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Suggests the bachelor's paper as an alternative to testing for sociology majors. Explains that the paper enables the student to use the discipline's theoretical and methodological tools to address an important topic. Explores the advantages and disadvantages of the paper. Suggests that the assignment promotes assessment both of the student and the program. (SG)

Describes a final assignment in an introductory sociology course that helps students apply their sociological knowledge. Students choose a book or movie, provide a plot summary, analyze it using a minimum number of sociological terms gathered from different chapters or topic areas, and provide a brief conclusion. (MJP)

Provides advice for constructing an activity log directing students in writing a sociology term paper. Includes topic selection, outline, critical thinking, information gathering, analysis of findings, and completing a semifinal draft. Recommends that each step have a firm due date to reduce procrastination. Suggests that sequencing activities reduces students' fear of writing. (DK)

Examines papers published in the journal, "Teaching Sociology," from 1984-1999 to depict an emergence of a scholarship on teaching and learning. Builds on the work of Paul Baker who thought that evidence of scholarship was lacking in the journal from 1973-1983. Suggests that a scholarship is emerging. (CMK)

Presents a literature review that focuses on undergraduate discussion. Describes a teaching method in which undergraduate sociology students are assigned to create an open-ended question and write a one- to three-page answer every one- to two-weeks. Addresses the positive and negative aspects of the method. (CMK)

Recent research has called on scholars to develop pedagogical interventions to address issues of media literacy. This teaching note answers that call by describing a media literacy project designed for use in social problems classes. The project acquaints students to the constructionist approach to social problems and the method of content analysis. Guided by the principles of scaffolding, the note discusses how students are guided through a series of readings, assignments, and activities that enables them to analyze how social problems are portrayed in news media. Analysis of student papers and comments reveals an increased understanding of the rhetorical strategies that are commonplace in media coverage of social problems. While designed for social problems, the project can be adjusted and modified for use in other sociology courses.

In this article, I connect globalization and qualitative methodological practice, describing a semester-long intensive interview project about the anti-apartheid movement. I provide a detailed overview of the project as well as considerations for those who might want to adapt it for their own courses. Using students' reflections on the projects and their final papers, I demonstrate that this project successfully introduces students to a transnational social movement and provides valuable methodological practice.

This article provides a critique and an addition to observations raised by Ballantine et al. in this issue. After reviewing the strengths of Ballantine et al.'s article about the need for a core in sociology, I argue that this debate has gone on long enough and needs to be reframed around areas of agreement. Three major curricular projects (that have already begun to move this discussion forward) are presented, including the American Sociological Association (ASA) High School National Standards; the ASA Task Force on "Liberal Learning and the Sociology Major, Updated, Third Edition"; and the Measuring College Learning (MCL) Project. A critical outcome of the MCL Project in sociology is the Sociological Literacy Framework, which is already changing conversations about sociology curricula and learning outcomes. The Sociological Literacy Framework is summarized, and use of this framework is discussed.

This study describes the objectives, structures, and outcomes of a one-semester, required sociology research capstone course as taught at three institutions. Pre- and postquestionnaires from students, syllabi from instructors, and a random sample of final research papers were analyzed. Results indicate that the main foci of the course are to conduct research, produce a paper or thesis, develop writing and presentation skills, and integrate past learning. Instruction in this course includes numerous best practices from the literature on teaching and learning. There appears to be an underemphasis, however, on helping students to apply theory in their projects. The theses reveal a wide range of topics, methodological approaches, and quality, with the introduction/literature review and discussion/conclusion sections receiving the lowest quality scores. (Contains 5 notes and 4 tables.)

This article offers strategies for teaching about rationality, bureaucracy, and social change using George Ritzer's "The McDonaldization of Society" and its ideas about efficiency, predictability, calculability, and control. Student learning is facilitated using a series of strategies: making the familiar strange, explaining McDonaldization, self-investigation and discovery, and exploring and implementing alternatives. Through assignments, class exercises, and films, students contextualize modernity and its unintended negative consequences by viewing McDonaldization though the lenses of work and jobs. These strategies provide a framework to help students understand key concepts, critique McDonaldization, and formulate positive ways to cope with Weber's iron cage.

