Engaging with Race and Place using Social Explorer

• In Event: 20461 - Teaching and Learning Symposium Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 11: Exploring Assignments

Abstract

The “Social Explorer Project” is assigned in an undergraduate class titled, “Race, Cities and Poverty” - a 2000-level Sociology class with a social justice designation. It is due in Week 12 of the semester so it allows students to analyze how a number of themes and topics that we have been exploring in class intersect in the real-world. This assignment builds on a “Race and Place” reflection paper (submitted in week 3) where students are asked to write about their first recollections around race, ethnicity and class in their hometowns and interactions between (or lack of interaction between) members of different racial-ethnic and class backgrounds in their schools and neighborhoods. Students use the Social Explorer database, which is freely accessible through the university library, to construct a series of maps of their hometown using Census data. Students create maps to visualize the following variables within their zip code: race, Hispanic origin, median household income, median value of houses, median gross rent, median owners’ costs or rent as percent of income, the percent of owner or renter occupied housing, and the percent of residents living in poverty. Additionally, students respond to questions about concentrated poverty, affordable housing and income and wealth disparities in their hometowns. All students construct maps illustrating the variables above in Bridgeport, CT (the nearest city to our campus) in order to have a common comparison point. This project addresses two course learning objectives – students should demonstrate understanding of the historical and contemporary context of power, inequity and oppression and analyze their own social identities, cultural values, and privilege. This assignment will be useful for instructors who seek to integrate coursework with students’ real-life experiences and those who wish to augment students’ data literacy and give them practical experience engaging with Census data and the American Community Survey.

Author

• Rachelle Jeneane Brunn-Bevel, Fairfield University