North Central Sociological Association 2014 Teaching Address: The John F. Schnabel Lecture—Sociology’s Special Pedagogical Challenge

Abstract

Instructors and students must overcome a course’s special pedagogical challenge in order for meaningful and important learning to occur. While some suggest that the special pedagogical problem varies by course, I contend that the special pedagogical problem is likely to be shared across a discipline’s curriculum, rather than being unique to each course. After reviewing a three-part typology of learning outcomes for sociology, I argue that the development of students’ sociological imaginations is sociology’s special pedagogical challenge; I then offer some general guidelines for teaching strategies to enhance the students’ success in developing a sociological imagination.

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Notes on contributors

Jay R. Howard

Jay R. Howard is Professor of Sociology and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Butler University in Indianapolis. His current research focuses on the scholarship of teaching and learning. Along with Nancy A. Greenwood, he is co-author of First Contact: Teaching and Learning in Introductory Sociology and author of Discussion in the College Classroom: Getting Your Students Engaged and Participating in Person and Online.