This unit is meant to introduce students to the discipline of
sociology and to the scientific method as used in the field. To play to the
varying strengths or "learning styles" of each student, the "learning
cycle wheel" helped guide the selection of activities for the unit.
Description:
Briefly, the learning cycle wheel is a planning device that suggests
offering classroom activities in the following order to include all students'
learning strengths:
Discussion of Concepts (Teacher motivates, witnesses; teacher/student
interact)
Information Method (Teacher "teaches"; teacher acts)
Coaching Method (Teacher coaches, facilitates; students react)
Therefore, the following activities took place during this unit:
Trash Can Detectives: As I pulled objects out of a bag supposedly full
of items I'd found in someone's trash can, the students had to hypothesize
then draw conclusions about whose trash they were looking at. With each
new piece of evidence revealed, they had to alter their conclusions and
develop new hypotheses. We related this to scientific and sociological
investigations.
Students read "38 Who Saw Murder" about a famous incident in
NYC in which 37 people witnessed a murder but didn't call the police.
We also read a brief introduction to sociology. We then considered what
in this situation would pique sociologists' interest and what they might
seek to investigate. Certain concepts such as "herd mentality"
and humans as social animals were introduced and explored.
Student groups were asked to complete sociology experiments. They were
to form jointly a hypothesis regarding, for example, what a group of students
in the lunchroom would do if a stranger came to sit in their midst, or
who typically starts and maintains conversations between men and women.
(I provided many of the problems.) They were then to test their hypotheses
by collecting data. Students wrote up their results in lab report form,
evaluating their data and discussing its causes.
Note: One further assignment during the week students were gathering
data was to read an article outlining Stanley Milgram's famous experiment
about the lengths we'll go to adhere to authority. We considered the sociohistorical
and psychological implications, but we also looked at the experiment design.
Group presentations: The students revealed their findings in a formal
presentation to the class. The class asked questions about their findings,
their manner of data collection, the soundness of their conclusions, etc.
Results:
Most students found the subject matter compelling and began to
develop an understanding of the aims and methods of sociology through these
various activities. Because the activities were so varied, almost all found
a way to connect with the topic at hand. Reports went well, but we needed
to spend more time setting up the experiments. Further discussion about controlling
variables and more input on my part regarding their experiment designs before
they conducted them would have resulted in more significant results.
