Students go Terminator way, want iPods in classrooms

ENGLAND: About 40 per cent students here believe that an increase in the use of DVD players and iPods or mp3 players would help learning, while similar proportions would be interested in greater use of smart boards, games consoles and mobile phones.

And around 83 per cent secondary school students in England and Wales would like to see their teachers embrace new technologies in the classroom according to new research by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.

The findings suggest that many students would endorse Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent call to replace text book learning with new technologies.

Commenting on the research, Jonathan Kestenbaum, NESTA’s Chief Executive says “Young people will be at the heart of the digital economy so it’s promising to see school children embracing digital technologies not just as a form of entertainment, but as a way to learn. This doesn’t mean we have to rip up text books ‘California-style’, but rather look at innovative ways of learning which will best prepare children for the future.’

Young people have traditionally been the first to adopt the usage of new technologies. A recent Ofcom study reported that 81 per cent of boys and 77 per cent of girls aged 12-15 in the UK have access to the internet and the majority (70 per cent) use it every day.

The research, carried out by Ipsos MORI, questioned 2,447 young people aged between 11 and 16 years old and reveals that over half of the students surveyed want teachers to use computers and the internet to help advance learning techniques (55 per cent and 51 per cent respectively).