Another idea - I have had some fun with crime statistics - I use crime statistics for the same kinds of offenses over a few decades -find graphs/charts. I get police records or FBI statistics and victimization surveys (readily available).
I give groups of students ONE of the two chart, but initially they assume they all have the same one. I ask them to evaluate the chart and decide if crime is decreasing or increasing. Before long, students realize some believe it is increasing while others argue it is decrease. Then, I have them compare their graphs/charts (someone usually brings up the source) - this takes only a few minutes but begins a lively discussion on "measuring crime." I have quite a few good stories around why crime is not reported. For example, would you report the babysitter (sent by a reputable agency) who stole you pot? Unreported/reported crime, fear of crime based on perceived risk, plea bargaining, etc. are usually covered in this class session. Susan St. John-Jarvis, Assoc. Professor of Sociology Corning Community College 1 Academic Drive Corning, NY 14830 (607) 962-9526 or secretary 962-9239 ----- Original Message ----- From: Tina Deshotels <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wednesday, June 28, 2006 1:31 pm Subject: TEACHSOC: Re: i am new instructor and need a little advice... To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [email protected] > > I'd really like to hear more about how this works when you get a > chanceRobert. 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 > limitednumber 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 > nottotally 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 > demonstratesstratification, 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 > confederatecome 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 > heardthere 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 > alsointeresting. 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 > studentsjust 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 > betterinformed. 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 > websitethat 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 teachsoc- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/teachsoc-~----------~----~----~----~- > -----~----~------~--~--- > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Teaching Sociology" group. 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