In this article, I ask to what extent first-generation college students experience statistics anxiety and what are effective pedagogical strategies for building student confidence and encouraging learning. To answer these questions, I draw on the wide-ranging and developing literature on blended teaching methods--most commonly defined as the…

Students often identify research methods classes as one of the most difficult and intimidating classes of their academic career. The objectives of this study were twofold. The first was to ascertain whether the use of group-centered, collaborative learning would improve student mastery of material compared to traditional, lecture-based classes.…

Impacts of incorporating active learning pedagogies into a lecture-based course were examined among 266 students across nine research methods course sections taught by one instructor at a large public university. Pedagogies evaluated include lecture only, lecture with small group discussions, and lecture with simulations. Although…

This article investigates the effects of teaching about metacognition in a sociological theory course. I created a series of teaching interventions to introduce students to the science of learning, including an interactive lecture on metacognition, a discussion that models metacognitive strategies, and activities for students to practice…

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…

Professional journals serve the vital scientific function of disseminating knowledge to colleagues. In so doing, journals become the "face" and "voice" of the professional disciplines they represent. Journal content shows the major topics of interest, the scope, and the boundaries of the profession. It shows the techniques and methods of research…

Because lecture-based teaching limits student learning, many instructors are interested in pedagogical strategies that support critical thinking, student participation, and group discussion in large classrooms. Audience response systems, or "clickers," are an emerging tool for addressing this problem, but predominant pedagogical models for clicker…

The sociological literature on teaching and learning includes a number of discussions devoted to the importance of multicultural education. Much of this literature encourages educators to revise the curriculum and shows how the experience of multicultural education can stimulate student's sociological imaginations. To this end, some scholars have…

Although many of us would like to get beyond lecturing, we often lack concrete strategies for doing so, particularly in our larger classes. This paper suggests one such strategy for creating a discussion-based course. The success of such a course is predicated on students reading and thinking about the course material (receiving "first exposure")…