1. Helping students understand complex social problems: the “Is it corruption?” exercise Taryn Vian Boston University – School of Public Health tvian@bu.edu 617-414-1447

2. Context BU course IH757 – Preventing Corruption in Health Programs (2 credits, MPH students) Online course “Corruption in the Health Sector” U4 Anti-corruption Resource Center, Norway (continuing education for mid-career health and development professionals) Goal: develop skills in analyzing corruption risks and developing strategies to increase accountability and transparency

3. What is corruption “Abuse of entrusted power for private gain” Transparency international

4. Exercise Read the vignettes Mark “Y” if you think it is corruption, or “N” if it is not corruption Turn to your neighbor to share your ratings. Discuss one vignette which you found hard to rate.

5. Purpose of the exercise: help students to… Recognize the ways that context influences perception (example: socially accepted practices; patronage and corruption) Analyze situations to discern degrees of seriousness, potential consequences Recognize areas and reasons why people may disagree Engage in active learning early in the course

6. Why I think it works Engages students immediately; no prior knowledge needed Think alone, pairs, group – allows time to shape thoughts before contributing People like the surprise of disagreeing, become curious, listen to each other Inductive reasoning, from observations to generalizations, helps students to discover principles

7. Using this innovation History, political science, English, social studies Introduce social issues or controversial concepts Examples: “racism”, “disabled”, “gender bias”, “culturally competent”