Promoting Active Learning

Abstract

Scholarship on teaching undergraduates increasingly emphasizes the benefits of providing students with an active role in their education whereby instructors are more aptly described as facilitators of knowledge rather than merely providers of it. Additionally, recommendations from the American Sociological Association aimed specifically at the undergraduate sociology curriculum argue that students must engage as practitioners of sociology at each level of their program development. In short, undergraduates should do sociology—not just read or write sociology. Applying this recommendation to teaching statistics, I suggest organizing a course around a student-led research project in which students generate the topics, questions, and data that are then used to complete a substantive research paper. Students are given the opportunity to be actively engaged in all stages of the research and data-gathering process. Students also present their work in student roundtables, further legitimating their important contributions as researchers.

Statistics Education for Undergraduate Sociology Majors: Survey Findings across Institutions

“…Surveys found what the extant literature posits: some statistics training is a common element of undergraduate sociological education in U.S. universities (Howery and Rodriguez 2006;Strangfeld 2013;Delucchi 2014). Responses detailed a great variety of course offerings, activities, methods and tools across institutions and institutional types.…”

“…Insofar as students can learn statistics by engaging with relevant research questions that build on other sociological coursework, they will be more likely to experience statistics as an indispensable tool of sociological learning (Howery and Rodriguez 2006;Strangfeld 2013). Student collaboration in group settings may also offer the validation and mutual support many undergraduates need to succeed in what can be an intimidating course -especially in the context of large classroom settings (Longmore, Dunn and Jarboe 1996).…”

Sociology and Social Work Undergraduates’ Experiences Participating in a Research Project on Campus Sexual Assault and Misconduct

“…By using data collected from their university’s freshman survey, Lovekamp, Soboroff, and Gillespsie (2017) created a multifaceted, collaborative assignment that spanned multiple classes including research methods, statistics, and capstone courses to give their students a better understanding of survey research. Consistently, scholarship documents that direct participation or assistance in research yields significantly increased understanding of research and improvement of technical and analytical skills through direct, hands-on involvement in the research process (Korsching and Peter 2007; Singleton 2007; Strangfeld 2013).…”

Learner-Centered Teaching and Teaching Statistics in Social Sciences

“…In higher education, it is important that students of social sciences and also other disciplines like public health use quantitative methods in an active way, which means doing research beyond learning mathematical formulas (Strangfeld, 2013). However, there several issues that any statistics' teacher has to overcome.…”

“…In order to better understand this approach, the next section is devoted to a critical review of theoretical and practical ideas around four aspects related to teaching based on previous literature (Bessant, 1992;Delucchi, 2014;Paxton, 2006;Strangfeld, 2013): 1) students' psychological traits; 2) teacher's role; 3) subject's content; and 4) assessment.…”