Describes a classroom icebreaker that examines the assumptions inherent in racial and ethnic labels. The exercise involves students using connected Post-it notes on which to write their names, the racial label people give them, and the ethnic/racial label they give themselves. Later discussions address the use of labeling. (MJP)

Asserts that the lack of attention given to the role of the foreign, graduate student, teaching assistant is surprising and shortsighted. Examines recent trends, practices, and concerns related to internationalizing the curriculum and using foreign student assistants. (CFR)

This paper is the latest installment in a series that is designed to bridge the gap between teaching and practice by developing classroom applications based on a current research article from the "American Sociological Review". We discuss the ways in which a recent "ASR" paper on child care fatalities can be used to help students explore Burawoy's…

Discusses efforts to bring a multicultural perspective to a 200-level course on the sociology of health and aging as a means of addressing broader multicultural curriculum transformation issues. The course is constructed around students' examination of four basic questions concerning their own experiences with exclusion and entitlement. (MJP)

Outlines and describes examples of student resistance to a feminist perspective in a sociology of the family course. The examples were: characterizing information as "male-bashing," ignoring structural forces, and blaming the victim. Notes the almost passive acceptance of feminist perspectives when articulated by a guest male professor. (MJP)

Focuses on the uses of science fiction to teach sociology and develop critical and creative thinking. Maintains that in the last 20 years science fiction has become concerned increasingly with social themes. Concludes with a detailed description of the use of "The Handmaid's Tale" in an introductory sociology course. (MJP)

Describes an undergraduate sociology course where college students helped develop and teach multicultural lesson plans to high school students in a multiethnic district of Los Angeles (California). Discusses the origin and organization of the project and addresses some of its inherent structural and substantive challenges. (MJP)

Explores how a student service program can be implemented without a large staff and without cost, in large introductory sociology classes as part of an extra-credit project, while augmenting course material as an active learning component. Discusses a class that fits this description at North Dakota State University. (MJP)

Describes a portion of an introductory college course in sociology that examines the role of work in socialization. States the activity's central question is, "Where does society end and my self begin?" Includes student accounts of their feelings about the activity. (CFR)

Summarizes a recent study concerning the impact of age on students' verbal participation in the college classroom. Discovered that age, gender, attendance, week in semester, and time of day were significant determinants. Examines students' reasons for their lack of participation and offers suggestions to increase it. (MJP)

Investigates how classroom traits (interaction norms, emotional climate) and students' traits (comprehension, confidence) impact on students' participation in class. Multiple regression analysis of survey data suggests that faculty members may play a much less direct role than previously assumed. (MJP)

Discovers a very stereotypical representation of the elderly in marriage and family textbooks. Reveals that the aged receive limited amounts of coverage, often are often separated from other family issues and events, and generally are associated with specific "elderly" topics in these texts. (MJP)

Reports on a teaching method that combined assigned daily newspaper readings with weekly informal journal writing to teach basic sociological concepts. Assigned journal topics acted as a link between class material, the newspaper stories, and other texts. Student response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic. Provides several examples of the journal…

Although the literature on social networks has made a considerable contribution to the sociological imagination in recent years, it has been largely ignored in conventional course materials. Such an omission is curious, considering social networks' intuitive imagery, broad theoretical relevance and extensive empirical application. This article…

Describes an undergraduate seminar where each student's central task was to select a specific social movement/social change organization, collect data on it, and write a 20-page sociological analysis. The results were disappointing, with most students presenting a historical chronology accompanied by a compilation of facts. Discusses possible…