Chapter 16 Projects

Project Assignment

Purpose

Education and its emphasis in daily life can vary from society to society. The purpose of this project is to familiarize yourself with the different sociological perspectives and how they pertain to education.

Directions

Part 1

Choose one of the following sociological perspectives as a lens through which you will study the topic of education.

  • Functionalism

  • Conflict theory

  • Feminist theory

  • Symbolic interactionism

Research your chosen perspective and locate sources that discuss education in view of your perspective. These sources could be newspaper articles, papers published by sociologists in academic journals, or news clips. Choose one of these sources, and analyze what the source is saying using your sociological imagination and applying your chosen sociological perspective.

Some examples of issues related to education that you could research include the following:

  • Busing

  • Equal education

  • No Child Left Behind

  • Private vs. public schooling

  • Quality of education

  • Remote learning

  • School choice

  • Standardized tests

  • Students with disabilities

Part 2

Using the information you gathered from your source, create a brief presentation. Make sure your presentation discusses your source through the lens of the sociological perspective you chose and identifies any weaknesses you found with your chosen sociological perspective while you were analyzing your source.

Materials

Sources on education, presentation software

Checklist

Part 1

Part 2

  • Includes an evaluation of education through the lens of the chosen sociological perspective

  • Identifies any weaknesses with chosen sociological perspective found while analyzing source

Writing Assignment

Purpose

The different sociological perspectives view and evaluate the issues in society through specific lenses. For instance, conflict theory might evaluate social class and cultural capital as it relates to education. The purpose of this writing assignment is to use sociological perspectives to evaluate aspects of education and how they affect the larger culture.

Directions

In an essay of three to four pages (using APA style), summarize these sociological perspectives' views on education.

  • Functionalism

  • Conflict theory

  • Feminist theory

  • Symbolic interactionism

Make sure to identify how each perspective explains or examines education using key terms from the chapter, such as cultural capital and hidden curriculum. You should include and analyze at least two key terms per sociological perspective. Be sure to proofread your essay for errors in grammar and spelling.

Materials

Word processing software

Checklist