21st Century Students Deserve a 21st Century Education

Following up on my 'What do teachers want?' question how about the 'What do children/students want?' An interesting report has come to light (for me anyway) from many sources as part of Project Tomorrow . This US project has the following aims:

The vision of Project Tomorrow is insure that today’s students are well prepared to be tomorrow’s innovators, leaders and engaged citizens of the world. We believe that by supporting the innovative uses of science, math and technology resources in our K-12 schools and communities, students will develop the critical thinking, problem solving and creativity skills needed to compete and thrive in the 21st century.

The participation in the project's survey called 'Speak Up 2007 for Students, Teachers, Parents and School Leaders' was impressive:

Participation Overview: Surveys submitted from schools in all 50 states, American DOD schools, Canada, Mexico and
Australia. Top participating states in 2007: TX, CA, AZ, IL, AL, MD, NC, PA, FL, MI

319,223 K-12 students - 25,544 teachers - 19726 parents - 3,263 school leaders

3,729 schools and 867 districts

About the 2007 Speak Up schools:
o 97% public schools – 3% private schools
o 32% Urban – 40% Suburban – 29% Rural
o 43% Title I eligible; 29% majority – minority student population

The results give an interesting overview of the state of play in the US. You can access what was said here.

There are many items worthy of thought and comment:

Students are very interested in making better use of the “computers in their pocket” for learning and particularly to assist with communications, collaborations, creativity and productivity.

Students’ frustration with school filters and firewalls has grown since 2003, with 45% of middle and high school students saying now that these tools meant to protect them inhibit their learning.

When asked how their school could make it easier for them to work electronically, almost 2/3rds of middle and high school students said “let me use my own laptop, cell phone or other mobile device at school.”