I've used the candy bar exercise a number of times in my classes and the results have always been positive. I have 100 Hersey's Kisses and I begin by asking students how they think I should distribute them to the class. I generally talk about this material right after they've gotten one of the their tests back, so I might suggest that I give them the candy based on their test results. I then divide them into five smaller groups and ask them to brainstorm how I can hand out the candy.
They come up with various ways -- from a straight equal distribution to some distribution that might reflect their age, their overall GPA, or even their size. Then I tell them I have a way of doing it, and I distribute it based on the national income distribution. When they see that one group gets almost half the pile and others get considerably less, they claim its not fair and I bring the discussion around to inequality. Its fun and everyone gets to enjoy the Kisses when we're through! Gwen Nyden Oakton Community College Des Plaines, IL > Sunny, > > The New York Times article is a great idea but you can also use an > exercise of musical chairs as a learning exercise particularly geared for > high school students where they act out the distribution of wealth in the > U.S. using 10 chairs. You can download the lesson plan at this website: > > http://www.teachingeconomics.org/content/index.php?topic=tenchairs > > I have also used an exercise suggested by someone on this listserve using > mini candy bars for income and wealth distribution. It's been very > successful. You can probably find it in the archives. > > Karen > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Sunny Allen > To: [email protected] > Sent: Sunday, May 07, 2006 11:28 PM > Subject: TEACHSOC: frustration > > > > So I've realized I start to panic on Sunday nights because I dread > teaching my soc classes (high school level). I thought it was because > of the students in the classes, which it partly is. However, I think > the biggest reason is that I just don't like teaching soc. I have no > books (text or otherwise) for them, our school dosn't have any > computers, and I can't lecture for 90 minutes without losing them. I > can't get these kids too engaged in discussions, and we're all getting > tired of group projects. > > I do like sociology, I just struggle teaching it. I seem to have so > many activities, ideas, and "fun" things to do with my psychology > classes, but have almost nothing with soc. > > Does anyone have any short demonstrations, activities, or "things" they > do in class. I'm teaching inequalities right now (class, gender and > race) and I know there is so much more I could be doing. > > It's probably just end-of-year burnout, but thanks for letting me vent. > > Sunny Allen > Tooele High School > Tooele, UT > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. PC-to-Phone calls for ridiculously low > rates. > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Teaching Sociology" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/teachsoc -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
