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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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Lyndi Hewitt
Developing and Assessing Critical Thinking in Introductory Sociology
August 29, 2014
Subject Area(s):
Introduction to Sociology/Social Problems
Class Level(s):
College 100
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
Introductory sociology courses are well suited to cultivate critical thinking skills, particularly the ability to evaluate evidence, distinguish between fact and opinion, and appreciate multiple points of view. This resource is at once a critical writing assignment...
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Annette Lareau
Stratification Active Learning Assignments
August 12, 2014
Subject Area(s):
Stratification/Mobility
Resource Type(s):
Assignment
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
As part of a lower division stratification seminar, 2014 ASA President Annette Lareau offers her students a series of exercises to be completed across the semester. This invited resource in the Presidential Pedagogies series presents 5 of her activities. They...
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Scott G McNall, Andrew Szasz
Teaching the Sociology of Climate Change
May 13, 2014
Subject Area(s):
Environmental Sociology
Resource Type(s):
Essay
Class Level(s):
College 100
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
Pedagogical Essay Resource: The goal of this article is to provide guidance to those introductory sociology and social problems instructors who want to introduce the subject of the sociology of climate change into one week of an existing quarter or semester class. We...
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Erik Olin Wright
Contemporary American Society
May 13, 2014
Subject Area(s):
Introduction to Sociology/Social Problems
Resource Type(s):
Syllabus
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
*Invited Resource* What kind of country do we live in? What does it even mean to talk about a "kind" of country? We all know what it means to ask of a strange creature "what kind of animal is this?" But it is less clear how to ask the same question of a society. The...
Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX
Susan J. Ferguson
Identities and Inequalities: Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality
May 5, 2014
Subject Area(s):
Race, Class and Gender
Resource Type(s):
Syllabus
Class Level(s):
College 300
Class Size(s):
Medium
Abstract:
This course syllabus explores sociological theories, research, and experiences of privileged and oppressed identities, including race-ethnicity, social class, gender, sexuality, and ability. Sociologists have many ways of conceptualizing identity-based inequality,...
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Erik Olin Wright
Sociology 125: Contemporary American Society
May 1, 2014
Subject Area(s):
Introduction to Sociology/Social Problems
Resource Type(s):
Syllabus
Class Level(s):
College 100
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
What kind of country do we live in? What does it even mean to talk about a "kind" of country? We all know what it means to ask of a strange creature "what kind of animal is this?" But it is less clear how to ask the same question of a society. The question is muddied...
Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX
Jennifer Lynn Keys
Gender Markers in Adult Halloween Costumes
March 18, 2014
Subject Area(s):
Sex and Gender
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
This activity is designed to help students learn more about gendered socialization practices by engaging them in a systematic coding and analysis of gender markers in adult Halloween costumes.
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Kristin Holster
Social Activism Assignment
June 27, 2013
Subject Area(s):
Introduction to Sociology/Social Problems
Resource Type(s):
Assignment
Class Level(s):
College 100
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
In this paper assignment, students develop their sociological imaginations by exploring the impact of individual, group, and societal level actions in addressing social problems. Students use course concepts and theories to describe a specific social problem,...
Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX
Michael Ramirez
Intersectionality in the Toy Store
May 20, 2013
Subject Area(s):
Race, Class and Gender
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity
Class Level(s):
College 100
Class Size(s):
Medium
Abstract:
Introduction to Sociology courses often include the triumvariate of inequalities of race/ethnicity, social class, and gender in them. In working through these sections of the course, many instructors emphasize the intersectionalities of these three dimensions of...
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Alexandra Marin
Personal Network Analysis
April 29, 2013
Subject Area(s):
Social Networks
Resource Type(s):
Assignment
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:
Students complete a name-generator based network survey, calculate common measures of network properties and write a short paper analyzing their own personal networks/ego-networks. This assignment is used in the course Introduction to Social Network Analysis....
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