A few years ago, I attended a teaching workshop on “Class Bookends” which emphasized the structuring of the beginning and ending of each class. Through one of our group conversations, I learned how another TLI Faculty Fellow (Ekin Pehlivan), plays music during the portion leading up to class so when the music stops, it signals the beginning of class (instead of the awkward efforts to get everyone to settle down and ready to begin class). Since then, I have been trying to integrate music and on Thursday classes, we try to incorporate “Throwback Thursdays” (#tbt) into song selections.
Earlier this semester, one of our #tbt songs was a favorite from my undergraduate years, “Live Your Life” by T.I. featuring Rihanna. In addition to the nostalgia, there were some general life lessons in the lyrics. In particular, T.I. shares advice suggesting, “What you need to do is be thankful for the life you got. Stop looking at what you ain’t got and start being thankful for what you got.” I often remind students about being thankful for their educational journey despite the many challenges and obstacles they might be facing in the moment especially since many of their friends and relatives may not have been afforded the same opportunities.
Still, the lyrics lent themselves to another piece of advice for Sociology students navigating a statistics course where many are filled with math anxiety. They often forget the objective in the class is to apply statistical techniques to studying sociological issues. Borrowing from T.I.’s lyrics, I began advising students to “stop focusing on what you don’t know and focus on what you do know.”
The intent of this advice is get students to address new material (e.g. formulas, p-values, etc.) while utilizing their sociological imagination. Once they accept that the math and statistics portions of the class are not simply abstract but are directly synthesized with the substantive content, they are more confident that they do in fact bring something to the statistics class discussions. For instance, I shared a complicated, empirical table and ask them to interpret it. At this early point of the semester, they struggled with comparing values and identifying other results for the variable variables and columns present in the table. However, this was an intentional way to have students interpret the table by focusing on what they did know. Instead of focusing on the values and numbers inside of the table that they could not understand, I asked them what they did know about the variables and topics present in the rows and columns. At this point, they were unable to interpret p-values, but they could discuss the significance of educational attainment for later life outcomes or contribute their own experiences growing up in an immigrant household (based on the variables in the table).
It is much easier to break down a complicated empirical table filled with coefficients, parameter estimates, and confidence intervals if they can first understand the significance of the variables (e.g. topics) being analyzed in the table. These often include subjects and materials they are covering in other classes like Sociology of Education, Race and Ethnicity, Sociology of the Family, and Social Stratification. In fact, this is also part of a larger attempt to promote inclusive curriculum and teaching practices.
Yes, students also need to learn the statistical material and processes. Still, I have learned that by first allowing them to express their Sociological knowledge (or their own lived experiences), that are present in an empirical table, it helps to make the discussions and lessons about math formulas and statistical procedures become more fruitful and productive. As our various majors incorporate many methodologies and skills (e.g. theory, statistics, methods, and other areas), we might consider being more intentional in introducing “new” material that students might not have previous experience with by structuring opportunities to allow them to contribute and identify what they do know.
