Prof. Niemonen claims that the concept of white privilege is "anti-sociological" and "mask[s] complex race-class interactions." He highlights the importance of including social class in discussions of white privilege but focuses exclusively on the white working class, neglecting how race and social class also intersect for…

The commentaries on Downey and Condron found in this issue help advance an overdue conversation about schools and inequality. This paper considers two questions that are prompted by the comments from the authors' colleagues: (1) Would we make more progress reducing socio-economic and racial achievement gaps by reforming schools or by reforming the…

Christopher Jencks is the Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Here he comments that Downey and Condron (2016) (DC) argue that the sociology of education suffers from a one-sided view of schools' contribution to inequality. He agrees that most sociologists who study what goes on inside schools tend to portray…

This teaching note describes my multiyear experience with interventions designed to enhance student engagement and learning through various teaching techniques, most notably active and collaborative learning through local case studies. While other aspects of this course had been successful, I was disappointed in the level of engagement--the…

In this article, the authors argue that one approach to teaching Introduction to Social Problems is to structure the course content around taken-for-granted beliefs that many students have about the social world. In doing so, the authors discuss the social construction of social problems, how sociology differs from common sense, and the importance…

In the following paper we argue that the conventional "Introduction to Sociology" survey course should be restructured because such courses try to survey an unsurveyable body of knowledge and they do not teach the application of sociological research. The conventional intro course should be replaced with an intro course that surveys the types of…

This personal reflection describes the author's 25-year relationship with the scholarship of teaching and learning. Her thoughts wander to influences on her career in SoTL, the impact SoTL has had on her professional life, the dilemmas in the field that continue to be pondered, ways to advocate for and support SoTL work, and her hopes for the…

Systems designed to ensure that teaching and student learning are of a suitable quality are a feature of universities globally. Quality assurance systems are central to attempts to internationalise higher education, motivated in part by a concern for greater global equality. Yet, if such systems incorporate comparisons, the tendency is to reflect…

This publication contains excerpts from published works on the teaching of undergraduate sociology by sociologists known for their contribution to scholarship. In addition to bringing these writings to a broader audience, the series is a reminder that the creation of sociological knowledge and its transmission have been joint concerns of many…

Provides advice on minimizing classroom alienation (powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, isolation, and self-estrangement) through specific classroom strategies. Concludes that student alienation effects learning as well as evaluation. A conscious effort to increase student integration improves teaching, student learning, and the…

Explores the use of autobiography as a tool for increasing student participation, uncovering student attitudes and values, and as a source of examples for lectures and class discussion. Concludes that information gathered can be used to alert students to potential problems of using summary statistics and nonrepresentative samples when generalizing…

Differences between Montessori theories of instruction and other popular approaches such as Dewey's account for the brevity of her popularity during her lifetime. An analysis of Nietzsche's influence during the development of her theories is described. (CB)

Briefly clarifies two important issues in the teaching of sociology of human sexuality: what a sociological approach to human sexuality entails, and how to help students link course material with the world around them. (Author/AEM)

Describes classroom techniques used successfully by the author for teaching key sociological and social scientific concepts in secondary social studies courses. The author believes that the great value of sociology is the way it perceives and conceives of human behavior, rather than in so-called sociological findings. (RM)

Defines a nonsimulation game as a game dealing with a mathematical or scientific topic which is superior to the typical simulation in that it provides an optimal mix of competition and cooperation. Describes two variations of Allen's 1969 Equations nonsimulation game, which may be used to teach various statistical concepts. (JDH)