Using a social construction approach, students explore the multiple ways in which gender is constructed within the lives of children, women, men, and transgender people. Specific attention focuses on the social institutions and systems that encourage both the construction and reproduction of gender identity and expression across the lifespan. Students actively participate in identifying historical and current day factors and institutions that shape gender. Students explore the roles of families, schools, educational settings, media, the workplace, recreation activities, the medical system, religion, laws, and the laws and the legal system in the construction of gender.