Sociology’s purpose is to understand how human action and consciousness both shape and are shaped by surrounding cultural and social structures. Sociology can be so broad and the subject matter is diverse; ranging from crime to religion, from family to the state, from the divisions of race and so much more. Most importantly it helps explain important matters in our personal lives, our communities, and the world.
A sociology instructor at Kingsborough community college, located in Brooklyn New York, decided to incorporate students’ everyday life experiences into the classroom in an introduction to sociology course. Most students enroll in this course with a lack of experience with sociology. In his course, students are taught through classroom …show more content…
The first element of his introductory sociology course is the history and theories of discipline, methods, culture, socialization, groups, and deviant behavior. There is also a midterm exam and a paper in this unit. The second half focuses on social inequalities and social institutions, spending about a month or so on each topic. While learning about these topics, students collect data on their own experiences that they will then use for their final project at the end of the course. At the start of the semester, the instructor has his pupils break a social norm (not against the law) and analyze what happens around them when social order is broken and write about their experience. “This assignment engages students into the course and allows them to be an active participant in their learning process” (Better, 2013, p. 388). One student chose to snack her way through the store and another scholar chose to violate social norms by dancing in public. Students are asked to collect data from their everyday life starting in the middle of the semester. For their final paper, students are asked to analyze their sociology data log for concepts they learned in class. They are asked to analyze at least three concepts from class using the data they have collected, including at least one inequality and one social institution. “Students see their worlds with a new understanding and find avenues for social change not available to them prior to taking
A sociology instructor at Kingsborough community college, located in Brooklyn New York, decided to incorporate students’ everyday life experiences into the classroom in an introduction to sociology course. Most students enroll in this course with a lack of experience with sociology. In his course, students are taught through classroom …show more content…
The first element of his introductory sociology course is the history and theories of discipline, methods, culture, socialization, groups, and deviant behavior. There is also a midterm exam and a paper in this unit. The second half focuses on social inequalities and social institutions, spending about a month or so on each topic. While learning about these topics, students collect data on their own experiences that they will then use for their final project at the end of the course. At the start of the semester, the instructor has his pupils break a social norm (not against the law) and analyze what happens around them when social order is broken and write about their experience. “This assignment engages students into the course and allows them to be an active participant in their learning process” (Better, 2013, p. 388). One student chose to snack her way through the store and another scholar chose to violate social norms by dancing in public. Students are asked to collect data from their everyday life starting in the middle of the semester. For their final paper, students are asked to analyze their sociology data log for concepts they learned in class. They are asked to analyze at least three concepts from class using the data they have collected, including at least one inequality and one social institution. “Students see their worlds with a new understanding and find avenues for social change not available to them prior to taking