Module POL2081 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POL2081: Thinking about Race: Perspectives from the Biological and Social Sciences
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
Of the many coalitional cleavages that political systems must manage, racial and ethnic divides often demand considerable energy. This course examines the motivations and attitudes that fuel racial and ethnic conflict by drawing from research in psychology, genetics, neuroscience, economics, politics, sociology, and law. By studying a complex phenomenon like racial attitudes from a variety of perspectives, you will learn how to analyze and synthesize divergent approaches while assessing the strengths and limitations of each approach. Furthermore, you will gain a more general understanding than one single methodology can provide.
The course moves from intimate narratives of childhood experience with racial identity to large data sets from survey experiments and evidence taken from studies of genetics and neuroscience. You will learn to evaluate claims that emanate from distinct research traditions and integrate their insights. You will apply legal methods of analysis to psychological theories of motivation. And, you will compare claims from cutting edge research in the biological sciences with arguments founded in psychological, economic, or sociological theories. Working with such range of methods will extend your cognitive dexterity and prepare you for managing the ambiguity inherent in the analysis of complex problems.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. critique and integrate evidence from a variety of methodological approaches; 2. evaluate competing claims and find the common conclusions they support; |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. comprehend statistical results from surveys, psychological experiments, and biological studies; 4. identify key assumptions of diverse research paradigms, assessing their appropriateness for particular questions; |
| Personal and Key Skills | 5. write efficiently and with reduced bias through a structured inductive process that begins with accumulating evidence and moves through a synthesizing framework; 6. use appropriate strategies for anxiety management when faced with intellectual challenges at the edge of your competence; and 7. demonstrate the ability to work independently, within a limited time frame, and without access to external sources, to complete a specified task. |
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Socratic method | 20 minutes | 1-6 | Verbal comments |
| In class practice exam | 45 minutes | 1-7 | Written feedback |
| Pop quizzes | 4 written quizzes (10 minutes each) | 1-7 | Written feedback |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | 50 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 50 | 2,000 words | 1-6 | Written feedback |
| Examination | 50 | 1.5 hours | 1-7 | Written Feedback |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | Essay (2,000 words) | 1-5 | August/September reassessment period |
| Examination | Examination (1.5 hour) | 1-7 | August/September reassessment period |
