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Five out of the seven interviewees completed the interview face to face and I had recorded and typed the interview to go back for reference. The remaining two were through a phone call and voice message conversation.

I completed the interview with students from 1st grade through 12th-grade levels. Kindly find below the details about each interviewee:

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He is a Senior at Raleigh Triangle High School in RTP. He loves baseball, debates, and is very creative in making lego cities!

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He is in 8th grade at Triangle Math and Science Academy in Apex, North Carolina. He loves playing outdoors, baseball, and soccer with his dad.

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He is in 3rd grade at Sycamore Creek Elementary School in Raleigh, North Carolina. He enjoys playing outdoors and spending time with family.

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Em is in 2nd grade at Laurel Park Elementary School in Apex, North Carolina. She enjoys riding her bike, writing, and making new friends.

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Ty is in 2nd grade at Laurel Park Elementary School in Apex, North Carolina. He loves to play outside, swim, and flag football.

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Anna is in 2nd grade at Laurel Park Elementary School in Apex, North Carolina. She loves to take care of babies, ride her bike, and puppet shows!

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Liz is in 1st grade at Laurel Park Elementary School in Apex, North Carolina. She loves to play outside, dress up, and explore nature!

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It was interesting to see the various perspectives between each student. There is a large gap between the ages of children that were interviewed, therefore, seeing their perspectives explained in different ways was really intriguing. They all have their own style of learning and their unique preferences in their education.

For example, Mud learns best "through listening," while Thunderbolt Zolt learns best "by interacting with people a lot."

Hulk expressed his way of learning in school by "reading a lot." While Em said she learns best "at a desk because I don't like to be distracted." Ty is the same way, whereas he likes "structure at a desk and not at a group table. Whenever the subject is interactive, it's fun. Right now, it's math."

Anna learns best by "doing art. Art is my favorite."  Liz  said she learns best when she "works by myself and if the teacher tells me what to do."

Ayd learns best when he is reading or watching a documentary. The time that he was excited about learning was "when learning mythology."

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How can learning be MORE interesting at school

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How can learning be MORE interesting at school

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Students usually want to make their learning more interesting. They look up to their educator, particularly at an elementary grade level. They are willing to do what the teacher tells them to do. They have their own preferences in making learning more fun and engaging.

Mud is a Senior and is also part of the NC School of Science and Mathematics Speech and Debates team. His response in making learning more interesting for him at school was, "don't force me to participate in a discussion. If I want to listen, just let me listen." While Thunderbold Zolt saw that his learning would be more interesting by having the "teacher not bothering us. Like not behind us, watching us, not so much supervision. Like you know, how they sneak up on you and ask if you need help. So like, giving us freedom. We're stuck in a classroom for 8 hours with no fun."

While Hulk saw another perspective as to what could make his learning interesting. He mentioned that he learned about rockets in this year in 3rd grade, and how fun that was. He said that "using a lot of technology to learn" would make him love learning more since it's "pretty easy to use."

Em saw that "less computer and tablet time and more hands-on learning" would make her learning fun, and Ty was more interested in having "more field trips!"

Anna saw that learning would be more interesting if she had more "nicer friends. Playing more on the computers, and play all sorts of activities." Liz saw that learning would be more interesting for her at school if she can have more time for "recess and technology" because she said that last time she "went to technology class, I had so much fun."

Ayd mentioned that in homeschooling, it would be more interesting if there was more learning of what he likes, "like mythology and math," and less of things he doesn't enjoy like cursive.

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Technology INSIDE and OUTSIDE the classroom

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Technology INSIDE and OUTSIDE the classroom

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Technology slightly differs inside the school than outside, but the majority of the time it's all the same technology tools.

The technology that Mud uses inside the school mainly is his laptop to search for anything he wants. Thunderbolt Zolt uses mostly his computer at school, as he said, "In school, I use my computer mostly because I have to use it a lot, plus, we don't have many computers in school so the teachers count on me to bring it to school. I program and do what they need me to do. I use Khan Academy, JavaScript, SQL. Right now, we're doing statistics and computer science at school."

As for Hulk, he uses mostly computers and iPads for coding at school. Em and Trey use a variety of technology tools in the classroom. They use Seesaw to share projects with their parents. Chatter Pix to tell a story and read back what they have written and use fun characters. Plicker which is an application on the Smartboard that has three different cards, A, B, and C, and they answer questions. They also use Sumdog for math games, answering questions, and they also get to customize characters.

Anna uses computers, iPads, and tablets in school and she said, "we don't have computers in our classroom.  Sometimes our teacher teaches us how to use the iPad. We also have a Smartboard that can do certain things like programs, and it's interactive because it helps us learn." Liz is on the same track as Anna, and she added, "We get to write on the Smartboards too!"

Ayd mentioned a list of things he uses when being homeschooled. He mentioned that he uses the Kindle for music in school (like composers), audiobooks and ebooks. He also uses a computer to look up information, as well as use Khan Academy, Prodigy, and a typing program. As for televsion, he uses it to watch documentaries, and do yoga (Cosmic Kids). He also uses his mothers phone to look up information. Furthermore, he uses Educational DVDs such as Time Tales, Liberty's Kids, and other documentaries.

As for the technologies outside of school, this all is also dependent on the child's interest. Mostly, they all use the same technologies outside of school.

Mud uses his laptop for everything. Thunderbolt Zolt uses his computer for programming and searching topics. He also said he uses "his phone to just chill and play games when done with everything. I also use my PS4 for playing."

