Class Journal (Laurel Tripp)

• This is a good activity to open up class discussion about any topic in any class. Students must read and write weekly in the class journal. They must respond to two issues raised by other students. Then they must discuss a concept they read in the assigned readings that week. This is best done electronically, although a notebook can be kept on library reserve.
• Possible student reactions: On the negative side, this sometimes becomes a forum where the students feel they can vent about anything. Also, some students might attack other students because of what they wrote. When students cooperate, it becomes a way for all of them to be heard, something which is difficult in class.
• Size of class: Smaller classes are better because then they don't have to read as much.

New York Times Project (Laurel Tripp)

• This can be used for any projects for any class. Students must collect NY Times articles (or any other newspaper or magazine) from throughout the semester. In each article, they must find a sociological issue that was discussed in class or in the readings. They must explain the concept and tell how the article is an example of it. These can be compiled in an album and turned in at the end of the semester, or done on a weekly basis.
• Possible student reactions: Students will object to the addition of the reading load at least at first. However, it gives them a chance to be graded on something other than multiple choice tests.
• Size of class: Smaller classes

Opinion Barometer (Carla Edwards)

• This exercise is good to use for any controversial topic in Social Problems. Have the class stand up. Write on board "agree" on one end, "disagree" on the other end, and "neutral" in the middle. Ask students questions, e.g., should gay and lesbian couples be allowed to adopt or should we legalize marijuana. Then ask them to move to the side of room that coincides with their attitude or opinion. Pick one or two students to discuss their attitude with class. 
• Possible student reactions: Students are shocked at their peers opinions and they are also surprised by their inability to rationalize their own opinions in the context of the information they have been presented in class. They were forced to see the general opinion on issues. They generally enjoyed the activity.
• Size of class: 30 or more.

Housewife Budget (Erica Owens)

• This activity is good for illustrating the division of household labor in Marriage and Families. The blackboard works best to write down tasks and hourly totals in list fashion. Set a scenario where a married couple have two young children (2 and 4 years old work well, but slightly older is okay). The wife stays home while the husband works. Ask the class to give examples of the type of housework that maintenance of this home is likely to require and write these on the board. Then after the list seems fairly exhaustive, have students guesstimate how many hours each week are devoted to each task. DO NOT overlap tasks (e.g., laundry takes no real time because it can be done while taking care of kids and making dinner) or the next part won't work. After you have time estimates, explain that the reason you've kept each activity separate is that we're trying to figure out how much it would cost to replace the housewife in this scenario with professionals to do these tasks. Often these professionals either will not do more than one task or will charge extra to do two tasks (e.g., clean house and watch kids). Total up the time and multiply it by $5 for simplicity's sake (less than minimum wage too so the students can't complain about wage inflation). Then multiply that by 50 weeks (allowing 2 weeks off for vacations for each employee--which a traditional homemaker does not get). The total is surprisingly high, and provides a good segue into discussion about whether a woman should do all of the housework in the home in "trade" for being supported by a working husband.
• Possible student reactions: Male students tend to be a bit peeved by this exercise, so I keep hourly wage to $5 and I use the lower estimates of time spent on tasks that students volunteer. Female students get fired up if a few male students get too venomous. You may get a lively debate or even argument going so be ready. It helps to have brochures from some of the maid services and home-cooked meal services around town to show that prices are actually much higher for these services and any price/time discrepancies are on the low side.
• Size of class: Medium to large.

Metamessages in Children's Books (Lara Foley)

• This exercise helps show gender socialization, Bem's enculturated lens, and metamessages to students in Principles, Marriage and Family, and Sociology of Gender. Divide the class into small groups (3-5 students). Each group gets a children's book. As a group they look for metamessages - what are the underlying messages in the book (about gender or about child/adult roles or about behavior, etc.). Then each group tells the class what year their book was published and what underlying messages they found. DON'T use library books unless you are very careful and lock the door to the room until you are sure you have all the books back. I have a small personal collection I am willing to lend. I just went to Books-a-Million and bought some really cheap children's books. However, yard sales and the Friends of the Library book sale would be good places to start or build your own collection.
• Possible student reactions: There are usually good reactions, but sometimes shock. It usually leads to good discussion.
• Size of class: Best for under 150.

