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Teaching Sociology.
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Harnessing The
Pedagogical Monster
Using Research in Teaching Large Classes
BRENT T. BRUTON
SUE R. CRULL
Iowa State University
79
80
TEACHING
SOCIOLOGY
1980
/ OCTOBER
PROCEDURE
Basically,the process is simple. During the second or third
meeting of the class, the studentsare surveyedby meansof an
81
anonymous questionnaire which attempts to measure key concepts in several areas of the course. The measurement devices are
derived from well-known studies and are adjusted to allow the
student to respond on a standard, 10-response, machine-graded
answer sheet. The data from the answer sheets are then transferred to tapes and cards and analyzed. At appropriate times
throughout the term the results are presented and discussed.
Comparisons are made between contemporary response patterns
and those of the original study. This often elicits new interpretation and provides an opportunity to cross-referenceand illustrate
the relationship between sociological concepts. Groups of students and individual students from within the large class are
encouraged to help with the analyses and presentations.'
The large class is presented in a multitrack format. Beyond
certain minimal requirements, students are offered a number of
option/contracts as to how they experience the introductory
course and how their course performances are evaluated. Our
experience has been that the proportion of students who select the
option to help with data analyses is relatively small. It is a
manageable number of students, and we believe it is important to
make this type of involvement available to students who seek it,
although full involvement cannot be forced on all students. The
same notion of option/contract holds for in-class presentation.
Not all students who desire involvement in the research process
are able and willing to make short presentations before 600
students, but those who so desire are allowed to do so. During
lecture, students have opportunities to suggest possible hypotheses, and, whenever possible, these hypotheses are analyzed and
results are reported back to the class. Students also make
suggestions for variables to be included in future questionnaires.
AN EXAMPLE
82
TEACHINGSOCIOLOGY/ OCTOBER1980
83
84
TEACHINGSOCIOLOGY/ OCTOBER1980
DISCUSSION
Our desire to "harness the pedagogical monster" leads to
involvement for the students, growth for the teachers, and
development of the discipline.2 Student evaluations in 1975
indicated that the survey technique was helpful and meaningful in
understanding sociology. Interest and excitement for this approach grows with each new term. During the fall of 1979 the
Bogardus questionnaire was revised to gain a better understanding of the contact factor.
Essentially, we are arguing that students who are able to
participate in the gathering of research data as subjects and then
are able to analyze or observe the analysis in which they
themselves were the subjects find the data more interesting and
relevant than data which are presented from journal articles. A
kind of enlightenment occurs when students are presented with
their own attitudes and dispositions.
Sociologists know little about the students they teach. We
don't know how students' attitudes and orientations change from
year to year. One of the most appropriate and stimulating things
to do with students is to study them. This can be done especially
effectively in large group instruction situations.
We are frequently told that there are learning devices that can
be used in small classes that simply cannot be used in large classes.
In this article we suggest a learning format which can be used in a
large class but cannot effectivelly be used in a small class.
Our goal is not only to involve students in an other than passive
way with content areas, but also to offer in a limited way an
experience with a social survey purporting to measure an array of
sociological concepts. That is, the technique allows students to
participate by way of response, analysis, and reflection in the
research process.
85
NOTES
1. The extent and type of student involvement has varied from one term to another. In
the past, it was generally necessary for the instructor to generate tables for students to
interpret for student projects. We are now able to use an instructional program on the Vax
11-780.The Vax system is an interactivecomputer system used for instruction which offers
interested students direct experience in data analysis with minimal training. The
department presently has four remote CRT terminals for student use and is in the process
of acquiring more. With this system, students can select their own independent and
dependent variables and generate data in a format which they select. It is conceivable that
sometime in the future a terminal can be installed in the lecture auditorium and the
research process could be projected on a large viewing screen for every student to see. A
special program for analysis of the survey data has been written by Dr. William F.
Woodman and Dr. John P. Boysen of Iowa State University.
2. The results of the Bogardus Analysis are presented in Sociology and Social Research, July 1979.
86
REFERENCES
AMES, R. G., S. Y. MORIWAKI, and A. K. BASU (1968) "Sex differences in social
distance: a research report." Sociology and Social Research 52: 280-289.
BAKER, P. J. (1976) "Mass instruction in sociology: on domestication of a pedagogical
monster." Teaching Sociology 4: 5-28.
BEST, J. (1977) "The introductory sociology survey." Teaching Sociology 4: 271-276.
BOGARDUS, E. S. (1967) A Forty Year Racial Distance Study. Los Angeles: University
of Southern California.
(1958) "Racial distance changes in the United States during the past thirty years."
--Sociology and Social Research 43: 127-135.
CLIFTON, K. A. (1976) "Doin soc: an evaluation of actively involving introductory
students in the work of sociology." Teaching Sociology 3: 138-147.
CONKLIN, G. H. (1976) "Using the computer in introductory sociology: a solution to the
methodology problem." Teaching Sociology 4: 83-95.
CRULL, S. and B. T. BRUTON (1979) "Bogardussocial distance in the 1970s."Sociology
and Social Research 63: 771-783.
D'ANTONIO, W. V. (1979) "Teachingsociology: an impossible dreamT"Undergraduate
Education, a section of the American Sociological Association Newsletter, January.
VAN VALEY, T. L. (1977) "The computer and doing sociology: tools for the undergraduate curriculum." Teaching Sociology 4: 277-292.
WILSON, E. K. (1977) "Sociology: scholarly discipline or profession?"Occasional paper
published by the Section on Undergraduate Education of the American Sociological
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