Module FOUD01Z8: Concepts, Methods and Theories in Social Science

Department: Foundation Year (Durham)

FOUD01Z8: Concepts, Methods and Theories in Social Science

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• CMT Arts & Humanities CMT Business CMT Science

Aims

• The CMT modules are designed to introduce students to concepts, methods and theories within the student’s chosen discipline. The CMT modules provide a lens through which students engage with knowledge and knowledge creation in their chosen discipline; the Scholarship in Higher Education module provides the tool-kit for their engagement and communication of knowledge; and the Advanced Scholarship in Higher Education module provides an iterative experience of bringing toolkit and lens together to provide students with the opportunity to actively engage in the process of knowledge generation and communication by completing a research project within the student’s chosen discipline.
• To introduce a range of concepts, methods and theories relevant to a range of social science degree progression routes
• To introduce primary and secondary source materials alongside relevant critical work, which locates these sources in their discipline contexts, as well as within the wider body of academic scholarship To develop critical thinking by describing, analysing and evaluating relevant primary and secondary source materials
• To develop academic communication of concepts, methods and theories
• To encourage interdisciplinary and collaborative studentship
• To prepare students for the teaching and learning environment at Durham University
• Skills and other attributes
• This module also supports the overall programme aims to enable students to have:
• acquired the ability to work confidently with a range of academic materials and sources (as appropriate to progression subject area);
• acquired the ability to work confidently with numerical data and basic statistics (as appropriate to progression subject area);
• gained various skills for undergraduate study, including the ability to extract and summarise meaning from text, to read rapidly and accurately, to write and present clear and precise arguments using appropriate evidence;
• acquired a level of self-efficacy in relation to workload management, basic academic autonomy and a learner identity as an effective university student;
• gained skills in using libraries, online databases and other reference resources;
• acquired the ability to engage confidently and with clarity in academic oral argument and respond appropriately to contributions made by fellow students.

Content

• An introduction to the Social Sciences and how they intersect
• Concepts, methods and theories from the Social Sciences

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module students will have demonstrated:
• 1. Knowledge of a range of relevant subject concepts
• 2. Knowledge of a range of relevant research methods
• 3. Knowledge of a range of relevant vocabulary

• By the end of the module students will be able to:
• 1. Demonstrate the appropriate use of a range of relevant subject concepts in response to specific assessment tasks
• 2. Demonstrate the appropriate use of relevant research methods in response to specific assessment tasks
• 3. Demonstrate the appropriate use of a range of relevant vocabulary in response to specific assessment tasks

• By the end of the module students will be able to:
• 1. Demonstrate critical thinking
• 2. Demonstrate effective communication using appropriate academic styles
• 3. Demonstrate appropriate use of number
• 4. Demonstrate the use of appropriate sources of evidence

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• This module will be delivered using a combination of lectures and seminars/tutorials on a weekly basis. Students will be taught concepts and then challenged to apply them in a variety of contextual tasks that are designed to lead to achieving the module outcomes.
• In this module,the assignment and essays allow students to demonstrate the range and sophistication of their engagement with the module’s reference/factual knowledge, conceptual, and procedural knowledge and to extract data from a range of sources and use this data to respond to tasks effectively. It also allows students to communicate this effectively through the medium of appropriately academic written genres commonly used in the Social Sciences.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

A range of formative tasks are used to help students work towards module outcomes and to iteratively build competency towards each respective summative assessment.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University