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28 - Undergraduate Research in Sociology

Cultivating the Sociological Imagination

from Part III.3 - Social Sciences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2022

By
Jeanne Mekolichick
Edited by
Harald A. Mieg ,
Elizabeth Ambos ,
Angela Brew ,
Dominique Galli  and
Judith Lehmann
Harald A. Mieg
Affiliation:
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Elizabeth Ambos
Affiliation:
Council on Undergraduate Research, Washington DC
Angela Brew
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Sydney
Dominique Galli
Affiliation:
Indiana University–Purdue University, Indianapolis
Judith Lehmann
Affiliation:
Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Summary

The development of the sociological imagination is central to undergraduate training in sociology. Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) are one powerful pedagogical approach to helping students critically observe and analyze the complexity of social life. This chapter (1) explores the roots of UREs insociology; (2) examines the literature on infusing and scaffolding course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), attending to successful models implementing CUREs in several types of sociology courses, across the curriculum, and as an integrated departmental approach; (3) details benefits and challenges of implementing CUREs from various stakeholder perspectives, and (4) shares thoughts on the path forward to further infuse undergraduate research in the sociology curriculum.

Keywords

course-based undergraduate researchsociological imaginationcommunity-based researchresearch methodsproject-based learningcareer-readinesspublic sociologyapplied sociologyparticipatory researchaction research
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Undergraduate Research , pp. 277 - 284
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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