Building on TED Talks: A Course for High School Seniors

I have been co-teaching a class for homeschooled high school students for the past five years. The  course content has varied from one year to the next, but always our focus has been on learning about human society in different times and places, or what we broadly define as "social studies." So far, we have studied world history, world conflicts and international relations, political philosophy, U.S. history, and Early Modern European history.

Next year will be the last year for our group because most of the students (including my son) will be graduating and going on to college. For this reason, I would like to design for them an especially meaningful course, one that asks them to think seriously about their own place in the world, where they are now and where they are headed.

The rest of this post will provide a rough outline of what I have in mind (so far). I am interested in your feedback and suggestions on how I might make the course more interesting or worthwhile! In particular, what type of hands-on explorations, real-world experiences or "tinkering" might I be able to incorporate?