson)

C. Wright Mills's sociological imagination is one concept that faculty generally agree to be an important component of the undergraduate sociology curriculum. In this paper, I describe a visual and historical technique for introducing students to Mills's perspective. The method is based on the use of visual images created by Walker Evans, a photographer commissioned by the U.S. Farm Securities Administration to record the social impact of the economic depression of the 1930s.

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TEACHING CRITICAL OBSERVATION AS A SOCIOLOGICAL TOOL
(David Stevens and Michelle VanNata)

We have noticed that our undergraduate students are often ill-equipped to make sense of their everyday observations and interactions. They frequently develop accounts of behavior by speculating about peoples' values, dispositions, or moral character. While critical thinking skills are effective for helping students evaluate formal arguments, these skills are less useful in interpreting social interactions. Emphasizing the exploration of emotions may be insufficient to supplement critical thinking, since this may also generate individual explanations of phenomena. Instead, students must learn a different set of skills, which we call critical observation, to help them move beyond individual explanations of everyday events and begin to make links between personal behavior and the outside forces shaping it. We delineate the core skills involved in critical observation and present an exercise to train students to use these skills. This approach can be an important teaching tool for instructors in many areas of sociology, from research methods to social inequality.

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WRITING BEFORE STUDENTS: A MODEL FOR TEACHING SOCIOLOGICAL WRITING
(Mark Evan Edwards)

In this paper, I describe and evaluate a method for teaching writing to sociology students. The principle components of the method are (a) demonstration of writing by the teacher in a parallel writing project, completed during the same period that students finish their project, and (b) teacher and student self-disclosure about the social and emotional processes of writing. I discuss student and teacher evaluations of the method and identify limitations and the transferability of this method to other courses.

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