Teaching Critical Awareness in an Introductory Course

Abstract

This article begins with the premise that an important task in teaching sociology is to teach in such a way that students acquire a critical awareness of the nature of social structures and of the relationship between structures and individuals. The format I use in teaching Introductory Sociology was designed to accomplish this task by integrating various kinds of learning experiences and processes. The format combines a mix of passive and active modes, of self-learning and collective learning, and of various pedagogical devices (lecture, film, student seminars) around a central course theme, Society in Us, Us in Society: Towards a Critical Awareness of Social Structures. My own experience with this format has shown that students learn more effectively and that critical awareness is more likely to be generated when there are maximum opportunities for students to become actively engaged in the subject-matter and when there is a constantly reinforced link between the conceptual level of analysis and empirical applications grounded at the level of everyday relevance.