The First Day of Class: Problems and Strategies

The Lasting Impact of a First Impression: An Exercise for the First Day of Class

“…. without a sense of interest or real-world relevance, then it is likely that they won’t be able to use it effectively when the situation requires.” They summarize the importance of emotions by stating a simple metaphor, “Emotions are, in essence, the rudder that steers thinking.” These ideas, while espoused by psychologists and neuroscientists, are similar to the call of sociologists discussed in the following (Brouillette and Turner 1992; Dorn 1987; Higgins 1999; Howard 2015; Howard and Zoeller 2007; Winston 2007) to teach sociology in a way that has “practical applications” for students. The point, both from the neuroscientific and sociological perspectives, is to make sociology “real” to students, to encourage a personal investment in a way that reading by “rote” cannot.…”

“…Research focused more specifically on sociology courses, although not couched in the neuroscientific language of emotions and affective behavior, argues the same thing. In line with Lang (2019) and Cavanagh (2016), Dorn (1987:63), discussing the first day of sociology courses, asserts “anything which an instructor does or does not do during the first day of a class may shape not only students’ first impressions, but also their future interaction with the instructor and even their perception of the ideas which the instructor presents.” Winston (2007:161) asserts the same: “The first day of an introductory sociology course provides a crucial first impression to both students and instructor.” Brouillette and Turner (1992:278), also discussing an exercise on the first day of class, note that, “On written examinations, students exposed to this demonstration have shown a greater ability to apply the concept of the social construction of reality to a variety of situations than students who were not exposed to the exercise.” In addition, first days have the ability to excite students about the discipline they are being introduced to. Higgins (1999:258) made the most convincing case for unconventional first days more than 20 years ago.…”

Setting the Tone: A Discursive Case Study of Problem-Based Inquiry Learning to Start a Graduate Statistics Course for In-Service Teachers

“…For an introductory psychology course, Wilson, Stadler, Schwartz & Goff (2009) used the simple vehicle of whether or not the instructor shook hands with the student when greeting the students as they came into the classroom for the first class. For an introductory sociology course, Dorn (1987) suggests the example of noting the arrangement of seating the students have chosen for the first class, to see if males are indeed more likely to sit in the back of the room and females in the front. The numbers of males and females sitting in the front half and in the back half of the room could be readily tabulated into a 2×2 table to begin a conversation (that will be formally concluded later in the course with a chi-squared calculation or difference of proportions hypothesis test).…”

“…Introductory science class students in focus group interviews conducted by Cowan and Piepgrass (1997) brought up the topic of first-day issues as critical and indicated a need to have their imaginations sparked -before they can be motivated to succeed in an unfamiliar field‖ (p. 105). Towards this end of piquing curiosity, Dorn (1987) suggests preparing a handout of various -common-sense‖ views about the subject and having students mark each statement as true or false. This can be a teaser of coming attractions as the students are told they will learn which statements are true as the course unfolds.…”

“…Dorn (1987) cites several studies showing high correlation between student evaluations given after the first or second day of class and evaluations of the class and the instructor at the end of the term. More recently, Wilson and Wilson (2007) conducted an experiment in which students were randomly assigned to a positive or a negative first day experience and found that students who had the positive first-day experience reported higher motivation for the majority of the course, and ended the term with significantly higher grades (p < 0.05).…”