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A Quarterly Publication of
The American Sociological Association

ABSTRACTS--Volume 30, Number 3, July 2002

ARTICLES

NOTES

IMMIGRANTS AND EDUCATION: DIALOGIC INQUIRY AS PEDAGOGY
(June A. Gordon)

Interviews with immigrants are the centerpiece of a course designed to help undergraduates come to terms with the contradictions and commonalties of the educational experiences of immigrants, including their own families and classmates. The reflections of students, most of whom are first- or second-generation Americans themselves, demonstrate the transformations of a pedagogy based on dialogue and the need for more international awareness among students preparing to work in complex urban settings.

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MANAGING EMOTIONS IN THE COLLEGE CLASSROOM: THE CULTURAL DIVERSITY COURSE AS AN EXAMPLE
(Alison Roberts and Keri Iyall Smith)

The classroom is a probable site for emotion management, especially when courses deal with topics that may be controversial or that evoke both students' and teachers' sensitivities. In this paper, we identify and present the cultural diversity course as an example of such a classroom and define emotion management, which we suggest is relevant to the classroom setting. We then apply the theoretical concept of emotion management to teaching methods, considering ways that teachers can structure the course to best manage and utilize emotions in the classroom. A collection of emotion management strategies and exercises, which can be employed selectively, is also included. We believe that by applying an understanding of how emotional responses are socially mediated, instructors can better facilitate class and maximize learning.

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THE LESSON TO BE LEARNED: THE PAST TROUBLES AND FUTURE PROMISE OF TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL SOCIOLOGY
(Michael A. DeCesare)

High school sociology has historically been and largely continues to be neglected by the discipline's professional organizations and by academic sociologists. The few past reforms of high school sociology-such as the SRSS project during the 1960s and early 1970s-were aimed at course content and instructional materials; they have failed. I argue that a new approach is necessary, one that focuses on improving high school sociology teacher training. Professional associations and academic departments must both contribute to efforts to improve the formal sociological education and professionalization of high school teachers of the discipline. Improving teacher training is the best way to enhance the quality of secondary sociology courses, and may also help rectify the discipline's distorted public image as high school students gain a more accurate appreciation and understanding of fundamental sociological insights from their better trained teachers.

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LEARNING TO DISCUSS: STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF CLASS DISCUSSION
(Jocelyn A. Hollander)

This paper describes a strategy for improving the quality of class discussions. I argue that discussions are often unsatisfying for two reasons. First, students and teachers tend to emphasize individual contributions rather than the collective process of discussing. Second, teachers tend to emphasize discussion performance rather than the development of discussion skills. I describe a multi-part exercise that addresses both of these issues and illustrates its effectiveness with excerpts from student self-evaluations. Students often write that this exercise helps them develop their speaking and listening skills and improves the overall quality of class discussion.

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FROM STUDENT RESISTANCE TO EMBRACING THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION: UNMASKING PRIVILEGE, SOCIAL CONVENTIONS, AND RACISM
(Angela T. Haddad and Leonard Lieberman)

A crucial task of introductory sociology courses is to teach students the meaning and value of the sociological imagination. While this task is daunting under typical circumstances, it is more difficult when instructors are committed to raising students' critical awareness of social conventions that maintain systems of racial oppression. In this paper, we discuss our experiences with teaching this aspect of the sociological imagination to a group of ethnically and economically privileged students. Based upon our experiences and existing research, we propose that a rise in students' political conservatism and their adoption of color-blind racism may explain our students' recalcitrance and the increasing reports of resistance from those who teach race and inequality courses. We provide details of an assignment that eased students' recalcitrance by enabling them to demonstrate to themselves the fallacies of scientific racism. The assignment, a critical assessment of Rushton's scathing review of "Gould's Mismeasure of Man," required students to exercise their sociological imagination to successfully unmask the agendas, fallacies, and consequences of "scientific racism." Quotes from the students' assignments and the course evaluations show that the assignment conveys to recalcitrant students the utility of sociological analysis.

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THE POOR PAY MORE
(Kimberly A. Folse)

The purpose of this paper is to share a class project that enhances student's understanding of the economic plight and exploitation of the poor. The "Poor Pay More" includes a field research component in which students investigate the rent-to-own industry from the perspective of a poor consumer. The primary objective of this paper is to illustrate that educators can enhance students' learning by using the experiential method of teaching. A key component of this pedagogical approach, which I emphasize here, is reflection on what has been learned. I describe, briefly, supportive classroom experiential activities before focusing on the field research component and include resources for their development in an appendix. Finally, I discuss student evaluations to document the learning values of The Poor Pay More and possible pitfalls based on my experience teaching the project.

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BALANCING YIN AND YANG: TEACHING AND LEARNING QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS WITHIN AN UNDERGRADUATE QUANTITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS COURSE
(Roger Clark and Angela Lang)

A student and teacher discuss the merits of a strategy for introducing the instruction of qualitative data analysis into the undergraduate sociology curriculum. The strategy involves a four-week unit within the context of a typical quantitative data analysis course. The authors focus on the anxieties and rewards associated with a unit that minimizes the work of data collection and maximizes the possibilities for joint consideration of similar but individualized approaches to a common body of data. They organize their discussion in terms of concrete steps (data collection, transcription, coding, memoing, data displaying, literature reviewing, and report writing) that may help others consider teaching and learning undergraduate qualitative data analysis.

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ENHANCING LEARNING IN STATISTICS CLASSES THROUGH THE USE OF CONCRETE HISTORICAL EXAMPLES: THE SPACE SHUTTLE CHALLENGER, PEARL HARBOR, AND THE RMS TITANIC
(Walter R. Schumm, Farrell J. Webb, Carlos S. Castelo, Cynthia G. Akagi, Erick J. Jensen, Rose M. Ditto, Elaine Spencer-Carver, and Beverlyn F. Brown)

The use of concrete historical examples is recommended as a useful approach for teaching statistics in social science research methods courses. Three examples, involving the space shuttle Challenger, Pearl Harbor, and the RMS Titanic, are presented. Several criteria are proposed for selecting such examples. Preliminary evaluations suggest that the approach is helpful in the learning process.

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