Student+Poll+Colleen+04

Student Poll
Curriculum is primarily planned //for// students.

What do //**they**// think they should be learning about in schools?

Post the responses you received to the student poll you conducted.

Please use a subheading (including your name) as part of your contribution.

NB: Hi Guys - please also click on the 'Discussions' link at the top of this page to view some of your other colleagues postings, which were inadvertantly posted on the wrong spot. (Sharon Fraser)

__﻿Student Poll Michelle Goulter __ A small representation of both Middle and Senior school students were asked what they think they should be learning about at school.

Interestingly enough, the middle school students concurred that learning which prepared them for university would be most beneficial, including things like writing reports and preparing essays. The majority of senior school students agreed that learning which best helped them prepare for a career would be most suited. This included learning which focussed on things like effectively teaching how to look after themselves financially and how to start a successful career.

The middle school students reflected the views of universities around the country who has a major interest in the curriculum. The senior school students reflected the interests of both business and the government in their views.

The differences in views exist as just like the major stakeholders have different agenda's and interest's in the way the curriculum should be constructed, so to does the student body. The curriculum is not value neutral and it is something that will take form as the different groups in society compromise as they seek to influence the education of young people.

Both groups showed a dislike for maths at their year level. They enjoyed creative writing, commerce, and core enrichment units such as food tech and art. Elective units such as Agricultural Horticulture and the arts were found to be highly interesting to senior school students. Both groups expressed that they were engaged in their learning with the subjects that they enjoyed, (apparently, teenagers don't get excited about their learning...very uncool!).

Student Poll (Nicole Flanagan) 24/7/2010
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Students between six and fifteen years of age were asked their views about what they thought they should be learning in school and this produced some interesting results.

The younger the student the more they focused on aspects of the current curriculum that were hands on and fun, such as: sport, art and computers. When prompted to tell me something else they should learn at school a few Prep students suggested reading, writing and maths; one suggesting that it would ‘help when I’m grown up’. No student in the P-2 year level suggested anything different than they were already learning at school.

The 5-6 year level mentioned traditional subjects like: English, Mathematics, Integrated studies. They were specific in their reasons why these should be taught. Some of their responses were: ‘you need Maths for everything...when you get a job...a Chef needs to know what a quarter of a cup is, a shop keeper needs to know how to give the right amount of change’ and ‘you need to be able to spell so that you can write a resume’. It was interesting to see that the focus in the older grade levels appeared to change to what you would need to know to be able to gain employment. In addition, one student also mentioned that they preferred to do ‘sport and cooking’ because ‘they didn’t like sitting on the floor or doing worksheets’.

The final student was in year nine and again the focus was on what would help him in his chosen career path: Mathematics, English, Science and Geography. This student also mentioned that he learnt best by doing hand-on activities and that he liked variety in his subject choice.

When comparing the student responses with those outlined in the media it appears that the responses of the older students concur with some of the views presented in the media. Teaching should prepare students for life after school and enable them to become employable. The views of younger students are solely focused on enjoyment and while student interest is important for engaging children it is something that is less talked about in the media.

** Part 2: Student poll (Ken Hillsley 25 Jul 10). **

I randomly selected students from all year levels at the small primary school where I volunteer and asked the curriculum related questions below. I have recorded their answers with very little editing, just recording their initial thoughts. The thing that I noticed most from my poll was that the students were very individual in their views. They all seemed to enjoy the subjects they were strong in and they all mentioned that fun in the classroom was one of the most important things to them. When I asked them if they were excited about being in the classroom they all inferred that it depended on the teacher – the subject was almost secondary. This just reinforced to me that it is the classroom environment and delivery method are the strongest factors in holding a students attention and by default, educating them.

This is almost a complete contradiction to the views expressed in the media, where the focus appears to be on topical news items such as driver education, drug education, academics’ personal interests, and a ‘return’ to literacy and numeracy. The reason these differences might exist is because stakeholders like the media are reporting on current affairs and popular headline interests. They have views that are driven by a number of different interests, from making headlines, to strong personal views, to political interests. Students on the other hand want to learn how to be confident readers and writers so that they are accepted in the classroom. They want fun subjects and teachers because the classroom is very much a social environment for them. They also have a strong desire to do practical hands-on things, play games and sport and use computers. All these things seem to be a natural thing for primary aged children to expect and enjoy.

Results of my poll:

<span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Q1. What subjects or topics do you really enjoy - why?**


 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Macey aged 9 – Reading and my reading journal because it is fun to read
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Taylor aged 10 – Science because it is interesting and you learn about the future and do experiments
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Oliver aged 8 – I like everything because I like to learn
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jordan aged 6 – Reading because I get to go to higher levels
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lachlan aged 5 – Writing because I like to make up stories; reading because I like stories; and sport because I have natural talent
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mikayla aged 8 – Reading because I have a big imagination and I like the suspense
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Amy aged 11 – ICT because I like computers and it’s different; Maths because I am good at it and find it interesting.

