After reading the NETS standards for "teachers"...under standard 1 -b:

b. Engage students in exploring real-world issues
and solving authentic problems using digital tools
and resources

I require my students to research and present a current event weekly in my geography class.  The topics discussed are world news, us news, (which ever continent we are covering) news, sports, entertainment, and technology.  Topics are assigned weekly and are different for students weekly.  Students are looking at real world issues and presenting them and then we are also able to have a classroom discussion regarding the topic discussed.