Whenever possible I allow students to select a topic of
their choosing. I have found that providing choices, even just a few, always
enhances engagement. For example, when studying civil disobedience in Civics
class I made a list of about thirty people and groups who have committed civil
disobedience in the United States. Students, individually or in teams, chose a
topic for an oral report. Many students did research above and beyond the
requirements. They got so involved that it took three days to present all the
reports.

I included several guiding questions about civil
disobedience to provide a common ground for all the reports. Incorporating
these questions assured the reports would meet my learning objectives while
still giving students freedom to study topics they found interesting. Below are
some comments from their feedback.

“I liked that we could do our projects on basically anything
we wanted so that we could be learning about something that we are really
interested in.”

“I liked learning and presenting about a topic that is
interesting to me and being able to choose what I want to learn more about.”

“I liked that we got to pick our own topic to do for the
presentations because I found that I got very into it.”

Aside from the level of engagement, what I find interesting
about these comments is that the parameters were actually rather narrow.
Students had to pick from my list. They had to address my questions. We kept
the discussion focused on the pros and cons of civil disobedience. Yet,
students felt such a sense of freedom to study what they wanted to study.

Students also enjoyed hearing the other presentations. Here
are some responses about the presentations of others.

“I liked learning about all the different things that were
presented in the presentations.”

“The presentations about iPhone users and also Apple v FBI,
I found those two presentations very interesting.”

“I found that when researching topics and hearing about
others topics it has helped me further understand topics that are in our
everyday life.”

My usual experience is that students are not very interested
in the presentations of their classmates. I believe the fact that the
presenters were interested in what they were presenting made the audience
interested. Whenever I give choices, engagement levels increase. It’s one more
step toward student centered learning.