The Mating Game (Sara Crawley, modified from Eileen O’Brien)

• This exercise helps to illustrate the issue of mate selection for forming a family, and the issues of homogamy and heterogamy. First, have the students consider the following:

1. A middle-class, white man who travels 3 weeks each month for his job and has 3 kids from a previous marriage of whom he has custody. Currently, he has a live-in nanny but really would rather have a full-time parent in the home for his kids. 
2. A wealthy, African-American woman who owns a publishing business in Chicago.
3. A working class, Latino man from Costa Rica who wishes to live near his family in his home country.
4. An upwardly-mobile white woman who wishes never to have kids or at least not to care for them herself. (If you want kids, you will have to be the sole parent.)
5. A female, Presbetyrian minister whose first job assignment is in central Kansas.
6. An African-American male professor who has tenure at Harvard.
7. A English man who wishes to live in the US but cannot get residency for 3-4 years as a result of the immigration waiting list for English citizens into this country.
8. A white, male Florida cracker whose family has owned a fishing business in Everglades City for two generations. He plans to adopt the business in five years and needs to continue working for the business until that time.
9. Martha Stewart’s sister, a middle-class, white woman who plans to be a homemaker.
10. An Indian woman (US resident) whose parents are planning to arrange a marriage for her with someone other than you.

Possible student reactions: The trick is that any one person could draw any other type of person. Couples can be interracial, gay, etc. This provides for great class discussion. I like the idea that the "people" are fake so that no one person is being criticized if for example, "Mom and Dad would kill me if I brought home her/him." Yet, individuals are still asked to respond how they think they would honestly react. Beware: Students may ask you about your reactions to such circumstances. I had a student make up a "person" for me to react. I choose to comply and give my honest answer. What would you do?
 

This activity introduces students to the idea of gender socialization. 

Individually wrap 6 toys (2 stereotypically girl toys, 2 boy toys, 2 neutral toys).  Put all of the wrapped toys into a bag.  Ask for 6 volunteers to come to the front of the room.  Ask the first person to blindly select a toy and demonstrate for the class how they would play with that toy.  Repeat until all the toys have been played with.  Ask another student to categorize the toys into "girl," "boy," and "neutral" categories.  Then ask the class as a whole to come up with a list of characteristics that the girl toys teach and compare them to the characteristics that the boy toys teach.  If you don't have any toys at your house, I have plenty that you can borrow!

Possible student reactions: Students love this activity.  It can be very funny and it always gets the point across.

Size of Class: Works well with large classes but could be adjusted to work with any size

Musical Subcultures (Sara Crawley)

• Music illustrates subcultures in the US, especially how tastes are very related to subcultural experiences and not just "because I like it." I bring in a CD player and six to eight different kinds of popular music that illustrate different genres (dance, folk, rap, hard rock, reggae, country, opera, etc). I play each one for a few bars and then ask students to raise their hands to who loves or hates that type of music.

Possible student reactions: I found out last semester the Bob Marley is universally accepted by all people J . This activity engages the students in something from their realm of experience and shows how we often come to like or dislike things to which we are exposed or not exposed. Also, it provides a good icebreaker with students and lets them know you are going to be a cool instructor. I say this jokingly but my students have told me that this approach of openness and approachability makes them feel comfortable enough to speak up in class and take an opinion. It allows them to take a risk and feel able to say what they think publicly.

The Social Ladder (Laurel Tripp)

• This activity helps illustrate the important impact of the distribution of wealth in the US. It can be used in any class that discusses social class. Count the students and the amount of chairs in the classroom. Break up the class into fifths and the top 1%. Then assign seats to these six groups proportional to how much wealth that segment of society has in America. For example, the top fifth gets 94% of the chairs with the top 1% getting 48% of those chairs. The second fifth gets 6.8% of the chairs, the third gets 1.5%, the fourth gets 0.1%, and the bottom gets negative 2.3%. Of course, a lot of students will be standing. I actually ask the group with negative wealth to stand outside. To really make the point, I then ask all of the groups to work on discussion questions from the chapters on social stratification. I tell the group standing outside that they must answer all the questions and give them to the man (preferably white) sitting in the front row. After about fifteen minutes of this uncomfortable situation, I ask them to guess what the exercise represents. 
• Possible student reactions: Students might not like having to move around and it might take a lot of time. This is a bit frustrating for the students, but it provides a very tangible example of the social class structure in society. Furthermore, it should stimulate a great deal of class discussion.

Size of class: Better for smaller classes, but the math is easier for a class of 100.