This article provides an overview of the Survivors: Local Stories of Domestic Violence (hereafter, Survivors) civic engagement project. Survivors' learning objectives were to increase the understanding of the complexity of intimate partner abuse and foster empathy in outsiders' responses, something at the cornerstone of the #MeToo social movement…

This article presents an in-class exercise that teaches students how to call elected officials about a course-related issue of their choice. The goals are to connect classroom learning with real-life action, to show that contacting elected officials need not be difficult or intimidating, and to help students develop a sense of efficacy that can…

Efforts are underway to globalize sociology in the United States through study abroad experiences. At the same time, there is a push to extend the reach of such programs to students of color. We use student journal entries and fieldnotes from trips to South Africa to analyze how students of color grapple with a disruption of identity in a Black…

What should activist-scholars teach in the social problems classroom? In this conversation, I challenge the assertion that advancing a sociology of social problems is an overly academic enterprise of little use to students and other publics. I introduce the potential of a pedagogical framework for promoting social problems literacy: a set of…

Increasing college students' exposure to global contexts and improving their intercultural competency remain challenging educational objectives, especially at the community college level. Fortunately, the recent shift in higher education from study abroad opportunities toward so-called "internationalization at home" initiatives, where…

This article evaluates the use of a "case study group" method for teaching social movement theory. The aim was to give students the opportunity to practice theorizing actively rather than simply learning theory passively. The method provides this by requiring students to undertake case studies on social movements of their choice for the…

In this article, the author explains how she used online blogs with more than 263 students over a period of four semesters in an introductory social problems course. She describes how she uses blogs to enhance student participation, engagement, and skill building. Finally, she provides an overview of students' qualitative assessments of the blog…

Participants in the 2007 American Sociological Association teaching workshop, "Innovative Teaching Practices for Difficult Subjects," shared concerns about teaching statistics, research methods, and theory. Strategies for addressing these concerns center on building a community of learners by creating three processes throughout the course: 1) an…

Reports on the application of experiential learning to a college level sociology course on the social consequences of disability. The course involves traditional methods such as reading/lecture/examination and more innovative approaches such as experiential learning and directing students to manage their own learning processes. (Author/DB)

Describes an exercise for the first day of courses in introductory sociology. Includes four objectives: (1) telling students what they will be able to do by the end of the class; (2) exposing them to the social construction of reality; (3) showing the power of the sociological imagination; and (4) changing students into participants in their…

Describes a series of techniques used by instructors in sociology courses on the college level to help students learn about and become actively involved in using classical and contemporary sociological theory. Three concepts form the basis of the approach--activity, rationality, and personal knowledge. (DB)

Examines the relationship between general pedagogical styles, perceptions of classroom situations, and utilization of various teaching techniques. Various teaching styles are defined, discussed, and evaluated. Concludes that the development of alternative mixes of teaching styles should enchance teaching effectiveness. (Author/DB)

Students who participate in simplified research projects, as compared with students who take tests, display more awareness of sociology's methods of inquiry and purposes of research. (Author/DE)

Debate is proposed as the best pedagogical alternative, of several that are suggested, to teach theoretical and relevant sociology to undergraduate college students. (ND)

Discusses a teaching method used by the author in his college sociology classes. Describes a method of active learning in which students are encouraged to discover interrelationships of parts and wholes on their own. Compares this discovery method to the Montessori method used in elementary education. (DK)