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

这个“概念验证”项目是为了证明使用交互式的、基于网络的计算机程序和相关的基于网络的支持材料向本科生教授种族关系和社会分层的社会学原理的可行性和价值。这是通过开发：(1)一个Java小程序（种族不平等程序），学生将能够通过万维网访问并使用它来探索关于跨代种族不平等的持久性问题，以及(2)一套基于网络的支持材料（例如，可下载的学生练习）。“种族不平等”项目旨在提供一个全面运作的交互式网络项目的范例，这些项目将在更广泛的“全面”发展项目中得到发展。该项目的第二部分是创建一个名为“种族关系和分层虚拟实验室”的网站。这个网站将作为学校的“平台”，让学生可以访问种族不平等项目和相关的、基于网络的支持材料。它将被安装在种族和民族研究所，并作为一种传播侧重于民族关系和阶层的教育方案和材料的手段。种族不平等项目和该项目的其他成果将作为在一年内申请“全面”发展项目的基础。这个范围更广的项目将开发以下项目：(a)教授和说明与种族关系和分层有关的理论原则；(b)使用图形和其他直观的方法来呈现种族关系和分层的数据（例如，种族构成、种族态度、种族隔离、邻里变化、不平等、地位继承等）。

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.).