1. To engage students in quantitative reasoning which challenges them to think critically about various social problems such as poverty and challenge existing ways of examining social phenomena
2. To prepare students to recognize changing demographic patterns and their subsequent effect on the United States population
3. To help students better understand their place in modern day society by using a sociological lens
The current data module is intended as a handout for an undergraduate in-class group activity which lasts approximately 35-45 minutes. It is primarily designed for freshman and sophomore students taking Introduction to Sociology who are often novice researchers. The project will be most beneficial to utilize after a discussion of Sociological theory and methods. It also ties into other key concepts such as social inequality and stratification, economics, politics, and the familiy.
Students will complete an anonymous mandatory learning assessment immediately following project completion. In order to capture diversity of student opinions, additional space will be provided for students to share their thoughts about the assignment in an open-ended format.
This module examines poverty rates by race and engages students in data from the SSDAN WebChip application to learn quantitative reasoning and data analysis skills.
Questions 7 through 10 of the assignment are designed to allow for students to engage in critical thinking. As such, students may have challenges or difficulty answering the questions and may ask for further clarification. It is advised that students think through the questions provided and provide answers in light of course material and class discussion.
Original Archive Module: https://ssdan.web.itd.umich.edu/sites/default/files/Datacounts_PovertyS…