Sociology Exercise Examples

Specific Exercises

• First: Make sure your students know how to read a social science article (How to read sociology).
• If you are teaching statistics:
  • One exercise you could try is to present your students with guiding questions about how to interpret an example regression table (Regression Example).
• If you are teaching a discussion-based class:
  • You should consider exercises that explicitly require your students to pose questions regarding readings or reflections on readings in advance of discussion section.
    • Two example exercises involve directing students to use an online forum, such as coursework, to get them to think about their class participation ahead of time (Discussion questions assignment (for student-led discussions) and Example analytical reflections (to reflect on reading before class)).
    • Just be sure to read their posts before class and make reference to them in class so they know you are invested in their contributions.
• If you are teaching social psychology:
  • Consider this exercise that teaches about status hierarchies in small groups:
    • A Classroom Activity for Teaching Status Hierarchies
• If you are teaching stratification/inequality:
  • Coghlan & Huggins (2004) 10 page article in Teaching Sociology develops a Monopoly-like game teaching about structural barriers to upward mobility (Simulation in Social Strat and Structural Inequality).
• If you are teaching economic sociology (content specific to Mark Granovetter’s SOC 114):
  • The Economic Sociology Reading Review Matching Activity asks students to match summaries of the main arguments of each reading with the appropriate bibliographical information.
  • Some classes introduce students to a variety of concepts that are hard to keep track of. Consider preparing crossword puzzles for every other week; these can provide a useful overview of the different topics discussed. (SOC 114 Week 2 Crossword) All you need is a couple of concepts and short hints/definitions. There are lots of online services that create real crossword puzzles for free, e.g. here.
• If you are teaching STS 200F: The Sociology of Innovation:
  • Play jeopardy with your students. First, distribute the STS 200F Jeopardy Worksheet as homework, so students can prepare for the game. Then, use STS 200F Concept Jeopardy to play the game with your students. These can also be used as templates for testing content knowledge in other courses.

Databases for More Sociology Exercises

• Visit Resources for the teaching of social psychology for an annotated collection of more than 5000 links to resources and ideas for the teaching of social psychology and related courses organized by topic
• Visit Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology for a searchable database of contributors' syllabi, exercises, and assessments on a broad range of sociological topics.
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