Seeing Race: Teaching Racial Segregation with the Racial Dot Map

• In Event: 269 - Section on Teaching and Learning in Sociology Paper Session. Challenges of Teaching the 21st Century Student Body

Abstract

Racial segregation within American society, a core topic in Introduction to Sociology, remains an unresolved social problem. However, students often come to class with both erroneous notions of a “post-racial” world and an individualistic bias that discounts the role social structure plays in perpetuating social inequality. These two preconceived beliefs can be barriers to teaching racial segregation effectively. While students may be skeptical that racial segregation continues to exist, and abstract statistical representations may not fully demonstrate its ubiquity, in this paper we present an exercise that uses the Cooper Racial Dot Map to help students see evidence of racial segregation for themselves. We present both qualitative and quantitative findings, from Introduction to Sociology courses at two categorically distinct schools with different course instructors, showing that this exercise is effective at helping college students visualize and understand the extent of racial segregation in residential America.

Authors

• Charles F. Seguin, Univerisity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Annette M. Nierobisz, Carleton College

• Karen Phelan Kozlowski, University of Southern Mississippi