by Marshall Bennett

Spring 2016 is my very first semester teaching Introduction to Sociology and there is much to learn.

Fortunately, I have had excellent teachers showing me the ropes. Most of my teachers have been colleagues from the ACC Sociology Department, i.e. the best Sociology department in America!! But other things I am learning about teaching Introduction to Sociology continue to develop as I listen to my students and dive headlong into the literature.

And so it was, in turning my attention to the literature, and with my pedagogical eyes fixed on creating a dialogue in my class that centered around the study of basic research methods, that I found an obscure article entitle “Better Engaging Social Sciences Graduate Students in Introductory Research Methods Courses: A Class Activity” by Professor Lisa Zerden and her colleagues (Zerden, et. al., 2014)*.

Now I realize that my students are not graduate students— but everyone loves cake! Indeed, this almost universal love for cake can motivate students to learn the basics of Research Methods.

Zerden follows a logical process in her description of this class activity: first, the students are invited to voluntarily participate in a research study and given an informed consent document to sign. Second, the students are given one piece of delicious cake to sample and give survey feedback on.

Once the class has eaten their cake and taken the survey any number of research methods concepts can be taught.

My class loved this activity and I was able to reinforce many of the concepts that we had gone over in our more traditional discussion of Research Methods from the prior class meeting.

*see article here: http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1039&context=socialwork_facpubs