IF YOU WANT TO:
Giving assignments which put students in the role of another.
A history professor reports that she used to give rather standard writing assignments, e.g., "compare author X and Y's views on A," where the two authors tended to be professional historians. "Most undergraduates, however, find the arguments of current historians somewhat arcane," she says.
"Therefore, most recently I have asked students to read a collection of 18th century speeches on why Louis XVI should be killed and assigned them the task of writing their own speech as if they had been living during the French Revolution."
"Undergraduates really are enthusiastic about this kind of assignment and do an incredibly good job. It helps them to identify with the issues of the time; in fact many students went to great lengths to research the authenticity of their own empathic interpretations. Next year I intend to take this assignment a step further by dividing the students into small groups and having them actually deliver their speeches to the group."
Limitations on Use of Suggestion
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