Critical Thinking
Imagine that we are trying to develop a theory about which types of schools are most effective for minority students.  We decide to use high school graduation as the measure of success.  We know that the general finding is that graduation rates are higher for all students (regardless of race) in private schools compared to public schools.  Therefore, our hypothesis is:
Minority students from private schools have a higher graduation rate than minority students from public schools.
We gather data and analyze it, and find that, indeed, private school minority students have a higher graduation rate.
But, we’re not satisfied.  There are lots of different types of private schools.  Do graduation rates for minority students vary by the type of school?  We do know that non-religious private schools have higher graduation rates in general than do religious private schools.  Therefore, our second hypothesis will be:
Minority students from non-religious private schools have a higher graduation rate than minority students from non-religious private schools.
Again, we analyze our data.  This time, though, we find that our hypothesis is not supported!  There is actually no difference in graduation rates for minority students between religious and non-religious schools.
We could stop here and be satisfied that we have a theory about the most effective type of schools for minority students .  But…we’re still curious.  Does the type of religious school matter?  To find out, we set up a third hypothesis to attempt to further refine our theory about the effectiveness of schools for minority students:
Minority students from Catholic schools have a higher graduation rate than minority students in non-Catholic religious schools.
This time when we analyze the data, we find that we are correct!  The effect is so strong that Catholic school students have an even higher chance of graduating than do non-religious private school students.  We have found that Catholic schools provide minority students with the highest chance of graduating from high school.
Your Turn
Now it’s your turn to continue to refine the project.  What do you think it is about Catholic schools that increases minority students’ chances of graduating from high school?  Maybe you think that Catholic schools in one type of neighborhood might be more effective than those in other types (rural vs. suburban vs. urban, for instance).  Or maybe you think that certain types of minority students might do better (women vs. men, religious vs. non-religious students, or students with large social networks compared to those with small networks).  Or, you may even think there are differences based on characteristics of the students’ parents, such as their income, education level, how often they attend church, how much they encourage their kids to do well in school, etc.
Think about it for a few minutes, and then write our fourth hypothesis in the box below (15 word minimum):

Over the next few weeks, we will take a look at some important contemporary social problems in order to get us in the habit of thinking from an interdisciplinary social science perspective.
This week, we will explore the Digital Divide as a social justice issue.
View the video at the following link to learn more about the Digital Divide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X537MiN6COI
Next, read the following article about the global digital divide, paying careful attention to the introduction, discussion and conclusion while skimming over the methodology and analysis sections.
Ayanso, A., Cho, D. I., & Lertwachara, K. (2014). Information and Communications Technology Development and the Digital Divide: A Global and Regional Assessment. Information Technology For Development, 20(1), 60-77. doi:10.1080/02681102.2013.797378
PURL:http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=80ba7f87-2879-409d-9670-4181ca6167d6%40sdc-v-sessmgr04

After reviewing these resources, respond to the following questions:

1) What are some of the important issues that need to be considered when discussing the Digital Divide? Generate a list of items and when you have submitted your response, look and see what your classmates have identified as issues in their responses.

2) How might social scientists from different disciplines talk about these issues? For example, what questions would a psychologist ask compared to an anthropologist? What issues would be the focus of a sociologist? How might a gerontologist frame this problem? What other social scientists might be interested in this issue?

3) What are some potential controversies inherent in this issue? Think about why this social problem might be difficult to solve. Are there gaps in our knowledge? Lack of resources? Opposing political views regarding funding? Think broadly and from an interdisciplinary perspective in order to respond to this question.

4) Where does the solution lie? Are there policies that need to be changed or enacted to resolve the issue? Are there programs or services that might help to close the digital divide? What agencies or industries are best equipped to help?
For this discussion, I’d really like to see this be a conversation among peers. That is, I want to see you come up with your initial thoughts, but then read and provide comment to the ideas of your classmates so that we can generate a rich and fruitful discussion. This kind of brainstorming and discussion ultimately makes for better solutions.

Remember to keep the discussion respectful and recognize that there may be differences of opinion, but we are here to learn and broaden our perspectives.