I'd really like to hear more about how this works when you get a chance Robert. I also am interested in activities for criminology and will share a few that I use.
1. I use the musical chairs game mentioned a couple of weeks ago as a first day activity (let me know if you want me to forward you that email). I use the game to demonstrate structural strain theory. When there are limited number of seats (structural blocks to the goal) people innovate (cheat/get violent) retreat (give up) etc. As everyone else has said one caution is that the students often get rowdy so I watch to make sure no one gets hurt. The second game shows how we could reduce crime (and giving up) but not totally eliminate if everyone had access to resources. 2. I do a timed quiz where I make the first row stop the quiz after about a minute, the second row gets a little longer and so on. I tell the last row they can take the quiz home and turn it in the next day. (this demonstrates stratification, access to resources and again why some might 'cheat', give up or do violence). 3. When we're talking about solutions to crime I come in early and put a desk in front of the classroom. At the beginning of class I ask why no one sat in the desk. Most people don't even notice the desk. Others say I wouldn't have been able to see the teacher etc. I then ask, "how many of you walked in the class, noticed the desk and thought "I could sit in that desk but I can't see the teacher (here I list all the reasons they give for not sitting there). No one has ever said they went through the process of considering sitting in the desk as a possibility. I use this to show how our norms, traditions, values and beliefs limit our options, our ability to consider solutions. This opens up a discussion on trying to imagine solutions. To quote Author C. Clark from his book : The limits of the possible "If we can't imagine it, we can't make it happen" 4. Another activity I have heard of but not tried is to have a confederate come into the classroom and write Thief on the board. Then you get the students to write a description of the individual. From what I've heard there this is a good way to show the problems with eye witness testimony. If anyone's ever done this I'd love to hear how it went. 5. Having students match the time sentenced/served to the crime is also interesting. It shows how irrational punishment is (especially for drug possession). 6. I have in the past used debates. I don't like this much because students just try to win (not to get at the best evidence). Most of the time everyone was left with confusion about the topic rather than being better informed. If anyone has had more success here I'd like to hear about it. 7. I like to use websites too. There's a quiz on the 360 degrees website that asks students about misdemeanor and felonies. It's anonymous. I use it to break down the distinction between 'us good people' and 'those bad people' you can find it on: http://www.360degrees.org/ddata/index.html There's also some expose's on various criminology topics on this website. 8. I also use a lot of music, playing songs and having students read lyrics and discussing what the music says about our culture. I make sure to not just talk about recent violent rap songs (although the song F*ck tha police by NWA rappers is quite instructive when talking about race and crime). I use older songs, country songs etc. Again, I'd love to hear what others do. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Robert Greene Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2006 11:45 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [email protected] Subject: TEACHSOC: Re: i am new instructor and need a little advice... One that I have used for many semesters is Ranking the Severity of a Crime from Innovative Techniques for Teaching Sociology. They are given a list of 39 crimes but so the sake of time, only rank the top fifteen. Since I am not at my home PC, I can't send you my version of it which has been modified over time but students must agree collectively (first in groups of 3-5, then as a class) about the most severe crimes and the discussion is always lively. You can also have them devise appropriate sanctions for each of the top 5 or 10 crimes. >>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 06/28/06 11:27 AM >>> Good afternoon, I am teaching social problems for the first time and I looking for some class activities that deal with crime and violence as a social problem- any suggestions? Thank you- Marni Kahn --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Teaching Sociology" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/teachsoc -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
