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Taking your first steps into higher education
Taking your first steps into higher education

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6 Summary

This week has introduced you to the social sciences. This would be a good moment to pause and reflect on your initial thoughts and reactions to the approach taken in Week 4, which aims to give you an idea about what it might be like to study these subjects at university. You might want to ask yourself if you have enjoyed the way social science explores everyday encounters and aspects of popular culture. Perhaps your reaction has been very different and you do not think you would be comfortable with the way in which social science tends to ask question rather than provide straightforward answers. These personal reactions are important as they should help guide your decision about what sort of subject might suit you best.

In Week 4 you have learned about:

  • the subjects that can be grouped as social science
  • how social science can be used to think about everyday events
  • the concepts of identity and stereotyping
  • aspects of cultural identity and group belonging
  • using a spider diagram to develop your study skills.

You are now half way through the course. The Open University would really appreciate your feedback and suggestions for future improvement in our optional end-of-course survey [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] , which you will also have an opportunity to complete at the end of Week 8. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others.

You can now go to Week 5.