Search

The pedagogical value of capstones has been regularly discussed within psychology. This study presents results from an examination of a national random sample of department webpages and an online survey that characterized the typical capstone course in terms of classroom activities and course administration. The department webpages provide an estimate for the presence of capstone courses within the major and some basic characteristics of the course. The survey results offer a more in-depth profile of the purpose and make up of typical capstone courses in psychology. Results suggest that institutions have multiple approaches to the capstone course, but that these differences are rarely associated with institutional size, type of funding, or degree offered. These results could be useful for departments considering the place of capstone course in their own major. Finally, they suggest some areas of future research such as the type, quality, and final outcomes of capstone projects and their relationship to learning goals.

Previous research on capstones in sociology and psychology has suggested that there is a typical capstone experience required by three quarters of all four-year colleges and universities in the United States. This article reports results from a national survey that confirm that sociology and psychology capstone courses conform generally to a common format. The findings further indicate that factors related to student limits and time limits predominate with respect to those variables that produce less successful course outcomes. A review of the social science capstone literature and the pedagogical best practices literature suggests that student limitations and time limitations can be attenuated by curricular, structural, and resource-allocation changes. (Contains 7 notes and 5 tables.)

It is a truism to remind ourselves that scientific theory is a human product subject to many of the same social processes that govern other social acts. Science, however, whether social or natural, pretends to claim a higher mission, a more sophisticated methodology, and more consequential and reliable outcomes than human efforts arising from other spheres. The present paper examines the propagation, ascension, acceptance, and demise of twentieth century criminological theories in the United States. Data from publications in peer reviewed journals over the last 30 years suggest that several non-scientific factors are most influential in determining which theories are tested, cited, and discussed in criminological circles.

Among the common requirements for receipt of a degree in the social sciences is the completion of a senior seminar in which a senior thesis or capstone project is produced. A number of educational goals have been proposed for this requirement: integrating the knowledge base supplied by the regular curriculum, contributing to students' future roles as informed citizens, and preparing for study in graduate programs, among others. However, few studies have empirically explored the substance of the senior seminars and capstones offered across a discipline or studied their organization, requirements, and pedagogy. In the present article, the authors describe the results of a survey of sociology and psychology departments in the western United States regarding their senior seminar and capstone courses. (Contains 2 notes and 2 tables.)

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.