INTERNSHIPS AND THE SOCIOLOGICAL-PERSPECTIVE - APPLYING PRINCIPLES OFEXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Most sociology departments provide students with the opportunity to pa rticipate in an internship. Yet faculty members often remain skeptical about the academic rigor of such experience-based learning. This pape r argues that internships help students achieve the educational goals of most sociology programs. internships provide students with an exten ded opportunity to apply the sociological perspective to a ''real worl d'' setting. They also enable students to improve their analytical ski lls and their ability to make use of ''the sociological imagination'' (Mills 1959). Like any instructional method, professors must carefully plan and structure internships to ensure that they are effective. Whe never possible, internships should require: (II careful site selection , (2) a detailed learning agreement or contract, (3) attendance in a c oncurrent seminar, and (4) a set of cumulative assignments or a portfo lio for evaluation.