Nibbling at the Core

knowledge that can be identified as the core of sociology, which can be introduced to the student at the introductory level. It embodies theories, methods, and findings from research based on these theories and using these methods. But how we teach introductory sociology is as important as what we teach. Thus, sociology should be taught in small sections; students should be required to do a great amount of writing, and the classroom should provide ample opportunity for the students to interact with the instructor in informal but structured settings. Students learn by doing, and our task as educators is to recapture the introductory course to make of it a critical intellectual experience.