<span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** Q2. What subjects don’t you enjoy or find boring - why? **


 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Macey aged 9 – Unit work on government
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Taylor aged 10 – Reading because I just don’t like it
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Oliver aged 8 – None, I like them all
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jordan aged 6 – Plato because it’s boring
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lachlan aged 5 – Maths, I just find it boring
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mikayla aged 8 – Maths because it’s not exciting and I find it hard; science because it’s hard, but I like the experiments. I don’t like just sitting on the floor; I like it when the teachers are excited.
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Amy aged 11 – Science because it’s boring unless you are doing experiments; writing because my handwriting is not that good and it’s a bit tedious.

<span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** Q3. Are you excited about learning in the classroom - why? **


 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Macey aged 9 – I think so, but I really like PE
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Taylor aged 10 – Yes because I really like being with my friends and the teachers
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Oliver aged 8 – No, I just do it because I have to
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jordan aged 6 – Yes because it’s fun learning new things
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lachlan aged 5 – Yes, because I want to learn and eventually be a builder
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mikayla aged 8 – Yes, I really like school life and all the other kids
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Amy aged 11 – I think it’s okay, but I’m ready to move on

<span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** Q4. What do you think should be taught in school and why (what would you really like to see)? **


 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Macey aged 9 – More outside activities because I enjoy being outdoors and sport
 * Taylor aged 10 – More subjects about animals because I love animals and I want to be a zoo keeper
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Oliver aged 8 – I would like to learn more about war and weapons and history
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jordan aged 6 – I would like more subjects outside and subjects where I can use my hands
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lachlan aged 5 – Construction and woodwork because I really find it interesting
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mikayla aged 8 – More about animals because I like them; more PE because I like being outside and games and challenges
 * <span style="color: #993300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Amy aged 11 – Technology because wee need to learn more about mobile phones, computers, Facebook and other technology

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">**__Student Poll : Kyla Whitfield (26/7/10)__**
<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I asked students in a grade one class about their thoughts on learning. Their responses were similar to those found by Nicole and Ken. They seemed happy with the curriculum and understood the value of learning lifelong skills such as reading, writing and getting along with others. Some of them suggested topics/subjects that would be "interesting" and "fun", like professional chess, poisonous things, trains and fire trucks. One young man explained that it was important to learn how not to swear (very cute). At this age, most things are new and interesting and many activities are still considered as fun.

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">However, as the students get older, they become more interested in specific subjects, still understanding the need for necessary life skills like English and Maths. I found that a couple of grade three students were starting to find their learning less engaging. One young lady said that although no-one likes maths, she knew it would be important for her job as a zoo keeper. They found websites were interesting along with sport and art.

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Again, as Ken and Nicole found, the older students start thinking about their future occupations and linking their learning needs to their goals. For example, students who were interested in working with animals realised they needed to learn maths but would also like the opportunity to learn more specifically about animals and agriculture (which they can in senior school). Some grade six students would like more free time to do things that are more fun, like art as well as more games in class.

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">It seems to me that students of all ages like games. They like learning that is fun. They understand the importance of literacy and numeracy and they become increasingly aware of their own interests. They want to link their learning with their interests. They have passions to follow particular career paths but seem to be stifled by the compulsory subjects. My theory, based on my survey and a general understanding of students, is that they need to be given more opportunity to focus their learning as their interests begin to emerge. As a teacher, I would like to teach students for more than one year. I think that would give the students more consistency and would allow them to build on their learning of specific interests over a number of years. I think students would learn to find their niche without constant change. Their relationships could also grow to deeper levels, like a family that learns to live together and like a workplace that learns to work together.

**<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">Response to student poll: David pachl 28/07/2010 **
===**<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">I am in absolute amazement that you have student's that actually think about further down the track,rather than what they will be doing tomorrow!! Most of the student's that I interviewed were only concerned with fun and enjoyment, rather than the implications their learning would have on their future life. The majority of student's who where in grades 3-6 wished that there was more PE, Performing Arts or Science ( in which experiments were the only valid way of learning!!, they deemed these subjects as fun and enjoyed doing them. An interesting point that I found in Ken's analysis is that a 6 year old is learning about Plato! I would have thought that Plato might be a little too much for a 6 year old!! **===

