As for the ways in which students like to learn they vary from individually to in a group with other Ss; by doing experiments; searching online, working on a project; reading books; by doing homework, among others.

Considering all these interests and different learning styles, I think the teacher should diversify strategies but I think that the results show us that Ss like to have some freedom and they like to study on their own, so the teacher should be more and more a facilitator of the process so that the learning process is student-centered rather than teacher-centered.

However, In the 21st Century, the four traditional skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening) are no longer enough. According to the National Education Association (NEA), if today’s pupils and students want to succeed in the future, they must also be proficient communicators, creators, critical thinkers, and collaborators. The 4 additional Cs (Communication, Creativity, Critical Thinking and Collaboration) emphasise the complexity and globalisation of today’s world and need to be fully integrated into classrooms, namely with projects and collaborative learning tasks. That is not new as acknowledged by A.J. Juliani when he says that 21st Century Skills Have Always Been “Needed” Skills, But Now We Need Them More Than Ever (blog entry accessible at 

https://medium.com/future-of-learning/21st-century-skills-have-always-been-needed-skills-but-now-we-need-them-more-than-ever-2dbd5e44ffda) or if we have watched Sir Ken Robinson’s talks on youtube, especially the one on “Changing School Paradigms” (RSA, 2010, accessible at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U), in a visually striking animated version. It is therefore urgent, on the one hand, to captivate pupils for school and not alienate them and, on the other hand, to prepare them for a new working reality - for some jobs that do not even exist yet (info from the World Economic Forum, 2016, please check at https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/what-is-the-future-of-your-job/ ). To prepare our pupils – and not deepen the already existing gap – to be able to pave their path with creativity and resilience, schools need to be reimagined: learning spaces, school subjects, pedagogies have to change to equip pupils with a new set of skills. And this is not just the government’s, the stakeholders’ job – it’s the teachers’ too, who ultimately – even if slowly – can and should lead changes in their daily practices.

1.Teaching ex cathedra is not the only way of teaching and we need to teach on other ways to.

2.Students learn on different ways and every of those ways is the best for someone.

I also agree with colleague Antonio from Portugal that is possible that some results are consequence of traditional work in schools.

Different students need different approaches and this is what makes our work difficult, special and in need of constant self-reflection and looking for new experiences.

As for the fact that where and how they like to study, the response of many of the students may be dependent on the situation and the way the question was posed: they may like to study in groups, but for contents or moments where greater concentration is needed, may prefer to be alone ... just like me.

Regarding my methodologies, I will continue to try to adapt what is necessary for success in my discipline, to meet the target audience that I have in front of me and its specificities, and to continue to learn with new formations in order to be updated in pedagogical terms. 

It didn’t surprise me a lot that more than half of the students said they prefer to work individually, probably because as group works may (sometimes) not have clear instructions, clear goals defined and the tasks are not adjusted inside the group for their own abilities (for example, everybody reads, everybody draws, etc.)

I think we must teach our students to work in a collaborative way, make them understand the advantaged of working with others, taking in consideration their abilities and preferences. I also think it is very important that the students take part in the process of planning and evaluating the activity.

Concerning question 5, I also thought that they’d prefer to study in groups rather than individually.

Regarding such results, I consider important that teachers oppose this supposed tendency towards isolation and individualism.
This analysis leads me to believe that we need to continue to insist on more collaborative and cooperative learning and to promote more group and team work. Despite all the adversities that we find in schools, we should also try to develop in students more soft skills, social and personal skills, such as critical thinking, creativity, negotiation and conflict management skills, emotional intelligence, decision-making, in order to avoid isolation and individualism, to become less competitive and to feel capable of solving problems and helping others.

Despite of that, I'm quite surprised by the results of question number three, because languages and maths are not usually a subject that a significant number of students particularly enjoy. I was also surprised by the high number of answers that refer to the house as a preferred learning space, because students routinely relate learning to school. Another issue that surprised me was the fact of they prefer to study individually instead of in group or through an online searching. I’m not surprised at all about the fact of a lower number of them like to learn by reading a book, cause most of them express their boring towards a reading activity. In my point of view, the best way to adapt my teaching to better accommodate my students’ learning interests is being aware of their interests, actively engage them in class, encouraging to express their opinions.

