Enlightenment Ideas...

Last week the students were conducting presentations on the Enlightenment.

The presentations were kind of like a big jigsaw. Each student was given a topic on the Enlightenment and was responsible for answering questions I provided, as well as come up with some questions on their own to be answered (or not answered, and used in a discussion.) The students could use their textbook or some appropriate resource websites that I provided.

What worked: The students loved their "research time," in the computer lab. The exercise was a good way to segue into a discussion about sources--which one are reliable, appropriate, etc. Hopefully in future projects I will not have to provide the website sources.
Also, I felt that getting the students in front of their peers, doing presentations, was also very helpful (for them and for me!) It was good practice for the students and helped me to identify some skills that we should work on in the future.

What didn't work: The students were not sure what I was looking for when I asked them to come up with their own questions. Almost all of the questions were very fact-based. I was hoping to have them introduce new ideas and questions through their questions--maybe I didn't model this idea enough!