Cranford Review 2021

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SOCIAL SCIENCE
Fostering Strong
Attitudes to
Learning
Sociology is the study of human social relationships and institutions. Sociology’s subject matter
is diverse, ranging from crime to religion, from the family to the state, from the divisions of race
and social class to the shared beliefs of a common culture. Sociology offers a distinctive and
enlightening way of seeing and understanding the social world in which we live and which shapes our lives.
Sociology looks beyond normal, taken-for-granted views of reality, to provide deeper, more illuminating
and challenging understandings of social life.
Lockdown uncovered numerous challenges and barriers with online learning, but it also proved how
effective it can be. With the Sociology department, it was extremely important to us that we fostered strong
attitudes towards online learning and providing students with the resilience to overcome any potential
challenges posed by online learning such as, for instance, remaining focused during online classes or
maintaining sufficient motivation. We achieved this by incorporating various medias in our lessons such
as quizzes through online learning platforms (Kahoot, Quizlet). We also used video chat on TEAMS rather
than basic instant message when interacting with students as well as times using non-verbal communication
such as emojis.
Sarah Campbell (Head of Sociology Department)
66
In
- Social Sciences -
Student Well Being at the Forefront of Learning
Social Sciences we put a huge emphasis on
student wellbeing. We sent all of our students
wellbeing questionnaires to complete in order to give
us a better idea of how our students were coping with
their remote learning. It gave us an opportunity to
identify areas for improvement in our online approach
so that we could provide our students with outstanding
teaching and learning opportunities remotely and also
to be prepared to continue with this practice once we
were all back in the classroom.
Following on from the responses we got from the
questionnaires, huge emphasis was placed on student
mental wellbeing as well as academic wellbeing.
Contact was made regularly with parents to inform
them on progress students were making and ways
in which they could support their online learning
for Social Sciences subjects. As a department, we
supported and taught each other how to use interactive
platforms such as Nearpod, Quizlet, and Kahoot
so that we could embed these confidently into our
lessons in order to make the lessons more engaging
and challenging for our students. More focus was
placed on completing exam questions under timed
conditions and then sharing answers with each other
so that students could gain an in depth understanding
of ‘how to think like an examiner’. Students fed back
that this was a huge help, allowing them to understand
the requirements of Assessment Objectives more
clearly and how these are applied to their answers.
To assess impact, we challenged students with timed
exam questions. We got them to peer assess answers
as well as critically evaluate and reflect upon the way
in which they worded their own answers in order to
gain maximum marks. We found that students started
to gain higher marks and a deeper understanding of
how to answer questions.
Lockdown itself helped our students to gain a more
in depth understanding of how our subjects work