I feel both surprise and reasurement. 
As a librarian teacher I am able to see  that students like to search and learn different things. They pay attention on  what they have to do as a challenge and try hard to accomplish. But this happens when teachers plan with structure the steps they have to take. For example, when students have a guide to search, just like the last video from Austria, even if it is on paper, they go by themselves and findout the information. The problem appears when  students are told to search without a plan, a first moment of start up (worm up), where they should be alowed to say  what they think and create their criteria with the teacher. This way, I believe they would be much more confident, responsible and activ. It surprised me that  students prefer to learn in classes and at home, but it also has a few reasons to bethis what. Kids are still afraid of working by themselves most of the time. The fear of being wrong, the fear of responsability also, the need of an imediate result got from a test, the direct questions and the memorizing  time, at home to answer tests at school formed their life. So, this is like another life, for most of our students: to be able to go out from the classroom to the library alone or in group to get information or create a presentation is something very new. They also prefer to learn from home because many have better internet and computers at home then at school. And this is something that should be corrected as soon as possible. Many of our work is compromised at school when we can't work ( by we, I extend to teachers).
About how do they prefer to work, I believe that a lot has to be done in order to understand, in fact what is individual and group work. While the course is taking place, I have been experienced a few things I learnt from the sharing moments on padlets and videos explanations. Today, students from one group went to another group to explain how to search about human rights' declaration. I could make a jugsaw, but it was much easier for the students to exchange knowledge and in a very informal way. I was able to assess responsability, sharing ideas and information, the way the younger ones from 5th grade could explain seriously to the 6th grade students what steps they had to do to find out information. They were happy and very much motivated. Thank you all! I feel much better today! 

I understand the reason behind learning languages is on top, considering that communication in a world that is more and more global and travelling is appealing does not surprise me at all. However, when we think of school – the place where, supposedly, students were while answering the survey – I am surprised because governments and consequently schools put a lot of emphasis on STEM. 

On the other hand I am puzzled by the results of the survey, which show that students prefer to learn individually! This seems to contradict all the modern trends both in education and work that apparently start to value team work, collaboration and interdependence. 

Acknowledging that students prefer to learn at home, maybe it would make sense betting on developing flipped classroom methodologies to meet the students’ preferences. 

 In my country, despite easy access to foreign languages through the internet and other media, I attribute this delay to the insufficient amount of annual lessons devoted to foreign language  "formal" learning in schools. Let us not forget that even non-formal or informal learning contexts depart, to a reasonably great extent, from school...
 According to the results, it is undeniable that over 46% of the respondents state their preference for language learning. This is surely due to the growing importance of communication and of all forms of cross-continental interaction in today's world. 
 It is true that language learning may open endless possibilities, not only towards professional achievement but also in terms of global understanding. Languages have underlying cultures, traditions, mentalities, ...
 Preferences for Technology, Mathematics, Arts and Social Sciences also show diverse interests and, simultaneously, students' awareness of the millennium’s trends and priorities. 

According to the presented results, students feel safe at home, and trust classroom learning. This is good news both for families and schools as foundations of young people’s growth, socialization and overall development. This is why I wasn't surprised by the fact that these (home and classroom) together with libraries (most probably school ones) are students’ favourite learning places.

As for the question on How they like to learn, the most frequent choice - individually - didn't surprise me that much either.
 Firstly, and whether we like it or not, school still focuses mainly on content, often memorising, describing, exposing, relating. Despite all changes and progresses in the educational systems all over the world, students still get individual grades for their performance and, therefore, it is only natural for 52.33% of them to value individual effort.

Nonetheless, a considerable number of students, 45.59%, to be more exact,  chose group work with their peers as well. Perhaps this is a sane balance between individuality and group interaction. Especially because the same student could have chosen both and even more possibilities.
After all,  isn't this exactly what we have been talking about along module 4? 
 Don't we want our students to contribute to a greater goal, to collaborate by means of their individual skills and efforts? Don't we want them to show growing degrees of autonomy?Don't we stress the importance of our students mastering technological and other resources they have at hand, which leads them partly towards individuality and partly towards interaction as means to contribute, socialize and make a difference through collaboration and cooperation?
 After this reflection, I intend to keep on balancing students' learning between formal and informal contexts, individual and collaborative working challenges. This is potentially a solid preparation for life because it correponds to the way things happen in reality.
Slowly but steadily, school is finding its way and will be able to operate the necessary paradigm changes, I believe.