The authors provide an account of their department's minimalist and largely reluctant approach to mandatory assessment in the past decade. A decade earlier, the department had gone all out in an experimental assessment effort supported by the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education, an effort the department was neither willing nor able to make once the college's accreditation agency mandated assessment in 2000. The authors describe another "less-than-ideal design" that has nonetheless involved many of the assessment elements described elsewhere (e.g., alumni and student surveys, classroom assignments, external reviewers, research papers) and has nonetheless yielded usable and utilized feedback for both teaching and curriculum construction. (Contains 2 tables and 2 notes.)

The research project assignment can create meaningful opportunities for students to apply sociological concepts. For grading these projects, assessment rubrics are useful pedagogical tools to evaluate students' abilities in achieving course learning objectives. In this study, I analyzed final research papers collected over multiple semesters in my undergraduate Methods of Social Research course. My goals are to (1) evaluate the grading rubric's effectiveness in enabling students to meet course objectives and (2) identify improvements in students' outcomes from revisions to the rubric over time. Findings indicate that rubrics can provide students the information needed to apply course concepts to their work and that rubric revisions are necessary to ensure validity, reliability, and equity across grading. In conclusion, I provide suggestions for implementing a semester-long research project assignment and initiating iterative revisions to rubric criteria.

This article updates and extends research by Baker and Chin, who tracked changes in studies published in Teaching Sociology from 1973 to 1983 (Baker) and 1984 to 1999 (Chin). The current study traces manuscripts published in "Teaching Sociology" from 2000 to 2009. We examine both who publishes in the journal and what gets published. In particular, we explore change in the systematic assessment of teaching methods and techniques since Baker's and Chin's studies and the extent to which publications in "Teaching Sociology" reflect improved assessment. We find that while there has been improvement, not all articles reflect the growing scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) movement. While the mission of "Teaching Sociology" is to publish materials that would be "helpful to the discipline's teachers" (see the journal's mission statement at http://asanet.org/journals/ts/index.cfm), the most useful information is arguably that which is supported by the kind of systematic assessment that SoTL requires. We also discuss implications for assessment and sociological SoTL. (Contains 6 tables and 3 notes.)

Discusses the assignment of a research critique assignment to sociology students at Rhode Island College. Explains that students in methodology courses develop research skills by critiquing research articles and writing research proposals. Identifies the structure of the course and its connection with the other parts of the curriculum. Describes project assessment. (SG)

Compares providing staged assignments for teaching research methods to providing a spotter for safety in gymnastics. Describes guidelines for a research proposal. Discusses problem definition, literature review, hypothesis development, data collection, and analysis. Argues that students must know the rules and reasons for the ideal model of research before they can expand on it creatively. (DK)

In this article, I examine the effects of an environmental sociology travel study program in Zion National Park (United States) on 11 students during the summers of 2018 and 2019. I outline the program, and then I use students' reflections in their posttrip final papers to illustrate the effects of the program on their sense of environmental identity. While there was some variance in the growth of environmental identity, all students reported that they were profoundly affected by the program. For many, their environmental identity became salient. I also argue that we, as sociologists, need to grow our experiential environmental education so that many will become advocates for environmental change but also so that some will become the leaders we need to address the climate crisis and the environmental, social, and economic injustices that are deepening because of it.

Sociology instructors have long used nontraditional texts such as literary fiction to demonstrate core course concepts, increase student engagement, and develop students' critical thinking in the classroom. In this article, I explore how written assignments structured around identifying core course concepts in a dystopian novel that connects to student interests can help develop higher-level and critical sociological thinking skills. Using data from an upper-level Sociology of Media course at a large, Midwestern university, I detail a final paper assignment centered around M. T. Anderson's dystopian satire novel "Feed." I present qualitative and quantitative findings that demonstrate students' successful use of higher-level and critical sociological thinking to identify, analyze, and support original arguments regarding core course concepts within the dystopian world and our own.

This article is a reflective analysis of an assignment in which undergraduate students developed dystopian, postapocalyptic, fantasy, and fictional short story parables to illustrate their understanding of sociological theory. In a social theory course, students were assigned a final paper in which they designed a short story that integrated sociological theory, including classical and contemporary concepts, which were applied to these fictional worlds. The assignment encouraged students to develop both macro- and micro-level creative social theory analysis using a fictional society that often touches on the themes of futurism, science fiction, or postapocalyptic settings. These scenarios allowed students to engage in world-building linked to systems of oppression that were analyzed through various perspectives, including Marxist theories, critical race theory, and feminist theories. The assignment is a creative way for students to apply their sociological imagination with the world-building process for an in-depth understanding of sociological theory.

