They have to attend some form of school.

Half-way house students have a chance to visit the Malls (use 60 minutes of classroom time)

They do share prison's experience such as:"Blanketting!"

One 60 year old male student came in from New York just to looking to marry a young female student

Two adult female students had incurable cancer.

One male student came in from USA Airforce so that he can use the health insurance to pay for his dialysis

Some students just want a "C" because their very prominent (rich) parents wanted them to attend school

And there are many more challenges that student-centered learing will need an extensive research.

So how will you as an effective instructor can oversome such not so productive conversation during lab time?