**__<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Student Poll Activity – Written by Sue Cummings 29/07/2010 __** <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">For this activity, I chose to interview students from one end of the scale to the other. I chose a selection of students from prep, year 8 and year 10. The prep students were from a public primary school and the year 8-10 students were from an independent school environment. <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">On reviewing the responses to this exercise, I found it interesting to see that the prep students all loved to go to school. They students were very keen and excited about the thought of learning at school. The prep aged students indicated that they love making things, drawing and spelling. They love their teacher and love coming to school. In contrast, the secondary school aged students were not fussed about their learning and seemed disengaged about school altogether. <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">Some of the responses were career orientated and the students indicated that they only enjoy some subjects. They enjoy the subjects that know will help them with their career choices. The year 8 student added that she felt it would be a great idea to introduce elective subjects’ right from year 7. She felt that her time was being wasted on subjects that won’t help her in her chosen career and that she would rather spend her time focussing on the subjects that will help her reach her career goals. <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">The year 10 students appeared all completely disengaged with their learning. They advised me that their attitude towards learning had changed over the years and that they are no longer interested in school. Some of the students advised that they wanted to do subjects that were career orientated and not the compulsory ones that mean nothing to them. The students also indicated that they would like more visual and performing arts choices in school. They told me that the subjects they dislike the most are the ones where they don’t like their teachers. One student expressed that “The teachers are bossy and treat them like 5 year olds.” <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">After completing this exercise, I am astounded at the difference between the beginning of primary school and towards the end of secondary school. It makes me wonder what happens to students in their educative journeys to make their attitudes change so dramatically. Are we as teachers in fact engaging our students in the types of curriculum that they are interested in? Should their voices be heard more when deciding on what curriculum to teach? Are we adequately preparing our future adults for a life outside of school years? Whilst I agree that tactile enjoyment is important, we also need to remember that a student needs to be engaged in what they are learning for the teaching to be effective. Maybe we should listen to the students more.

<span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt;">Student Poll: Natalie Brown 31/7/10. <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt;">I collect information for the poll from 6 students ranging in ages from 6 to 11 and from two different schools. <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt;">Question 1. <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt;">What do you think you should be learning about in school? All students no matter what age thought that maths, literacy, art, computers and sport should be taught. <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt;">A six year old thought that it was very important for the school to teach students to become independent, while a student in grade three felt that it was important for the school to teach “how things are made and how they work”. <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt;">Question 2. <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt;">How interested are you in the subjects that you learn about? <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt;">Four of the students said that they were very interested in what was being taught in school, one child said they were interested sometimes; the other child said they were not interested in what was being taught. <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt;">Question 3. <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt;">Are you excited about learning in the classroom? <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt;">All six students said that they were excited about learning and enjoyed learning new things and being with their friends. <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt;">I wasn’t sure if I would get the same responses from all students as I interviewed students from two different schools yet they all felt the same about school no matter which school they came from. None of the students bought up concerns that you may find in the media, but I think that their thoughts will change when they go to high school. Their thoughts on learning centred on having fun while learning. <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt;">I did have one student say to me that he thought that school was important for him to get a good job when he grew up.


 * //__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Student Poll - Merron Calway (1/08/10) __//**

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">I surveyed 10 students from grades 5 to 7 in a local middle school.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Interestingly, when asked ‘what do they think they should be learning in school?’ a number of students felt that subjects which prepared them for their future life, for example ‘how to save money’ or trained them for the workforce, were the most important things to learn at school. A couple were more specific and suggested ‘art’ or ‘sport’ based on their individual interests. However 4 of the 10 students felt that school was teaching them all they needed to learn. I was particularly impressed that all of them gave me a considered answer based on some thought. I didn’t find their answers too diverse but this was most likely due to the closeness in their ages. I did find this answer curious however as the youngest of these children wasonly 10 years old. Their answer reflected the opinions of curriculum stakeholders found in the business sector and no doubt reflects the opinion of their parents who in essence want the best for their children's future.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">The second question overwhelmingly had the same response. When asked ‘what subjects do you find interesting at school?’ they all said, in varying different ways, ‘it depends’. Art, P.E, ICT and enrichment subjects were more readily enjoyed than the core subjects of Maths and English yet most of them said that their excitement for learning in the classroom depended ‘entirely’ on the teacher. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">This suggested to me that whilst curriculum content is paramount, students would find any subject engaging if it was delivered in a creative and interesting way.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">After reading a number of newspaper reports it became clear that the media always focussed in on a single issue for example ‘school’s should teach more geography’, or ‘Australian children should learn about Australian dinosaurs’. This is in complete contrast to what I found in my survey. Children were not so overly concerned about learning a specific subject as they were about the subject’s delivery. They were generally happy so long as their teacher was interesting and engaging.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px;">Student Poll - Melissa Glover I was amazed when I was asking the students the questions at the Secondary school where I work. I was expecting the studnets responses to be 'I don't care, I hate school'. But it was not. There were a few that I asked that did respond like that, however, a majority of teh studnets both males and females said that they wanted to learn life skills. THey wanted to learn things that they will need in everyday life or skills that they wil need wehen leaving school.

Being in a Secondary School setting most of the student have the opportunity to experience hands on subjects. Most of the students said that they enjoyed the textiles, material studies, food tech, wood work and PE subjects. There were a select few that said that they enjoyed science, but only when they get to be in the lab to do pracs.

One of the other questions that I asked the students was 'Are you enjoying your classes and do you feel engaged in what you are learning?' The answers that they came up with were what I thought that they were going to be. "The teachers are boring when talking to us, they show no passion. They topics are boring as well. I only enjoy the subjects some of the time and only do the work because I have to. If we had better topics to tlak about and we could see how it was going to help us in life it would be more enjoyable".

What I have read in article does correlate to what the students are saying. But in saying that the students at the school where I work are all form low socio economic families and are hard to engage and keep at school. They want to learn about life, but to do that they need to understand the work before then.