Outlines a research project for family sociology students that uses student family histories to bridge the gap between course material and personal family experiences. Claims the project teaches students how information is transmitted across generations, as well as strengthening research, interviewing, and analytical skills. (Author/AEM)

Describes two teaching techniques that can be used to personalize the standard lecture format used in large group human sexuality classes. The techniques involve the use of varied homework assignments and the use of upper-level students as discussion leaders. (Author/AEM)

Although students rely on social solidarity in their everyday lives, they generally fail to acknowledge its existence. An active learning class exercise, conducted within approximately 35 minutes, introduces sociology students to Emile Durkheim's concept of solidarity and the distinction between its mechanical and organic forms. Some groups of students perform the task of creating and flying paper airplanes under the pretense of organic solidarity, and other groups perform the same task under the pretense of mechanical solidarity. Through reflection on their experiences and discussion with members of other groups, students begin to identify nuances of each type of solidarity. An evaluation of this exercise indicates that those who participate in it can describe the distinction between mechanical and organic solidarity and their respective associations with gemeinschaft and gesellschaft better than those exposed to a traditional lesson on the topic can.

Group research projects frequently are used to teach undergraduate research methods. This study uses multivariate analyses to examine the characteristics of higher-achieving groups (those that earn higher grades on group research projects) and to estimate the effects of participating in higher-achieving groups on subsequent individual learning (grade on final paper). The sample includes 257 students who completed a sociology research methods course at a small liberal arts institution between 2004 and 2015. Group achievement (grade on group research project) is predicted by group size, gender composition of the group, and group's average grade on midterm exams. Group achievement on the research project contributes to subsequent individual learning (grade on final paper) even after controlling for individual characteristics (student's gender, race, and average grade on midterm exams) and group characteristics. The findings support claims that group research projects are an effective pedagogy for undergraduate sociology research methods courses and point to some guidelines for instructors' composition of groups for research projects.

This study examined the effectiveness of the Star Power simulation for teaching stratification and inequality to students of the net generation. The data for this study were obtained through the use of survey methodology and content analysis of 126 course papers from introductory sociology classes. Papers were analyzed for identification and application of class concepts, recommendation of the simulation, and perceived value of the simulation as a learning tool. Analysis of data revealed 100 percent of students found Star Power worthwhile, and 98 percent recommended it be used in future classes. The most common concepts students linked with their simulation experience were inequality, stratification, and social structure. Finally, six themes were identified illustrating students' perceived value of the simulation.

The topic of human-animal studies (HAS) remains largely ignored within the sociology classroom. While a few sociologists have encouraged teaching about animals, none has assessed whether incorporating nonhuman animals into the curriculum is effective. In this study, three instructors at two universities incorporated animal-related materials in their sociology courses in a variety of ways. Data analyzed from course exam responses and student papers as well as end-of-semester student surveys indicate that student learning and enjoyment were enhanced. We provide suggestions for instructors on how to incorporate such material in their courses. We argue that teaching about nonhuman animals can serve as a powerful gateway to introducing students to a wide variety of social issues and concepts, thereby adding another useful instrument to our pedagogical tool kit in sociology.

Although there is a great deal of available material on using nontraditional resources for teaching sociology, the pedagogical uses of science fiction have not been examined for 20 years. This essay first asserts the need for an update based on changes in society and in science fiction over the past two decades. The paper then focuses on the uses of SF to teach sociology and critical thinking by describing how SF can help students to "make strange" (i.e., develop a skeptical, questioning stance), to "make believe" (i.e., develop critical and creative thinking), and to "make real" (i.e., use sociological concepts and theories). As illustration, the essay concludes with a detailed description of the use of Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" in teaching introductory sociology.

Over 50 years ago, Stanley Milgram and colleagues published a short article detailing an unobtrusive experimental design they called the lost-letter technique. The technique involves placing stamped, unmailed letters in a community and using the relative rate of return to infer local attitudes toward political issues and social groups. Furthermore, the technique is simple and inexpensive enough to replicate in an introductory-level social science course as a means to familiarize students with social research methodology. This activity utilizes active learning with student-centered pedagogy, and this paper details the procedure, best practices, and student feedback. Students enjoy having a personal stake in the project and find they better understand social research through this active learning project. Instructors are encouraged to consider adopting the technique in their courses.

