Peeps shake up sociology, inspire student creativity
Pat Haynes
Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: News
While many students are cramming for some of their classes at this point of the year, one instructor in the sociology department is trying new methods to make her classes enjoyable and educational.
Chris Adamski-Mietus, who instructs two First Year Experience sociology classes, is presenting students with an opportunity for extra credit, which is crucial in these last few weeks of the semester.
The assignment involves the use of arts and crafts to interpret the sociological terms they have used throughout the semester. The assignment, usually carried out in the spring semester, involves students making shoe box models showing the different circumstances of the sociological events, using Peeps candies as people and whatever the student chooses to use to represent the environment.
In the fall semester, students are given the opportunity to make holiday greeting cards using sociological terms.
"I'm doing this for the first time and I'm really liking it," Adamski-Mietus said. "It might be seen as frivolous, but this is a learning concept. The idea is for the students to see the application for the concepts and their importance."
Adamski-Mietus was inspired by a Washington Post article featuring a model plane decorated with Peeps by the community.
"We are using Peeps to make sociological dioramas," Adamski-Mietus said. "The Washington Post had people do a current event with Peeps, and I took a variation of this using sociological concepts."
The assignment was not graded on artistic ability, but on the correct use of the terms and the effort the students used.
"They couldn't get away with taping a Peep to the box," Adamski-Mietus joked. A majority of both classes participated in this voluntary extra credit assignment and most were pleased with their creations, as well as those of their peers.
"A lot of the students said, 'I wish I would have done something like that.' I think the kids were really impressed to see the work of their classmates and liked it," she said.
Chris Adamski-Mietus, who instructs two First Year Experience sociology classes, is presenting students with an opportunity for extra credit, which is crucial in these last few weeks of the semester.
The assignment involves the use of arts and crafts to interpret the sociological terms they have used throughout the semester. The assignment, usually carried out in the spring semester, involves students making shoe box models showing the different circumstances of the sociological events, using Peeps candies as people and whatever the student chooses to use to represent the environment.
In the fall semester, students are given the opportunity to make holiday greeting cards using sociological terms.
"I'm doing this for the first time and I'm really liking it," Adamski-Mietus said. "It might be seen as frivolous, but this is a learning concept. The idea is for the students to see the application for the concepts and their importance."
Adamski-Mietus was inspired by a Washington Post article featuring a model plane decorated with Peeps by the community.
"We are using Peeps to make sociological dioramas," Adamski-Mietus said. "The Washington Post had people do a current event with Peeps, and I took a variation of this using sociological concepts."
The assignment was not graded on artistic ability, but on the correct use of the terms and the effort the students used.
"They couldn't get away with taping a Peep to the box," Adamski-Mietus joked. A majority of both classes participated in this voluntary extra credit assignment and most were pleased with their creations, as well as those of their peers.
"A lot of the students said, 'I wish I would have done something like that.' I think the kids were really impressed to see the work of their classmates and liked it," she said.
Be the first to comment on this story