 

After analyzing the data from the survey, I may come to several conclusions:

Surprisingly students prefer learning languages to technology or Maths, when they live in a world full of gadgets. Perhaps this is why they don’t put it first place, for them is not learning, it’s using as part of their current activities. And the fact that they feel the need to learn other languages comes from living in a globalized world where communication with other peoples is essential. And what about Arts/Music is quite interesting but I think it is also positive as they need amusement in their lives.

As for the places where they like to study I understand their choices. At home they are relaxed and quiet and in class they have the help of teachers and their peers.

The outcome of question three is also different from what I was expecting as more than half of the students inquired prefer to study individually, and many other also like groupwork. Experiments in labs or online research are also quite popular among them. And this is a result that makes us think on our school systems. It seems we still have the idea of studying we had when I was 16, 30 years ago. So, I consider this to be the most worrying result of the survey, the one that shows us we really have to empower our students’ learning and change this idea that still prevails.

I was so curious about the results of my students that I made them do the survey twice as I created a Google form with the same questions. And from that I could conclude that the areas they like to study are accordingly to the ones portrayed in the survey. In what concerns the places there was a slight change, because home is number one, library is number two and the classroom is number three. In relation to question three, they liked learning in group (68%), individually (52%), doing experiments in a lab (45%) and doing project work (40%). I will attach my pdf file if you are curious to look at it.

To conclude, and based on what we have learned in all the modules and on the survey, I think we have to change our practices to help students be more active in their learning process, and at the same time collaborate with others and develop theirs skills as persons of the world.

It’s true I was a little surprised, as my colleagues, with some preferences of students such as learning individually, or the places where they prefer to study (at home and in the classroom). On the other hand, in the case of my students I think they answered what they are used to do… because they like doing activities in groups. The problem is they aren’t used to collaborate together, they fight individually for grades and sometimes they feel that this way of learning in unjust because their mark is not as good as they wanted or they think their colleague’s work isn’t worth the same as their…

The results of this survey won’t change the way I give my classes because I try to empower them of their learning process and they tend do reject this because, for the meantime, they don’t see the advantages of it. 

But changes are necessary...

The fact that the students liked to learn preferably Languages, Technologies and Mathematics did not surprise me. 

Although it is possible to give more than one answer, it surprised me that there are more students who like to learn more at home (67.85%) than at school (50.76%). 

I was also amazed that students prefer to learn individually (52.33%) than in group work (45.59%), in the performance of experiments (35.82%) or in online research (34.31%). 

It is necessary to seek a balance between the characteristics of the subjects, the conditions of the schools and the students’ interests. 

In module 1, I mentioned that my students liked group activities, discussions, community activities, and study visits. We should seek to find strategies and resources that promote more and better learning. More student-centered teaching and the promotion and development of autonomous learning can achieve these goals.In Physical Education classes, in addition to the information / instruction moments, the organization of learning situations reinforce collaborative and personalized learning. Students know the objectives, understand the logic of group formation, the importance of mutual aid and different types of feedbak. 

It was also very interesting to know that the majority of students prefer learning at home to going to school. But they still have the traditional view that learning takes place in schools and libraries.

“How do our students learn?” , on the other hand, was no surprise, because students 14-17 years old are at an age in which individuality and peers are very important to them.

Bearing in mind all this information and the knowledge I have got from this course, I think I could encourage students to have an even more participative and active role in their learning goals and activities. Furthermore, I would like to implement more collaborative learning strategies whenever they imply a positive answer to Phil Spoors´s and Deidre Buttler´s important questions about collaborative learning.

But still looking at the results of the survey, when it is said that “None of the proposed ways of learning has been selected by a clear majority of students.”  brings me to another conclusion. Every student is and has “a world of its own”.  Thus personalized learning is essential to bridge the gap between more traditional and/or more innovative methods. We teachers have always to know our students well to make sure that we chose the best way to reach them and help them find their path of growth.

The interest about Mathematics really surprised me, because Portuguese students say it is difficulty to study it. On the other hand, I do not read the data of questions 4 and 5 so surprisingly (well, the percentage of students that like to learn at home is big and worrisome, of course), because several answers were possible. So, students probably like to work/learn in the classroom or in the library in group work or on a project, but also like to solidify their knowledge at home individually. When I tell my students to work alone, they always ask me if they can do the task with their colleagues.

