Project description

Like water to fish.

We all live in society. We are all parts of our culture, and are involved in groups, organizations, and sub-cultures. We learn and respond to social norms, we recognize different social roles, and are embedded in different social structures. These concepts, and many more besides, refer to aspects of our social world that can help us understand how and why things happen the way that they do.

Although norms, roles, social structure, and sub-cultures are parts of our lives everyday, most of the time, most people don't think about them one bit. However, it is often the case that a little reflection can go a long way towards making sense of everyday events. A central aim of this course is to help people see and understand aspects of the social world in ways that are helpful and interesting.

We all become teachers.

This quarter students will work in groups of 3-5 to create projects that teach about sociological concepts in ways that are effective, interesting, and entertaining.  Student projects will be publicly in class and online, and through whatever publication medium is standard for the project (youtube,blogger, facebook, etc.).  Details about the project assignment are posted on this blog.   

See the initial assignment description here.

Check out the two videos listed below.  They are from a couple years ago, but they still good examples in terms of ideas and interests:

http://projectsinsocandsocialchange.blogspot.com/2010/01/intro-to-student-projects.html


Some other successful examples are linked from the end of last year's class:

http://projectsinsocandsocialchange.blogspot.com/2010/04/excellent-projects.html