Scholars have long emphasized the importance of teacher training in higher education, including in sociology. Such calls have led to modest improvements in opportunities for graduate students to develop teaching-related skills and experience. However, many of these opportunities are not specific to sociology and may lack a teaching component. In this paper, we outline a teaching fellowship model for graduate student teacher training that integrates group training sessions, peer collaboration, and a teaching practicum component under the guidance of a faculty mentor. In the fellowship, graduate student teaching fellows receive a stipend for sharing the development and teaching of an undergraduate course, with supports and feedback throughout. We include data from post-fellowship questionnaires and follow-up data from fellows who went on to teach their own courses to highlight the strengths of the program. The data indicate that the fellowship is an overwhelmingly positive experience for graduate students.

This paper describes the use of a simple survey followed by discussion in an online sociology course to create a setting in which undergraduate students may learn about inequality from the study of everyday life. The method described in this paper relies on the common experience of a gendered household division of labor and on the use of Hochschild's (with Machung 1989) recognition, confirmed many times since, that working women in married or cohabiting relationships routinely return home from their paid work day to begin a "second shift" of domestic labor. The familiarity of these experiences combined with the online education platform and a simple, non-scientific survey of class members produced lively interchange, increased participation rates, and enhanced understanding of the everyday sources of societal inequality and its patterned support within the social structure.

This action-research project focused on gathering data on awareness of lead poisoning, as well as disseminating information on lead poisoning prevention in a metropolitan midwestern city. This project reflects an action-research approach to service learning and was in collaboration with a grass-roots organization. This paper outlines the daunting task of seeking this "highest level of service learning" (Porpora 1999: 121)--action research--in a medical sociology undergraduate class. Action research reflects an integration of the three main academic functions: service, teaching, and research. It requires wearing different hats, and meeting the agendas of both the academic and civic communities. This paper illustrates the process and some of the challenges in carrying out an action-research project geared toward childhood lead poisoning prevention. (Contains 2 tables.)

This paper describes a campus survey designed to enhance student learning while generating high-quality data for research and evaluation. Students enrolled in a research methods course pretest a draft interview schedule and interview randomly selected students; then, drawing on their interview experience, they write a paper that addresses methodological issues pertinent to the survey. The instructor selects the topic, drafts the interview schedule, trains students to interview, codes and enters the data, and generates tables to test students' hypotheses. Through direct involvement in a meaningful survey, students deepen their understanding of methods and realize the hard work and care necessary to do sound social research. Beyond the course, the survey data promote student research and provide a rich source of social indicators on the student body. While promising, the survey's unique features present challenges in terms of student input and instructor workload that must be addressed to facilitate its use at other colleges and universities. (Contains 4 footnotes.)

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 conception of "public" sociology in a manner that is consistent with a subject-centered pedagogical approach. To illustrate this approach, we offer three experiential exercises designed to facilitate the active engagement of students' hearts, as well as their minds, thereby linking our subject-centered approach to the increasingly popular notion of character education.

Breaching experiments involve the conscious exhibition of "unexpected" behavior, an observation of the types of social reactions such behavioral violations engender, and an analysis of the social structure that makes these social reactions possible. The conscious violation of norms can be highly fruitful for sociology students, providing insights into social structure and elucidating the sociological meaning of students' own subjective experiences. This paper adds to the discussion of the assignment of breaching experiments in two ways. First, it outlines specific instructions (for teacher and student) that are absent or not explained thoroughly in the literature. Described in more detail in this paper are some assignment guidelines the author has found valuable for effective social breaching. Second, this paper offers an example of how a breaching assignment brings abstract sociological concepts "down-to-Earth" for students. The author provides a description of a highly effective breach called "waiting-in-line" that he incorporates into a classroom discussion of Robert K. Merton's (1938) concept of "anomie," which describes a social condition in which the culturally-approved means and goals of a society become questionable, undesirable, or unclear. (Contains 1 table.)

Sociologists agree that the sociological imagination fosters students' critical thinking skills (Eckstein, Schoenike, and Delaney 1995; Haddad and Lieberman 2002; Logan 1976; Mayer 1986; Misra 2000). The challenge lies in motivating students to develop their sociological imaginations. Convincing them of its importance and practical value takes creativity beyond requiring readings, class discussions, and papers describing its theoretical importance. Students need to see the relevancy of C. Wright Mills's (1959) work applied to everyday living. McKinney, Saxe, and Cobb (1998) note that educators are ethically bound to develop active, responsible learners. In this paper, the author outlines an interactive technique using garbage to teach the relevancy of Mills's sociological imagination. He argues that experiential assignments like the collection and monitoring of garbage can assist in the explanation of, and the students' learning of, the sociological imagination.