The course helped me understand that collaborative learning, engaging students in the learning process, attractive and useful spaces and use of technology are very important to the students’ learning interests and goals.

So, students must have a more active role in the classroom.

-The interest in languages ​is greater than the interest expressed by technologies and the fact that mathematics is among the subjects that students want to learn.

- The fact that the home is the preferred place to learn or that the individual learning is the one that reaches the most representative numbers, although in the case of this question (how do you like to learn?) preferences are divided and students use various forms of work.

In the case of the discipline that I teach, the adaptation to these data may involve the continuation of the use of technologies (subject that arouses interest in students), diversification of activities (individual work, group work, online research, project work ...) and the availability of more documents for reading / reflection / individual work, which can be shared in the classroom with peers. I think, however, that in the case of the portuguese school the number of hours that the students spend in school and the weekly schedule they support, is not consistent with the insistence on work done at home. At home must take place the work of preparation and monitoring of the contents that the student performs autonomously and voluntarily.

 In order to better adjust my methodologies to the interests of the students, I must have a role of creator and facilitator of learning, in order to optimize the journey. As Anna Laghigna says, I should see the student as a "lamp to light" and not as a "glass to fill". For this I have : 

 The outcome of the results do surprise me to some extent.

I was expecting students to express a preference for learning in a non-formal environment as I also expected them to prefer working in collaborative activities, in groups or pairs.

As I am an English teacher in Portugal, I was impressed with the amount of students that answered the survey and I was very pleased to see that the areas they are more interested in are languages. As a teacher, I can either understand this in a positive way,  they like learning languages and feel fulfillment in doing so or in a less positive way, they chose languages because that may be the area in which they feel the need to improve and overcome their difficulties. I would prefer to believe that that is indeed the area where they are mostly enthusiastic about learning. However, I was quite happy to see that students are altogether eager to learn about many topics. This reminds me that I should include other subjects and topics from other areas into my teaching of English…use English as the media to achieve more knowledge in other learning areas.

The fact that they prefer learning indoors tells me that something has to change…this is most probably the environment in which they are used to learn, to which they have been exposed. 

This I have to change indeed because learning English can be enriched with other environments, outdoors.

The survey also proves that although many students like learning individually, there is a big amount of those who do enjoy working collaboratively (45.59%). So, in my opinion, I have foster collaborative work and learning from each other more. 

There were three main points on the survey that made me think:

In different schools I worked in, languages are a top interest in elementary years, but things seem to change as they get older. As most of the students that answered the survey are teenagers, it sounded a bit strange that technologies did not overcome languages.

But this is good news for me, I just have to start from there and build on their interest. 

I’m not sure what they thought about when they answered “home”: home with parents?; with tutors?, on their own?; with their friends? because they can use technologies? Because it is an informal way of learning? Conclusions on this are not clear to me.

Although I can quite read this information one thing is for certain: it makes no sense breaking down learning spaces or types of learning. Learning is learning and if I can bridge what seems to be disconnected right now, I’ll try to do it: formal and informal learning, personalised and collaborative, individual and collaborative.

My students usually show a huge interest in group work, only a small amount prefers individual work, so that was surprising. But if I think about how they show a deep need for personalized teaching, I’m wondering if that is not the reason why they show a greater interest on individual learning. 

Projects and collaboration seem to be secondary for them. I wonder if that is because they are not used to working this way or if there is some kind of individualism and intolerance to sharing and negotiating… That would get me worried!

The survey also shows that the top places where students like to learn is:            

 1.  At home: 67.85% 

2.  In the classroom: 50.76% 
3.  In the library: 20.29% 

4.  In a public place (e.g. a café): 12.85% 

5.  At a club (e.g. youth club, sports club): 10.99% 

6.  On my way to school or home (e.g. school bus): 7.92% 

7.  Other: 4.54% 

 And what really surprised me most was the answer to the question: 

 How do our students like to learn? 

1. Individually : 52.33% 

2. In a group with other students: 45.59% 

3. Doing experiments: 35.82% 

4. Searching online: 34.31% 

5. Working on a project: 31.76% 

6. Reading books: 25.15% 

7. Doing homework: 23.25% 

8. Other : 4.06% 

Having in consideration these answers – how they like to learn best once I’m a language teacher.  I’ll try to implement different teaching and learning scenarios, different opportunities to learn in different ways. I’ll try to promote different tasks at different levels of challenge; provide different learning materials because by knowing better my students’ needs I ‘ll be able to carry a more differentiated, engaging and self directed, cooperative and interactive learning activities.

