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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.)

With the support of the Undergraduate Instructional Awards Program of the University of Illinois; an attempt was made to teach introductory sociology using selections from fifteen novels and one play as supplementary reading material. The evaluation of this innovation conducted by the Office of Instructional Resources of the University resulted in several conclusions: (1) students taught through these materials indicate that it is a good method; (2) students feel that such materials substantially improve their understanding of sociological concepts; (3) in the absence of a comparative study using control groups, it is difficult to assess whether students do learn more through this method, although some tentative suggestions concerning its unique value are made; and (4) serious obstacles exist to the successful utilization of these materials, related to both the instructor(s) and the materials themselves, and recommendations for overcoming these obstacles are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes an exercise on exploring ethnic and racial labels. The exercise was created for use in a team-taught course that bridged two institutions in Chicago, Illinois: DePaul University, a private Catholic university and Truman College, a two-year city college. The exercise worked well as a first class activity. It does not require that students be prepared. It is fun and involves students in the class from the very beginning. It also gives the professor a sense of who the students are, and leads to a good first night discussion. It provides ideas for future class lectures that can specifically address student questions about race, ethnicity, and culture. Additionally, it prompts students to think about questions concerning social constructions, and it helps students, especially white students, discover that they do not usually see social constructions where they clearly exists. The exercise moves them closer to an engaged and active examination of the issues facing the class in the coming weeks.

Sociologists have documented how important place is in people's lives. C. Wright Mills (1959) argued that people must understand that they do not exist in a vacuum, but that their values, beliefs, and behaviors are influenced by the particular time and place in which they themselves exist. The development of this "sociological imagination," as Mills called it, is a key goal for every sociology class (Kaufman 1997). The sociology instructor provides students with a "framework for analyzing how the sociohistoric context in which they live informs their individual choices and chances" (Kaufman 1997: 309). By applying sociological concepts to their everyday lives, students increase their sociological imagination (Mills 1959). In this paper, the author proposes a teaching technique that uses videos featuring local issues to build upon students' connections to "place"; the use of local-focus videos allows students to apply sociological concepts to their everyday lives, thus enhancing their sociological imagination. She begins by describing the setting in which she compared the use of local-focus and more general interest videos in her teaching. She goes on to describe some possibilities for using local-focus videos in other sociology classes. Finally she reports the results of her analysis of student response to the use of local-focus videos in two different courses. (Contains 2 tables and 2 footnotes.)