ABSTRACT
Being an expert at some skill or an expert in some body of knowledge is highly motivating. Some colleges and graduate schools make this premise the center of their programs. Younger students are no less capable of doing something well or knowing deeply. A suggestion would be to begin a school year with the requirement that each student over time find an area of interest and learn about it. This would entail reading, note taking, and where possible using the internet. Black holes, a civil war battle, a president, Greek words in English, a famous painter, famous people, poetry, urban life, economics, chess, American Revolution, a sport, causes of war, climate change, famous discoveries, math anomalies, a work of art, a musical genre, essay writing, geology, an animal, plant growing, roller coaster engineering, cell biology, and countless other areas for investigation are possibilities for student “experts.”