 

Generally speaking, students were motivated to learn and had better results.

I felt that they learnt better and remembered what was learnt easily. They also felt more confident and more able to solve problems.

I have already applied these new methodologies to one of my classes, however I intend to apply them widely to the resto of my classes and students.

With regard to students in Timor-Leste, I know that they prefer to learn at school, since their houses are small, without adequate space for the study and students have large families, there is not much room for concentration and study.

Regarding the preference for learning individually, I think it is a real preference. There are some experiences in which the group work is not well planned, the students do not know well what is their role/task, with only the evaluation of the product. In these cases, the working and responsible students feel unjustified in relation to those who do not work and obtain the same final assessment.

In view of the data in this survey, group activities should be well planned, challenging, with well-defined objectives, tasks and products. The evaluation should be part of the planning and students must participate in all phases of the project. In this way they will better assimilate the projects/tasks, will be motivated and work in a more committed way. The strategies outlined by the teacher should include work inside and outside the classroom. To do this, the teacher must use different strategies and learning technologies.

Most of the students prefer to learn at home rather than in groups or even in projects and searching online. I did the survey to my students from 9 grade (between 14-15 years), they are 30, so I suppose some of my students answer the same way L Am I doing all wrong? And the fact that they prefer languages… As we are Portuguese is it because the survey is in English? Because I thought that technologies and arts will be at the top and maths will be one of the least voted. I’m a geography teacher and we aren’t so good too. I think we don’t have the class with the best resources for the subject, meaning good computer so you can work with Google Earth, for example, enough computer for all students or for every time I want ( I must ask in the school library for them and usually they aren’t available) and I would like to have more outdoor classes and fieldwork. 

Still, group-work is also highly valued and I think many can profit from it. So I'm going to try and use all these strategies and rubrics I learnt about on this course with my classes. 

All in all, I guess these findings remind me of the FLIPPED CLASSROOM model and I think I may try it once again. I tried it a few years ago, but not all students had Internet at home and it didn't work out. So, I'm going to keep on improving my work in order to allow my students to develop as many skills as possible and I hope they take pleasure in learning too.

The question about the subject what  the students most enjoy studying was the one that surprised me most, because in Portugal there is a social culture that undermines this discipline. I have checked it several times, because this question is part of a survey that I distribute to my students at the beginning of each academic school year. Students enjoy learning more at home, at school, and at the library than elsewhere. The fact of the most of the answers are given by students between 14 and 17 years old, justify this, since in their ages they can’t go alone to the public place, for example. About the last question, as mentioned in the document, it shows that individual interests are very diverse. That is why the current teacher has to first get to know the students, their tastes and their aptitudes, and then adapt the most appropriate teaching strategies. However, in my opinion, there is still a very traditional and individualistic culture in teaching, which gives little importance to collaborative work, experimentation and development of projects, which may influence some of the answers proposed.

In Portugal there is a proverb that I quote, "First strange, then entrails", which describes perfectly the cultural change that must be developed by teachers, students and all those involved in the educational process . Initially, we are all surprised at the introduction of new strategies, ways to teach and assessment, but later this whole process becomes natural and was accepted by all, as it is an improvement in teaching and education.

Personally, with my current students, beyond what is customary, I will try to work more in a group and do some activities outside the classroom so that students apply what they learn in the classroom in practice. 

ICT is also a subject that my students, similarly to the ones in the survey, prefer.

 

However, my students usually say that they prefer studying with their colleagues, mainly in the school library, as most of them live in different villages around the town, and haven’t many places available to do group work or study together, except for the town library. Thus, it was a bit surprising for me the fact that, in the survey, students from so many different countries preferred learning individually at home, although I realise that many have a full timetable, like my students, and have very little time to be together outside the classroom, before they catch the bus to go home.

Besides that, our students are still mainly assessed in most of the school subjects, mainly at the secondary level (15 to 18), by a great number of individual written assessment papers, which involves the knowledge of a lot of data and many of them can´t concentrate properly when they are together, or want to avoid distractions, to maximize their own learning.

