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TRAILS Featured Resources
TRAILS Featured Resources
February 23, 2023

TRAILS, the Teaching Resources and Innovation Library for Sociology, provides a way for you to easily locate peer-reviewed teaching materials, showcase your teaching ideas, develop professionally, and join a community of scholarly teachers. You will find great assignments, syllabi, lectures, and other teaching ideas at TRAILS. Please also consider submitting your great ideas for teaching. The Featured Resources include some of the newest additions to our collection.

-Stephanie Medley-Rath
TRAILS Lead Editor

TRAILS logo with gold star superimposed on the lower right corner. Logo is composed of four vertical bars in varying shades of blue.
A drawing of a hospital building
Daniel Menchik
Medicine in the Wild: Conducting Ethnographic Studies of Medicine in Action
May 9, 2023
Subject Area(s):
Medical Sociology
Resource Type(s):
Syllabus
Class Level(s):
College 300, College 400
Class Size(s):
Medium, Small
Abstract:

This course is an introduction to methods and practices of studying how we moderns organize care in the hospital, and ultimately produce and respond to facts about the people who move through it. The aim is to ground students in the foundational ethnographic...

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A sign that reads: "Entering Navajo Reservation U.S. Dept. Interior"
Jimiliz Valiente-Neighbours
Introduction to Native Land and Indigenous Peoples
May 9, 2023
Subject Area(s):
Race, Class and Gender, Racial and Ethnic Relations
Resource Type(s):
Assignment
Class Level(s):
College 100, College 200, College 300, College 400
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:

Recently, land or territory acknowledgements have become more common during formal events and on their websites. Students in K-12 and higher education institutions, however, may not yet be familiar with why the practice is done, much less the concept of native...

Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX
Monopoly board with game pieces ready for play
Brianna Turgeon, Sarah Donley
Intersectional Monopoly
May 9, 2023
Subject Area(s):
Race, Class and Gender, Stratification/Mobility
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:

Monopoly simulations are widely used in sociology classrooms to illustrate social inequality. These simulations have been critiqued as being one-dimensional and focusing too much on social class. Alternatively, scholars have developed Monopoly simulations that...

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A drawing of a head with colorful circles overlapping
Elizabeth Culatta
“Imagine If…” Applying the Stress Process Model and Building Empathy
May 9, 2023
Subject Area(s):
Medical Sociology, Mental Health, Race, Class and Gender
Resource Type(s):
Assignment, Class Activity
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:

This is an in-class group activity to help students understand and apply the Stress Process Model (Turner 2010), often taught in Medical Sociology courses. It also serves to build empathy through discussion and narrative-building by encouraging students to imagine...

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A pin on a map
Julia Waity, Jennifer Vanderminden, Jack Resnick
Using virtual mapping to learn about the community
May 9, 2023
Subject Area(s):
Applied Sociology/Evaluation Research, Community, Sociological Practice
Resource Type(s):
Assignment
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:

Codification of observed activity and physical data is a valuable skill for any emergent social scientist; one method to achieve this is data-driven community mapping. However, mapping as a method can often be overwhelming and challenging to students who have so...

Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX
An online survey taker selects five stars for their review
Dan Lainer-Vos
Making it real: Conducting an Online Experiment Replication
January 12, 2023
Subject Area(s):
Qualitative Methodology, Quantitative Methodology, Teaching and Learning in Sociology
Resource Type(s):
Assignment, Class Activity
Class Level(s):
College 300, College 400
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
Online experimentation is a crucial part of a new frontier of the social sciences. This class exercise and assignments give students hands-on experience with online experimentation. The exercise and assignment challenges students to replicate simple online...
Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX Requires Subscription PPTX
A vintage typewriter
Ellen Meiser
Theoretical Script Writing: A creative project for social theory courses
September 23, 2022
Subject Area(s):
Teaching and Learning in Sociology, Theory
Resource Type(s):
Assessment, Assignment, Class Activity
Class Level(s):
Advanced Graduate, Any Level, College 200, College 300, College 400, Graduate, High School
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:

“Theoretical Script Writing” is a final assignment for undergraduate sociological theory courses that encourages the application of concepts learned over the course of a semester to modern day social issues using students’ creativity. Upon learning about...

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Resume tips
Mary Virnoche
A Resume Assignment Highlighting Experiences and Skills of Sociology Students
April 8, 2022
Abstract:

This submission includes resume assignment details and resources used in a required, one-unit Sociology Professional Development Seminar. This submission includes a rubric to support development of the resume as well as the (peer) review process. The rubric...

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An outline of a dog painted on a wall.
Maria Scaptura
FX on Hulu’s “Reservation Dogs”: Putting Criminological Theory in Action
March 24, 2022
Subject Area(s):
Criminology/Delinquency, Deviant Behavior/Social Disorganization
Resource Type(s):
Assignment, Essay
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:

“Reservation Dogs” is a 2021 comedy series on Hulu (created by FX) featuring four indigenous teenagers trying to make it out of their rural town on a reservation in Oklahoma. In their efforts to make it to California, the teenagers—Elora, Bear, Cheese and Willie...

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Magnifying Glass
Judith Linneman
The Claim Game: Promoting Critical Thinking about Research, Advertising, and Other Claims
February 28, 2022
Subject Area(s):
Research Methods, Statistics
Resource Type(s):
Lecture, PowerPoint
Class Level(s):
College 100, College 200, College 300
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:

Use this lecture/slide show to develop student critical thinking skills and a more skeptical view of causal and other claims in research, advertising, and popular media in general. Although particularly relevant for research methods and statistics courses, the...

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