Trails: The ASA's Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology

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Trails: The ASA's Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology

The American Sociological Association's Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology

The American Sociological Association’s Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology (TRAILS) is a cutting-edge educational tool to promote high-quality teaching that also offers professors a new form of evidence of teaching excellence to support their promotion and tenure.

04/02/2026

In this assignment, May Takeuchi and Alex Takeuchi uses BBQ to introduce students to step-by-step spreadsheet operations, and help them acquire basic knowledge and skills of simple linear regression analysis discussed in elementary statistics textbooks.
https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/4298

03/26/2026

In this activity, Michael Ohsfeldt and M.J. Vickers creates a multi-step, iterative assignment with an in-class content analysis activity followed by an out-of-class repetition of the same activity. This is done by having students watch an interview of Hot Ones and analyzing it over several rounds.
https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/teaching-research-interviewing-through-analyzing

03/24/2026

In this activity, Jacqueline J. Crowell introduces students to the relationship between place, resource access, and inequality through comparison of urban and rural communities in different regions in the United States.
https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/place-and-inequality-a-geographic

03/19/2026

In this assignment, Luis Nuño, integrates civic engagement with sociology and geospatial mapping by encouraging students to observe and interview volunteers in a youth sports league at their local community park.
https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/civic-engagement-through-youth-sports

02/24/2026

This activity created by Jamie Oslawski-Lopez and Jaclyn A. Tabor explores Americans’ attitudes about fertility decision-making among different-sex, married couples.
https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/is-it-all-right-to

02/17/2026

In this assignment, Michel Estefan introduces students to the practice of ethnographic analysis through close observation of the visual media Downton Abbey.
https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/practicing-ethnography-with-visual

02/12/2026

In this activity, Elizabeth Ziff has students create "Gloria Grams" and these allow students to engage with the principles of love as outlined by hooks, demonstrate understanding of the text, and connect theory to everyday life.
https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/gloria-grams-a-new-kind

02/10/2026

In this class activity, created by Amanda Mireles, students reflect on the power of social norms by writing a “break-up letter” to a social norm that influences family, dating, or romantic relationships.
https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/break-up-with-a-social

02/03/2026

This activity, "Admit One: Simulation of Factors that Influence College Admissions" created by Patricia Lara, simulates the college admissions process to help students explore what factors shape access to higher education. Working in groups as admissions officers, students evaluate six hypothetical applicants, making decisions about who to admit, waitlist, or deny.
https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/admit-one-simulation-of-factors

01/27/2026

In this syllabus, Melissa Horner-Petrone explores settler colonialism by drawing on Indigenous scholars, Native Nations, and multimodal/disciplinary material within education, law, media, race/ethnicity, food, gender/sexuality, etc.
https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/sociology-of-ongoing-us-settler

01/20/2026

In this assignment, Juan Martinez requires students to explain the social construction of race in the United States and to support their answer using a list of pre-selected course learning materials from the syllabus.

01/14/2026

I wanted to direct everyone's attention to the AI guidelines for TRAILS. I am seeing an uptick in submissions using AI in ways that are inappropriate.

Under Submissions we state:
"TRAILS requires that all authors and users adhere to professional and academic standards detailed in the TRAILS Author Agreement and the ASA Code of Ethics. While there are various forms and uses of assistive and generative AI, there are associated limitations to their ability to be published. All authors are strongly encouraged to consult the Sage Assistive and Generative AI Guidelines for any submissions developed with the help of assistive or generative AI. These guidelines have been identified as best practices for all ASA journals, including TRAILS."

I will add links in the comments.

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