I’m working on a social science project and need a sample draft to help me study.

SCS 100 Project 3 Final Reflection Guidelines and Rubric

Overview

Your third longer-term assignment in this course is a presentation or short paper in which you will share your question derived at the end of your observation journal in Module Four, and discuss why it is important and how developments in the social sciences contribute to our understanding of ourselves, each other, and the world around us.

This final reflection will assess the following course outcomes, which you focused on throughout Modules Seven and Eight:

? Investigate major developments in the progression of social scientific thought for informing critical questions that drive social scientific inquiry ? Articulate the value of the social sciences for their impact on contemporary issues

Prompt

Your third project is a presentation or short paper (you are free to choose) that explores the question you posed at the end of your observation journal. With that question as your topic, you will explain why the answer to it is important to understanding yourself, other people, and the world around you, and how the social sciences have developed to help us answer these important questions. Be sure your actual question is apparent on the presentation or paper.

Specifically,

the following critical elements must be addressed in your submission:

1. Explain why your question is important to you as a member of society.
2. Detail the major developments in social science thinking that drive questions regarding studying the individual. Use course resources to back upyour discussion.
3. Explain how finding the answer to your question might impact others around you. For instance, who might be most invested in the answer?
4. Detail the major developments in social science thinking that drive questions regarding studying others. Use course resources to back up yourdiscussion.
5. Explain why studying human behavior and identity is a valuable human endeavor.
6. Detail the major developments in social science thinking that support the study and advancement of the social sciences as necessary and valuable.Use course resources to back up your discussion.

Supporting Work and Resources

Throughout Modules Seven and Eight, there are supports you will use as you work directly on different elements of the final reflection.

1. In Module Four, you submitted your observation journal. Review your submission and the feedback for this assignment via the Project Two submission link in the Grades section of the course. Use the question you created from your observation journal for your final reflection. You are free to incorporate any feedback from your instructor on this question into your final reflection.
2. In Module Six, you submitted a micro-presentation or short answer response to give you an opportunity to practice elements of the final submission. For this assignment, you reflected on what you considered to be some of the most significant developments covered in Modules Five and Six and addressed the following:
   1. Identify the developments and how they impact individuals or larger groups/cultures.
   2. Describe how the developments changed society’s understanding. How is the development applicable outside of the social sciences?

   View this submission and the feedback for this assignment via the Grades section of the course and incorporate this assignment into your final reflection.

3. If you choose to submit a presentation instead of a paper, you may use PowerPoint, Prezi, or another presentation platform of your choosing. Reference the Supporting Resources document for instructions on how to use different presentation programs. Be sure to include notes as needed in your presentation in order to meet the outlined critical elements.
4. In Module Seven, it was suggested for you to work on Section III of your project. If completed, use this as well as the instructor feedback when working toward your final submission.
5. Module Eight includes a Final Reflection Submission Checklist that you can use to ensure you have met all the requirements of this project. Your instructor is available to provide guidance and answer any questions you may have as you work to finalize your final reflection.

Rubric
Guidelines for Submission: Your actual question must be apparent on the presentation or in the short paper. If you choose to write a short paper, it should be

double spaced and 1 to 2 pages in length. Note for students choosing the presentation option: If using Prezi, be sure to include a Word document with notes. If using PowerPoint, be sure to include speaker notes.

overview:

The Value of Social Science Inquiry and Developments

In the previous module, we looked at recent social scientific findings all having to do with the environment. Using a variety of examples, you hypothesized about the impact of these findings on individuals and on groups. We will now take this analysis a step further and think about the impact on larger societies and even on future generations.

In this module, you will watch a video in which professor Neil Ward (2015) discusses why social science is important. He gives an example of the research he engaged in while he was the department chair of the social sciences. He conducted research to better understand the delivery of subsidies given to farmers and proposed a method of subsidy delivery that rewarded farmers for participation in various pro-environmental practices and other practices that would increase public goods. He stated that although the change was beneficial to the farmer (the individual), it was also beneficial to the larger society. Yes, the farmers get more money in their pockets, but they are also producing more public goods. You can see how the findings that Ward discusses can be applied to the individual (the farmer who receives the government subsidy), the group (the local government group that now has to put the theory into action), the larger society (farmers are now increasing public goods), and the global community (farmers are engaging in more environmentally friendly practices). This is just one of the many examples of the different levels involved in social scientific discovery.

Now, take a moment to think about the findings discussed in the previous module. You have already described the impact of the findings on the individual and group, and now it is time to think about the larger impact of these findings. How might the Inuit needing to leave their land and change traditions impact future Inuit generations? How could learning about disaster relief disparities in the United States impact disaster relief efforts in other parts of the world? Why would understanding an individual’s motivation for making environmentally friendly choices be important for the future of the environment? As before, some of these connections may seem obvious, while some are more challenging. In order to think like a social scientist, you must understand how new discoveries can impact our lives and the lives of everyone around us. Social scientists use the results of their inquiry to help bring about change and add to the advancement of society. If nothing was done with the results from social scientific inquiry, there would be little point in continuing to ask questions! Take a moment to think about some of the findings you have learned so far in the course and how these findings might be used for the betterment of society.

Reflecting on Learning

Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (2010) said that social sciences are a kind of martial art, a means of self-defense. At this point in the course, you have had some time to reflect on the ways in which social sciences can assist you in critical analysis of social institutions.

Social sciences can help you make financial decisions. Through your assignments centering on advertisements, you identified the ways in which advertisers attempt to appeal to your cognitive biases, your cultural belief systems, and gender/race/class norms to encourage you to buy the product. You have had opportunities to explore what being a member of a consumerist culture means for your budget and your psychological well-being. Now when you view advertisements, you can ask yourself how the advertisement might be manipulating you, and you may think twice before buying the product.

Social sciences can also help you recover your sense of physical self-worth. You studied the ways in which cultures across the globe influence people’s ideals of beauty and literally shape the bodies of the people of that culture. By scrutinizing beauty norms throughout the world, we can also investigate our own culture’s unattainable body ideals, a process that can empower us against the negative thoughts that many of us have when we look in the mirror.

Social sciences can help you ask meaningful questions about your place in your culture and society. In this course, you have examined the ways in which research questions are developed. You may have noticed that it is not easy or automatic to ask good questions of our society and culture. In doing this work, you can identify better ways to solve problems in your workplace, your schools, your relationships and families, and even your government systems.

References

Bourdieu, P. (2010). Sociology is a martial art: Political writings by Pierre Bourdieu. Paris, France: The New Press.

Ward, N. (2015). The importance of social science [Video file]. Retrieved from http://campaignforsocialscience.org.uk/the-importa…