Instructor Insights
Ariel White, Assistant Professor of Political Science, at work in her office on the MIT campus.
Below, Prof. Ariel White describes various aspects of how she teaches 17.269 Race, Ethnicity, and American Politics.
- Inspiration for the Course
- Facilitating Talk about Race and Ethnicity
- Fostering Intuition about Social Science
"We always come back to the one question that is the subheading of all my classes: Why is social science so difficult?"
Curriculum Information
Prerequisites
None
Requirements Satisfied
Unrestricted elective credits
Offered
17.269 was offered for the first time in Spring 2017.
Assessment
The students’ grades were based on the following activities:
- 50% Papers (2)
- 35% Final exam
- 15% Class participation
Student Information
Enrollment
Fewer than 10 students
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
- 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
- Students completed readings and prepared two papers.
