Instructor Insights

Instructor Insights pages are part of the OCW Educator initiative, which seeks to enhance the value of OCW for educators.

Instructor Insights

Woman sitting in a chair in front of a desk. Bookshelves on wall above desk. Windows on one wall. Fall foliage outside of widow.

Ariel White, Assistant Professor of Political Science, at work in her office on the MIT campus.

Below, Assistant Professor Ariel White describes various aspects of how she teaches 17.269 Race, Ethnicity, and American Politics.

We always come back to the one question that is the subheading of all my classes: Why is social science so difficult?

— Ariel White

 

Curriculum Information

Prerequisites

None

Requirements Satisfied

Unrestricted elective credits

Offered

17.269 was offered for the first time in Spring 2017.

The Classroom

  • Three rows of long grey tables with wooden chairs facing chalkboards.

    Room 1 of 1

    Seminar

    Seminar sessions were held in a classroom with moveable tables and chairs, chalkboards, and an A/V system.

 

Assessment

The students' grades were based on the following activities:

The color used on the preceding chart which represents the percentage of the total grade contributed by two papers. 50% Papers (2)
The color used on the preceding chart which represents the percentage of the total grade contributed by final exam. 35% Final exam
The color used on the preceding chart which represents the percentage of the total grade contributed by class participation. 15% Class participation

Student Information

Less than 10 students took this course when it was offered in Spring 2017.

Breakdown by Year

Mostly sophomores, juniors, and seniors

Typical Student Background

The class was racially and ethnically diverse, and students brought their different experiences with race to our discussions. Most students also brought some intuition about social science research to their work in the course.

 

How Student Time Was Spent

During an average week, students were expected to spend 12 hours on the course, roughly divided as follows:

In Class

3 hours per week
  • Met 2 times per week for 1.5 hours per session; 26 sessions total.
  • Class sessions were discussion-based, and some included reading quizzes.
  • During the final module of the course, students watched a screening of the film “13th”, directed by Ava Duvernay (2016).
 

Out of Class

9 hours per week
  • Students completed readings and prepared two papers.
 

Semester Breakdown

WEEK M T W Th F
1 No classes throughout MIT. No session scheduled. Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
2 Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
3 No classes throughout MIT. Class session scheduled. Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
4 Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
5 Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
6 Class session scheduled and paper due. No session scheduled. Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
7 Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
8 No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT.
9 Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
10 Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
11 No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. Class session scheduled and paper due. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
12 Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
13 Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
14 Film screening scheduled. No session scheduled. Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
15 Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. No classes throughout MIT.
16 No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT.
Displays the color and pattern used on the preceding table to indicate dates when classes are not held at MIT. No classes throughout MIT
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when class sessions are held. Class session
Displays the symbol used on the preceding table to indicate dates when paper is due. Paper due
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when no class session is scheduled. No class session scheduled
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when film screening is scheduled. Film screening