I haven't taken an anatomy course since high school, or any sort of animal anatomy course, but when my dog tore both of her ACL's, I became REALLY well versed on doggie knees (both because I love my dog and if I'm paying thousands of dollars for new ones... I want to know what I'm getting). So from personal experience, this is a really interesting way to get students to learn and retain information.

I really like the idea of allowing students to choose their interests for a project, and I tried it in my Public Econ class this past spring. The students overall enjoyed it, but I did get a few comments that said they wanted more direction about the project topics (kind of resisting the idea of self-direction). I also got quite a few comments that the students said they were surprised at how INVESTED they became in the project.

Anyone else ever attempt to give an open ended project like this? Suggestions, modifications?

I went to this link and I LOVE how she is encouraging students to be enegaged and really "claim" their education and their spot in the classroom... male or female can really benefit from this I believe. I'm going to use this as part of my intro class in an attempt to inform students about what they should be trying to get from our class.