In my families class last week, I had students fill out a “sociological” family tree, where they noted social trends in their own families over four generations.Here’s the pdf!
Directions:
As you make the family tree, make note of social trends, such as: # of children (or remaining childless), marriage, divorce, remarriage, cohabitation, single parenthood, and living alone/remaining single. Other things to pay attention to: age of marriage and childbearing, educational attainment, women in workforce, social class (intergenerational mobility), interracial families, and gay/lesbian families. (You can make this as detailed or simple as you would like)
I paired this activity with the Contexts article “Families” by Tey Meadow and Judith Stacey from 2006.
If you plan on having students write papers or reflect on their own families throughout the course, this is good way for them to visualize patterns within their own families and compare them to trends in the U.S.
Comments 10
Hannah Emery — September 25, 2012
This looks like a great activity! My only thought is that as structured, it might cause problems for students who themselves come from non-traditional families (the worksheet seems to imply the student has knowledge of both their biological parents, and of their extended family further back). Some students may not want to come out to a classmate as being from a same-sex-parent household, or growing up in a single parent household not knowing who their biological father is (I've known college students who are uncomfortable disclosing both of these facts to strangers).
I'd be curious to know if you've run into any of these kinds of problems in teaching the activity, and how you handled them.
Kia Heise — September 25, 2012
Thank you for the comment Hannah! I should have also said that I told students to feel free to adapt the worksheet to their own families--so, if they had two paternal sides, two maternal sides, only knew one side, or wanted to include a step-parent, they should. But, you do make a good point about students not wanting to share their family histories with others. After the students filled this out, I had them get into groups of three and share any specific trends they saw. This part of the activity should definitely be prefaced with a comment to the class that they do not need to share with others if they do not feel comfortable, or that they can share as much or as little as they are comfortable sharing.
Thanks for bringing up this important point, Hannah!
N — October 18, 2012
Is there a link to the article mentioned in the post?
Kia Heise — October 18, 2012
Yes! I found a link to the article and updated the post. Thanks for asking!
Yuuki — January 16, 2013
Hi! Can I ask for the link of the pdf of this Sociological Family Tree? It would be a great help to me. Thanks!
Yuuki — January 16, 2013
Can't find the pdf of the Sociological Family Tree :(
Kia Heise — January 16, 2013
Hi Yuuki, If you click on the link that says, "Here's the PDF," you should be able to access it. Let me know if that link doesn't work for you.
Megan — April 5, 2013
The link isn't working for me
Kia Heise — April 7, 2013
Hi Megan, Which link isn't working?
Diane — April 9, 2015
Can't open the pdf.