TEACHING A COLLEGE-LEVEL AIDS AND SOCIETY COURSE

Despite much informal sharing of knowledge about AIDS, little formal (i.e., published) information is available on teaching about acquired immune deficiency syndrome in sociology courses. The present article suggests how an ''AIDS and Society '' course might be structured. The article begins by explaining how ''AIDS and Society'' is introduced to students on the first class meeting, proceeds to discuss the course requirements, and examines how each requirement is designed to address the pedagogic goals. Next the author reviews several potential pitfalls in teaching about AIDS in the sociology classroom. The article concludes by providing a brief critique of the course's success in past semesters, based both on the author's own perceptions of the course and on students' comments in their end-of-the-semester evaluations.