The Classroom as a Gang: An Active Learning approach to Teaching Undergraduates about Deviant/Criminal Groups

• In Event: Roundtable: Teaching Criminology

Abstract

Research has shown that cooperative (active) learning approaches are more effective in helping students learn new material in comparison to lecture. This method, which was introduced in Barbara J. Millis’s book Cooperative Learning in Higher Education, encourages student engagement and allows students who are typically more quiet and reserved in class to share their ideas with confidence. The purpose of this ongoing research on teaching and learning is to assess a teaching tool where peers in the classroom come together and form a “gang” in criminology or juvenile delinquency classrooms or a “cult” in deviant behavior classes. Preliminary results reveal that the activity is preferred over traditional PowerPoint lecture, encourages participation, and enhances learning about the social construction of deviant/criminal groups.

Author

• Jennifer Steele, Ohio University Lancaster