 Another reason is that they spend a lot of time online and on social media and even if they are far away, they know they are just at the distance of a click. This is valid even for the teachers, as students now often send us emails when they have any doubts.

All this information makes me think about the way I can adapt my teaching to them. I should, for example, intensify the use of new technologies and make them work through them at home too. 

What surprised me the most about the results of this survey is the fact that students prefer studying individually. I’ve always had the perception, as a teacher librarian, that students liked learning together. At the school library mostof them are in groups when they have time to study on their own and it is very rare to find a student studying alone.

As I had the classes that answered the survey last Friday, I decided to analyse the results with them, and I can say it was quite interesting.

To my surprise, although as a language teacher I was happy with it, Languages (46.17%) Technology (40.29%) and Mathematics (38.39%) are on the top preferences of the answers. What students told me was that, even though they find the subjects – especially maths – difficult, they are aware that these are the areas that will help them “survive” in the world of work.

The result to the 4^th question “Where do our students like to learn?”, the majority answered at home or in the classroom because they didn’t identify with the other options and they didn’t know how to specify the “other” option (they suggested in the school yard, in a place that is related to the topic you are studying).

What surprised me the most were the answers to the last question – they prefer working individually (52.33%), in a group with other students (45.59%), doing experiments (35.82%) searching online (34.31%) or working on a project (31.76%). My students told me that it was easier and “they had to work less”.

More than surprising, I consider these results to the last question worrisome because I think they match with outdated and traditional teaching. Maybe this is the answer we must reflect and work more on as it indicates that we still have a long way to go to be able to accommodate students’ learning interests with the demands of nowadays’ and the future world. 21^st century citizens must be problem-solvers; critical thinkers; ITC users; collaborative workers; engaged, communicative, motivated, creative, (inter)active, skilful, multifaceted-lifelong learners, and we will have to do our best in collaborative learning environments to ensure that we our students will meet this profile and will be ready to face this century challenges. 

A teacher should focus on teaching and learning strategies inside and outside of the classroom, concerning every student in the class and empower them on achieving their goals.

The teaching and learning process must be diversified. In other words, it must respect the different interests and needs of the students, the seven multiple intelligences identified by Gardner, and the learning pace of each. In fact, this reality is for the teacher, a constant work full of challenges that require a response. Thus, it is increasingly necessary to listen to the students and involve them, actively in their own educational path, enhancing the performance of this role, in a more autonomous, active and responsible way.

As a primary teacher, it is my duty, to do a constant exercise of reflection, as well as to always look for new methods and theories about education and how the child learns. In this way, I think I should give the students the opportunity to contact different with methodologies and strategies so that during the construction of their educational path they are able to define which learning strategies best fit their interests, interests and needs.

 I confess that the results surprised me a bit in the third question, because mathematics appears in third place with almost the same percentage as the new technologies, which is very good.
Considering the results of question 3 it is evident that it would be a good strategy to relate mathematics to new technologies. It's relatively easy to do - since there are already a lot of apps, some good sites and national or international projects related to math content - if we have access to computers and / or tablets at our school, which is not always the case. On the other hand, it is obvious that this link between mathematics and new technologies, suggested by the results of the questionnaire, would have to be done in a responsible way and always considering the objectives to be achieved, the main advantages and disadvantages and the best way to do it .
Still relating mathematics and new technologies to the results of questions 4 and 5. The advantage of new technologies is that any application we use online will still be available to the home student (the top place where students like to learn ), if the student has a computer and / or tablet at home; and you can do it individually ( the top way in which students like to learn).
Regarding the results of question 5, it is effectively noted that there is no obvious preference for "how to learn" which may mean that students know how they like to learn and that they have different ideas about it. But I think it is important to highlight two aspects:
- the fact that there have been many students who have chosen more than one option, which means that they like to learn in different ways and opinions may not be so divergent among students;
- consider whether students have responded according to what they are accustomed to. It would be strange for a student to respond that he likes to learn from projects if he has never been involved in any.
For these reasons I consider it fundamental to diversify the methodologies, to give opportunity to all students to find what they really like and achieve the proposed objectives. 

As I see it, to accommodate these preferences would be to maintain traditional forms of teaching – individual tasks in the classroom, homework, traditional subjects. 

The results of this research are real indicators of the wishes and opportunities of our students. