Week+7

We have completed our Student Needs Assessment Survey and I have taken a look at our results and they are very interesting. I had made several predictions in Week 5

"55% of students have a home computer 80% of these have internet access 75% have an mp3 player 100% find that technology helps them understand the material better"

The actual numbers are as follows:

76% of students have a home computer 79% of these have internet access 79% have an mp3 player 88% find that technology helps them understand the material

Turns out my predictions were a little low. Also, about 90% of comments at the end of the survey contained some sort of unblocking sites, student laptops, or they would like to see more technology used. Some other cool facts from our survey:

85% of these students use their cell phones as an alarm clock
 * 85% of our students have cell phones

Of all of the technologies listed for use at home the top 5 were:** Social Networking IM Computes Digital Cameras Online Gaming Spreadsheets Message Boards Video Chat GPS Wikis
 * The bottom 5 were:**

The classes that students do not use computers often in are:** Art PE Business
 * 45% of students say that they use computers little to no time during the week

82% of students use technology to learn basic skills 93% of students use technology to communicate with others 99% of students use technology to find information 35% of students say their teachers use technology every period Only 3% of students say that none of their teachers use technology**
 * Students use word processing more than any other technology during school followed by presentation software

There is a ton to learn from our results and I hope this will help us understand what our students need. Here is the link to the survey results: []

I love the idea of project based learning. It makes sense that students would learn more from actually practicing the idea rather than memorizing it. The only thing I wish they would have shown before the actual project is what they did to prepare for the project. How many days did they learn about circuits before the project? Where does this fit into the standards? I think that labs are definately part of certain curriculums. Science uses them regularly. English can perform plays and write books. Social Studies can research a topic before hand, create stories, perform the history. But what do we do for math? What projects can you perform for solving systems of equations so that they learn the material without you showing them the steps? In addition, with all of the topics that are supposed to be taught during the school year and before our standardized tests, when and where do we fit these projects in? I believe there needs to be something done at the state and national level before we can truly begin using Project Based Learning.
 * Project Based Learning Video**

Justin, You and your team are doing a nice job! Your survey was well done, and I know you will use it as you plan the future technology at your school. Thank you for all your hard work! Teresa