This paper outlines a project that provides a framework for engaging students in current events in such a way that they develop and improve critical sociological thinking through regular and structured writing assignments. Though this paper describes a news-analysis project that is similar to many that have been used in sociology classrooms both in the past and present, its focus on developing critical thinking skills offers a new twist on an old concept. In addition to providing suggestions and a basic strategy for easily and efficiently implementing a news-analysis project, this paper highlights the use of a "point of divergence" for pushing students to think even more deeply about the relationship between sociological ideas and the world in which people live.

Over the past several years, scholars of teaching and learning have demonstrated the potential of collaborative learning strategies for improving student learning. This paper examines the use of computer-mediated communication to promote collaborative student learning in large introductory sociology courses. Specifically, we summarize a project we conducted during the 2000-2001 academic year in which we added online collaborative learning activities to the curriculum of two large sections of introductory sociology. Drawing on Novak et al.'s (1999) Just-In-Time Teaching methods, we developed online activities to help prepare students for subsequent in-class work and to cultivate a sense of group solidarity among smaller teams within the larger class. The results suggest that student engagement in the online group learning activities was strongly predictive of better student academic achievement on the biweekly quizzes, cumulative final exam, and course paper. These findings highlight the potential value of online group work for fostering collaborative learning environments in large lecture courses as well as for enhancing student learning. (Contains 2 tables.)

Previous research has examined the use of nontraditional readings, particularly fiction, as a tool for teaching sociological concepts. Few studies have specifically looked at nonfiction monographs and ethnographies. This paper extends prior research by exploring how in-person and online book clubs using nonfiction texts can be used as a tool to engage and introduce students to sociological ideas. Book clubs were implemented in eight different sections across three courses. The structure and format of the book clubs varied considerably. We identify best practices for incorporating book clubs into sociology courses. Drawing on data from instructor-designed surveys, institutional course evaluations, and course exams, we also examine how book clubs influence student attitudes and learning outcomes. We conclude that book clubs can be adapted to fit a variety of courses and across different types of institutions.

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 greater enthusiasm and involvement in the course as well as greater understanding of the theorists they considered and the theories they were exploring. This paper briefly describes the structure of the author's theory course before he introduced two innovations, describes each of the innovations--giving examples of each--and then reports student response to the innovation. He ends with conclusions, implications, and suggestions. (Contains 4 figures.)

After several years of teaching Sociological Thought--an upper division course that focuses on classical, modern, and contemporary sociological theories--the author came across the idea of student portfolios. As a consequence, the course has undergone far-reaching changes. The content remains relatively intact; however, today the theory course differs fundamentally in form. This paper is a blueprint for building student portfolios into a writing-intensive theory course. This paper begins with an overview of the history of student portfolios in the college curriculum; it then lists the course objectives and summarizes the written assignments. Next, the paper takes a close look at how the key components of the portfolio process enhance the assignments of the course and how each assignment fits into the portfolio schema; it also describes the evaluation process. Finally, the paper offers evidence of the effectiveness of the portfolio project. (Contains 1 table.)

In this paper, the author discusses an exercise she uses requiring students to view a popular film that portrays a particular mental disorder or a character with a mental disorder. Students analyze the film and write two papers, one about the sociological model of mental illness and a second about possible links between media images and the societal rejection or acceptance of people with mental illness. The author begins with a description of necessary materials and how the films can be used, then discusses the assigned readings and classroom discussions of the sociological and medical models of mental illness, including suggestions for reading assignments. Next, she explains how popular films about mental illness can be categorized to maximize the exercises utility for students' learning. She concludes with an evaluation of the exercise based on a pre-test/post-test comparison of students' knowledge of the theory and concepts of residual deviance, labeling, stereotype, and stigma. (Contains 1 table.)

This paper presents an analysis of my experiences with a teaching activity that engages students in publishing in Wikipedia on issues relating to globalization. It begins with a short overview of some of the current debates revolving around teaching globalization, which lay ground for the assignment. I discuss how this teaching tool fits with a number of dimensions related to teaching globalization, particularly with an international service learning approach. Finally, I present assessment data from a series of surveys I conducted from 2008 to 2016 on the effectiveness of the assignment.