Hulk said he uses his tablet "because sometimes I can play games on it and lots of other stuff."

Em and Ty use the iPad, Minecraft for fun learning, and YouTube.

Em and Liz also use their home computer, parent phone, and smartwatches. Em said, "I use my watch phone to play games, and my mom and dad can call me when I'm playing outside."

Ayd uses his Kindle for video games, adding things to his birthday and Christmas gift list, audio books, and listening to music, photos, making videos, and meditation. He also uses his computer to write stories. He watches educational shows like Magic School Bus, and some non-educational shows like Ninjago and Pokémon.

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Does Technology Make School More Interesting? 

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Does Technology Make School More Interesting? 

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One thing that stood out to me was Mud's answer to this question. He said, "I don't think it makes my school that much more interesting. But I do believe that more schools should transition to this form of learning. More group work, less busy work." This really makes us realize how the transition from traditional to modern education is so important to consider. Liz, the youngest student responded, "It does make school more fun and interesting because with technology you can do whatever you want." Hulk also mentioned that using technology in school would be more interesting because he gets "to press a lot of buttons and it's really fun!"

Ayd's response was unique in this aspect. He said: "Kind of. Sometimes. Sometimes information online is different from a book. It can give us an answer when we have nothing else that would [if we don't have more books about it or the books we have don't answer the questions we have], and we can use technology to find images.

For example, when reading about Egyptian mythology, I wanted to know what the face of Thoth looked like. The book said he had the face of an ibis, so I looked up what an ibis is and what the God Thoth looked like. The book didn't have a picture, but I found some online.

Sometimes, I will listen to books that I'm not sure I want to read. That can be interesting because I can get an audiobook without waiting [instead of going to the library] and nobody has to do the work, like reading it. So I can listen while relaxing or playing or cleaning. Sometimes the narrator's voice can make the book more interesting.

Documentaries are interesting because they can explain things differently and show you what things look or even looked like."

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After thinking thoroughly about the students that were interviewed, and realizing that each of them comes from a different background, they each have their own unique perceptions, ideologies, and way of learning. These students have always been exposed to technology all throughout their lives. The older they get, the more that it becomes normalized to them, and they realize that it's wonderful to use technology in the classroom, but human interaction, group work, working together, being interactive, engaged, and free to learn what they enjoy best is the key to learning.

There was one interviewee who prefers individualized learning and prefers not to work in a group. Another interviewee prefers using books more than technology and sees technology as a tool to extend his knowledge in seeing visuals or watching something that may be more challenging to find in books. It's difficult to accommodate all needs, but with technology emerging, every student prefers to use it in a manner that they think is best.

Many have different interests, like Mud does a lot of research, Thunderbolt Zolt does a lot of programming, Hulk loves science and is using Mad Science and coding to learn, while Em likes to write stories, Ty likes to play Minecraft, and Anna and Liz enjoy playing games but prefer playing outdoors the majority of the time. Ayd prefers reading books, writing stories, but sees the value of technology by looking up information and watching documentaries.

Technology is a necessity now in education, especially to relate to students current lives. Students do still prefer to go out for field trips, play, and be more active. If we create this balance between technology use (in and outside of the classroom), and human interaction, then we would be able to prepare them for a successful future.

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What do I believe is important to share with other educators in regards to integrating technology into the classroom?

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What do I believe is important to share with other educators in regards to integrating technology into the classroom?

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Based on my experience with the students, I think it's important to focus on not just integrating technology into the classroom for games or videos, but implementing learning through technology. It should not simply be that students are using a technology tool in the classroom and thinking that would suffice because they’re using technology. It’s very important to distinguish between the uses of technology in a classroom.

Teachers have access to various technology resources in an average school, therefore, it’s crucial to put those technologies to use in having the students and educator likewise learn something “new.” Technology is always evolving, thus, if the student already knows how to play a game or use the technology, it will be redundant and not as beneficial to the learner.  They like to be challenged, and so being challenged with technology would be useful because everyone in this situation would learn.

It’s important to see technology as the modern pathway through education and not just simply using it in education.

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They want to use technology in the classroom, yet at the same time, interact and be engaged in the subject matter. Thus, I realized they just want a balance between the digital world and human interaction. It's simple to connect with technology and every student is able to quickly adapt, learn, and use technology as it is second nature to them. Yet, interacting with one another can sometimes be a challenge because ideas emerge, criticism, and judgements occur. Sometimes that can be difficult for students to comprehend, and they learn from one another through collaborative work and teamwork.

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Students don't want to be forced to learn, rather, they want choice. Whether it's to listen, write, draw, use technology, discuss, or play, the students feel like it's important to be heard and complete things at their own pace. When I was interviewing Liz and asked her about the technology tools she uses outside of school, her response was, "Well...I like to play outside. I have a smartwatch when I play outside, but that's for mom to call me so I can get home for dinner." Technology is a huge part of their lives, and at the same time, playing and intermingling with others is just as, if not sometimes more, important at this young stage than anything else.

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Students need time to figure things out. The concept of critical thinking and problem solving should be a part of their daily routine. Teachers can provide them with the tools to learn in an environment and provide them with the freedom to explore and spark their curiosity. We need more open-ended discovery for students, where it's not teacher-led, and sometimes even, no instruction for the students, just simply the tools. Teachers can help facilitate and support their curiosity through technology in modern education. As an educator, you seek to work toward the student's passion and allow the student to flourish when they are in control of their education.

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Ayd is a homeschooled 3rd grader in Holly Springs, North Carolina. He loves Pokémon, documentaries, and writing amazing stories!