Contributed by Jaclyn Bergamino, 2015
To get students thinking about research topics, I often use the Research Paper Topic Generator Game and then take it a little further.
Once students have their lists of things that evoke them, I have them choose three and write them on spread out on a piece of paper. They then pass this paper to the left and the next student gets one minute to write everything that comes to mind in conjunction with each possible topic. The papers get passed several times until each paper is nearly full. Then students get their own topic ideas back and pick one that had new or surprising associations. I often have then write a brief reflection on what surprised them and new directions that their peers’ ideas helped them to think about. Or, I have them pick the one that they want to pursue and write a proposal for it.