Hi @glenn.crane,
In general, it’s hard to identify what may or may not be good innovations for students to research and write about. In the end, it’s mostly a matter of how well they can answer those written response questions. That also depends on other factors, like how familiar the student is with the innovation, how deeply they research it, etc.
I’m also not sure exactly how much a teacher is allowed to guide the student in selecting an innovation. IMO, facial recognition software isn’t something “obviously” too broad, like “the internet” or “mobile phones”, so I’d say it mostly comes down to the factors I mentioned above.
In my experience, what might be a “good” innovation for one student might not be so suitable for another student, so I don’t give my students individual advice about their topic since I don’t want to get into a discussion of how familiar they already are or make assumptions about their research skills. “That’s not a good topic for you…” 