I think if you’re getting a negative or a disinterested response from a student because they don’t want to do research on something, they haven’t found the topic that they’re interested in. Because kids are natural truth seekers, natural information seekers. They want to learn. They are sponges. That is what they are here for. Kids ask questions.
I think if you’re getting sort of a hesitant response, it’s just because they haven’t hit on what they really want to learn about. So what I would do is ask them what their topic is and sort of gauge what they’re interested in-what their interest is in that and then ask them to name a few other things that they’ve always wanted to learn about.
What are you really curious about? What have you always wanted to know about? Pick a different topic if this one isn’t doing it for you. So, again, it’s giving them the opportunity to express themselves and listening, and not to be too stuck in the confines of, well, we have to get this assignment done, and we don’t have time for you to change your mind.
Because in the long run it’s going to take a lot less time if they’re really jazzed about something that they want to learn about. And maybe the first thing that they said out of their mouth when it was time for everyone to pick a topic wasn’t something that they really wanted to learn about. I think the first thing to do if they’re stuck or acting bored or they don’t want to do it is to say, “Well, okay, if you could change your topic, then what do you really want to learn about instead?”
