Cultural evidence of family change project

Abstract

This assignment requires students to relate cultural products – most likely popular media with which they were already intimately familiar – to course material about the diversity of family life in the contemporary US.

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Details

Subject Area(s):

Family

Resource Type(s):

Assignment, Essay

Class Level(s):

College 300

Class Size(s):

Any

Usage Notes

I have used this assignment for a course on family diversity and a general course on the sociology of the family, with equally good results.
Individual oral presentations are only feasible in a small class. In a slightly larger group, students could team up, and then produce a more extensive paper, perhaps by conducting a content analysis of several...

Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

1. Students will be able to apply course material about demographic and cultural diversity in contemporary US families to an analysis of cultural products, thereby demonstrating and reinforcing their mastery of the material.
2. While this is not equally applicable to every student’s assignment, a secondary goal is to increase students’ awareness of the inaccuracy of many popular depictions of family diversity.
3. Students will practice and sharpen their written and oral communication skills.

Goal Assessment(s):

1. See the written evaluation guide (attached), especially items 2-4.
2. See the written evaluation guide, especially item 3.
3. See the attached written evaluation guide, especially items 5-6, and the attached oral evaluation guide.