The Texas A&M Racial and Ethnic Studies Institute Virtual Lab in Ethnic Relations and Stratification: Instruction of Sociology Undergraduate Students Via Web-Based Java Applet

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This "proof-of-concept project is to demonstrate the feasibility and value of using interactive, -web-based computer programs and associated web-based support materials to teach sociological principles of ethnic relations and social stratification to undergraduate students. This is being accomplished by developing: (1) a Java applet (the Ethnic Inequality program) that students will be able to access via the World Wide Web and use to explore questions about the persistence of ethnic inequality across generations, and (2) a set of web-based support materials for the program (e.g., downloadable student exercises). The Ethnic Inequality program is intended to provide a fully functioning example of the interactive, web-based programs that would be developed in a broader "full scale" development project.A second part of this project is creating a web site entitled the "Virtual Lab in Ethnic Relations and Stratification". This web site will serve as the institutional "platform" giving students access to the Ethnic Inequality program and associated, web-based, support materials. It will be installed in the Race and Ethnic Studies Institute and supported as a means of disseminating educational programs and materials focusing on ethnic relations and stratification.The Ethnic Inequality program and other results from this project will be used as a basis for applying for a "full scale" development project in a year's time. This broader project will develop programs geared to: (a) teaching and illustrating theoretical principles relating to ethnic relations and stratification and (b) using graphical and other intuitive methods to present data on ethnic relations and stratification (e.g., ethnic composition, racial attitudes, segregation, neighborhood change, inequality, status inheritance, etc.).