Identifying and assessing core knowledge has been and continues to be a challenge that vexes the discipline of sociology. With the adoption of a thematic approach to courses in the core curriculum at Butler University, faculty teaching Introductory Sociology were presented with the opportunity and challenge of defining the core knowledge and…

Focus group interviewing is widely used by academic and applied researchers. Given the popularity and strengths of this method, it is surprising how rarely focus group interviewing is taught in the undergraduate classroom and how few resources exist to support instructors who wish to train students to use this technique. This article fills the gap…

This article describes and evaluates the Gender Attitude and Belief Inventory (GABI), a teaching tool designed to aid students in (a) realizing how sociological theory links to their personal beliefs and (b) exploring any combination of 11 frequently used theoretical perspectives on gender, including both conservative theories (physiological,…

This article describes and evaluates an activity designed to demonstrate how biological factors (e.g., genetics), individual-level behaviors (e.g., smoking), and social factors (e.g., socioeconomic status) shape health status and access to health care. Active learning techniques were utilized to introduce the sociological imagination as it…

This study uses a quasi-experimental design to assess differences in student performance and satisfaction across online and face-to-face (F2F) classroom settings. Data were collected from 368 students enrolled in three online and three F2F sections of an introductory-level sociology course. The instructor, course materials, and assessments were…

Describes a student project that requires students to administer a questionnaire on sexual attitudes to family members and age-peers. Since students predict responses before administering the questionnaires, the results can illustrate the differences between actual and perceived generation gaps and other aspects of sexual socialization and value…

Outlines a research project for family sociology students that uses student family histories to bridge the gap between course material and personal family experiences. Claims the project teaches students how information is transmitted across generations, as well as strengthening research, interviewing, and analytical skills. (Author/AEM)

Describes a technique for the first class session of a course in Race and Nationality that uses a staged confrontation between a White professor and a Black student over a racial joke. Shows how the technique, in combination with student field research projects, provides an important link between common student experiences and abstract issues in…

To shed light on persistent differences in grading practices among disciplines, this article investigated the differences and concluded that they emanated from basic differences in disciplinary educational objectives and corresponding socialization strategies. Disciplines were dichotomized into normative and utilitarian types. Sociology and the…