Use of the format of a congressional hearing, instead of traditional teaching methods, appears to enhance direct student involvment, interest, and knowledge. Described are the social setting and procedures, research protocol, analysis and evaluation, and conclusions and limitations of the experiment. (KM)

Describes the "doing nothing" assignment that can be used to teach about stigma. Explains that the assignment is a simulation offering a theoretical background as well as a description of the exercise. Explores the advantages of the stigma simulation and addresses how to assess students. Includes references. (CMK)

Lecturing to class each meeting is misuse of widely available instructional resources. Describes how to randomly assign a racial and ethnic identity to each student and how to use the community to invigorate an undergraduate race relations class. Concludes that colleges have been too cognitively oriented and that much can be gained by providing…

Presents a teaching method for enhancing student awareness of social issues by developing student's ability to take the role of others. States that this process allows students to develop a sense of "other" as a social construction created by the dominant group. Recommends use of journals and primary sources. (KO)

Discusses a way to enhance the teaching of critical social analyses with explicit attention to experiential and somatic learning modalities. Indicates main learning objectives adapted from a course called "Power, Conflict, and Change in Social Interaction: What's a Body to Do?" Concludes with discussion of several exercises. (CMK)

Describes a social psychology experiment at the University of New Hampshire involving the use of skits to demonstrate concepts. Findings indicate that students in the experimental group perceived the skits as valuable and interesting. Results are compared with the original hypotheses. (Author/DB)

Reviews deep structure learning objectives that are capacities and skills required for critical thinking. Explores the implications of the sociology curriculum as well as strategies that foster deep structure learning. Examines ironies that instructors can use to enhance critical thinking. Includes references. (CMK)

This paper reports on a teaching and learning technique that uses the power of everyday body language and proxemics to illustrate forms of social inequality. More significantly, the active learning exercises assist students to feel the fact that the making and maintaining of power relations is an intimate and visceral matter. In keeping with…

Recounts a criminology class exercise that consisted of staging a mock trial using the murders from Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" as source material. Students research the case and role play various lawyers, jury members, and witnesses. Identifies and discusses four educational objectives attainable through the staging of mock trials. (MJP)

Describes a computer-based learning package designed to introduce students to concepts and controversies surrounding the social problem of poverty in the United States and to familiarize them with public policies concerning that problem. Use of the "Poverty Game" is discussed and information concerning cost and availability of software…

Teachers have incorporated active-learning techniques into the sociology classroom for many years, but the types of applications and evaluations are quite varied. In this paper, the authors quantitatively test a particular form of active learning that they call "living-data exercises," which instructors can use to introduce sociological research…

Theory is a vitally important component of every undergraduate sociology program. Social theory classes are the heart of the undergraduate major in sociology: in these courses, students take on the professional and disciplinary roles of sociologists. This paper reports on two strategies that enlivened their social theory class, generating both…

Describes a game designed to impress upon undergraduates the difficulty of economic mobility for minorities. The game involves two groups, "Majorities" and "Minorities," and their efforts to build a simulated social network with string. Minorities receive shorter lengths of string and cannot leave their seats. Discusses follow-up exercises. (MJP)

Describes an in-class exercise where students role-played members of a toy company's marketing staff. Participants received instructions identifying them as either "dominant" or "inexperienced," with corresponding suggestions they were to make concerning the product. The assigned identities resulted in a skewed representation and acceptance, of…

Describes teaching about deviance in an introductory sociology course. Uses the "Baby Doe" case as a model. Students role play the courtroom case as a values clarification exercise. Allows students to experience the complexity of such issues firsthand. Finds method is a powerful tool for consciousness raising. (NL)