Introductory sociology courses encourage students to shift from understanding social relations and inequalities through an individualistic lens toward a more sociological one. It is difficult for students to know how far they have advanced toward a sociological perspective if they do not have a good sense of where they began. This paper describes an approach intended to assess a sociological shift over the course of a semester by combining various recursive techniques that take place at the beginning and end of the semester: letters to oneself, social opinion surveys, and recorded small discussion groups. Although the shift was often not dramatic, the approach proved to be useful not only to help students keep track of their own developing sociological perspective but also as a way to improve teaching and assess student learning outcomes. Although ideal for small classes or discussion sections, I discuss ways to also adapt it for larger classes.

Lecturing has been criticized for fostering a passive learning environment, emphasizing a one-way flow of information, and not adequately engaging students. In contrast, active-learning approaches, such as team-based learning (TBL), prioritize student interaction and engagement and create multidirectional flows of information. This paper presents an exploratory analysis of whether lecturing or TBL was better for teaching content; developing skills, such as critical thinking; and creating an enjoyable learning environment in a sociology course. Results showed few differences in these outcomes between groups taught with the two different methods, although TBL students thought they improved their oral communication and creative thinking skills more than the lecture students, and they reported getting to know their professor and classmates more than did the lecture students.

This paper explores dynamics of students' critical consciousness development in the context of a thematically organized service-learning sociology course titled Health, Illness, and Community. The integrated components of the course were designed to cultivate critical consciousness by framing the study of health in terms of social justice issues that were demonstrable across three community partner organization sites. Analyses of writing assignments and qualitative interviews at the end of the semester reveal that student development of critical consciousness was demonstrated through analytic engagement with structural and systemic forces framing health inequities as well as reflexive consideration of the limited extent to which well-meaning efforts and intentions of individuals can significantly impact lasting social change. The combination of these two processes simultaneously cultivated students' ideological commitments to ongoing social justice work and subverted student self-efficacy with regard to the operationalization of those commitments.

Few evaluated classroom exercises to date have addressed one of the most cited and compelling explanations of gender formation over the life course: interactionist gender theory. This theory posits that people actively "do" or "perform" their gender in every interaction, and as such, they often subconsciously reshape their public gendered personas based on the degree to which they find social acceptance within a given social context. This paper presents a highly engaging and temporally compact classroom exercise utilizing simulated speed dating to illustrate and generate discussion about interactionist gender theory among undergraduate social sciences and gender studies students. An evaluation study indicates that the exercise improves students' perceived understanding of interactionist gender theory and that it is both highly helpful and enjoyable.

Experiential and active learning exercises can benefit students in sociology courses, particularly, courses in which issues of inequality are central. In this paper, we describe using hunger banquets-an active learning exercise where participants are randomly stratified into three global classes and receive food based upon their class position-to enhance students' knowledge of global hunger and inequality. The nonprofit Oxfam America has made hunger banquets popular, but they are usually large public events. We provide ways of simplifying these exercises so that they can be conducted in sociology classrooms and incorporate sociological concepts. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of students' learning and engagement in three hunger banquets found that students had increases in perceived knowledge of the amount, severity, and causes of global hunger.

Sociology instructors have begun adding student response systems to support conceptual application in college courses. While little has been published about how these devices affect learning behavior in our discipline, research from other fields suggests clickers may enhance learning by encouraging engagement through collaborative talk. This paper presents mixed-methods data examining clicker use in two sociology courses (2007 to 2013). Survey, observation, and interview data suggest student response systems may enhance class discussions by supporting engagement, participation, and the building of empathy for diverse perspectives, but proper implementation is required.

A variety of assessment tools have been proposed to evaluate the sociology curriculum. This article analyses the validity of assessment tools and their impact on the quality of assessment. An alternative to formal tests is the use of a bachelor's paper as the assessment tool. Here the author proposes that such a paper is an appropriate means of assessment for the individual sociology student and for the program as a whole. The bachelor's paper is simply the student's attempt to use the theoretical and methodological tools of his or her discipline to address a substantively important topic. This can help in realizing the areas of the curriculum that need reforms. The bachelor's paper has several advantages as an assessment tool. First, if critical thinking and the ability to conduct and combine library and empirical research are goals of the program, a cumulative research experience is sensible. The second advantage of the bachelor's paper as assessment is that greater depth of theoretical knowledge can be encouraged in a paper than in most test formats.