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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

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Eve M. Blobaum
Introduction to Sociology Semester Project
October 18, 2016
Subject Area(s):
Introduction to Sociology/Social Problems
Resource Type(s):
Assignment
Class Level(s):
College 100
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
This capstone project engages students in the social science research process. Working in groups, students must design and carry out an original research project. This is primarily completed in the last two-thirds of the term, although some preliminary in-class...
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Judith Rachel Halasz
Sociology of Film Syllabus
October 3, 2016
Subject Area(s):
Art/Music
Resource Type(s):
Assignment, Film List, Syllabus
Class Level(s):
College 400
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
Designed as an upper division undergraduate elective, the sociology of film fosters the capacity to analyze film sociologically by pairing carefully selected films that address central sociological issues such as class, gender, sex, sexuality, race, ethnicity,...
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Brandon Bosch
Gender in the Slasher Film Genre
October 3, 2016
Subject Area(s):
Sex and Gender
Resource Type(s):
Lecture
Class Level(s):
College 300
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
Slasher films typically involve a lone killer/monster stalking a group of people, often picking them off a few at a time. Formulaic and full of long-lived franchises, it is relatively easy for students to pick up on themes and patterns in the slasher films. Moreover,...
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Tal Peretz
Measuring Sexuality
October 3, 2016
Subject Area(s):
Sexualities
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
This activity involves walking students through an abridged history of sexuality categories and measurements, using their own sexual identities as examples. Freud, Kinsey, and Klein are discussed as all measuring sexuality in different ways, and thus collecting...
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Jeanne Holcomb
Using "The Game of Life" as an End-of-Semester Assessment
September 26, 2016
Subject Area(s):
Family
Resource Type(s):
Assignment
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
This activity uses of the "The Game of Life" as an end-of-semester assessment in a Marriages and Families course. Students play the board game "The Game of Life," produced by Milton Bradley, and respond to prompts asking them to analyze assumptions that the game...
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Meghan L. Mills
Sociology of Therapy and Service Animals
July 7, 2016
Subject Area(s):
Disabilities
Resource Type(s):
Syllabus
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Small
Abstract:
Syllabus and usage notes for "Sociology of Therapy and Service Animals." The focus of this course is on emotional support, therapy, and service animals (collectively referred to as support animals) in U.S. society as viewed from a sociological perspective. Emphasis...
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Kristen M. Schorpp
Using County-Level Health Data to Examine the Social Determinants of Health
June 27, 2016
Subject Area(s):
Medical Sociology
Resource Type(s):
Assessment
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
This assignment prompts students to apply understandings of the social determinants of health to analysis of publically available socioeconomic and health data, with the ultimate goal of encouraging students to critically engage in and personally relate to course...
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William J. Scarborough
Teaching the Sociological Imagination: Using Actual Lenses to See Personal Troubles as Public Issues
June 13, 2016
Subject Area(s):
Introduction to Sociology/Social Problems
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity
Class Level(s):
College 100
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
This classroom exercise uses a comic strip to introduce students to thinking with a sociological imagination by providing the opportunity for them to view personal troubles through various sociological lenses. In the activity, students are introduced through a comic...
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Jess Butler
Research Methods Mad Libs
June 1, 2016
Subject Area(s):
Introduction to Sociology/Social Problems
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
Introducing sociological research methods in an entry-level course with a mix of sociology majors and non-majors can be challenging. This activity engages students at each stage of the research process, providing an interactive alternative to traditional approaches...
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Liz Burkhalter, Teresa Evans Ryan
What is Subculture?: Identifying and Exploring Subcultures on Campus
May 30, 2016
Subject Area(s):
Cultural Sociology
Resource Type(s):
Assignment
Class Level(s):
College 100
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
Students are usually able to understand the concept of culture and identify dominant cultural groups. Yet many struggle with understanding how the concept of subculture is an "unnatural break" from the dominant culture (Hebdige 1979). This activity helps students...
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