Resources

Checking for Understanding through Reflection: 3-2-1

September 25, 2018 2249

One of the most emphatic teaching lessons I ever learned was during the first time I had my students play Classopoly, a game that teaches stratification based on Monopoly (Coughlan and Huggins 2004). They had so much fun and I thought they were really learning a lot about stratification and social class.  I was wrong.  Another time I assigned Nacirema and assumed that they would all “get it.”  I was wrong.  You can see where this is going. My failure in both instances was that I did not follow up by asking students to think about what they did or what they read.

Of course you can always come up with questions related to every film, reading, or game that you assign to make sure they have learned what you intended to teach them.  A time saving alternative is a simple tool called 3-2-1 that instructors often use as a part of a “formative assessment” to see what students understand rather than assessment used for a grade.

While there are a variety of ways to use 3-2-1, one is to ask students after the exercise to state 3 things they learned, two questions they still have, and one thing that they really liked about the activity. When I posed these questions to my students about playing classopoly, they said things like, “I learned that the system was rigged, there was no way for poor people to get ahead.” They asked questions like, “How is this really like real life?”  Their questions formed the basis of a great class discussion and allowed me to refer back to the text.

There are many ways you could use a 3-2-1 with Sociology in Action.  For example, you could do so after students compare Figure 7.1 and Figure 7.2, read one of the “Sociologists in Action,” or watch one the films provided by SAGE in the Instructor Resources. The following links provide several other suggestions for using a 3-2-1:

http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/3-2-1

https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/3-2-1

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson951/strategy.pdf

https://www.unthsc.edu/center-for-innovative-learning/3-2-1-reflection-technique/

REFERENCE

Coughlan, Catherine L. and Denis W. Huggins. 2004. “That’s Not Fair!’: A Simulation Exercise in Social Stratification and Structural Inequality.”  Teaching Sociology 32(2):177-87.

***
Maxine P. Atkinson is professor of sociology at North Carolina State University and co-editor of Sociology in Action.


Maxine P. Atkinson is Professor of Sociology at North Carolina State University and co-Editor of Sociology in Action.

View all posts by Maxine P. Atkinson

Related Articles

Free Online Course Reveals The Art of ChatGPT Interactions
Resources
March 28, 2024

Free Online Course Reveals The Art of ChatGPT Interactions

Read Now
Apply for Sage’s 2024 Concept Grants
Announcements
March 7, 2024

Apply for Sage’s 2024 Concept Grants

Read Now
New Podcast Series Applies Social Science to Social Justice Issues
Impact
February 28, 2024

New Podcast Series Applies Social Science to Social Justice Issues

Read Now
New Dataset Collects Instances of ‘Contentious Politics’ Around the World
Resources
December 13, 2023

New Dataset Collects Instances of ‘Contentious Politics’ Around the World

Read Now
Fake News, Misinformation Focus of New Microsite

Fake News, Misinformation Focus of New Microsite

A new Information Literacy Microsite from sage can be your new home for pressing research on the digital age and the ways to combat mis-, dis-, and misinformation.

Read Now
Is Wikipedia A Good Academic Resource?

Is Wikipedia A Good Academic Resource?

As research and instruction librarians, we know people have concerns about using Wikipedia in academic work. And yet, in interacting with undergraduate and graduate students doing various kinds of research, we also see how Wikipedia can be an important source for background information, topic development and locating further information.

Read Now
Database Tracks Attempts To Ban Critical Race Theory

Database Tracks Attempts To Ban Critical Race Theory

Few topics in education have dominated the news over the past few years as much as efforts to ban critical race theory from the nation’s schools. The topic is so pervasive that researchers at the UCLA School of Law Critical Race Studies Program have created a new database to track attempts by local and state government to outlaw the teaching of the theory, which holds, among other things, that racism is not just expressed on an individual level, but rather is deeply embedded in the nation’s laws and policies. The Conversation asked Taifha Natalee Alexander, director and supervisor of the database, about the overarching purpose of the database and what it has shown thus far.

Read Now
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments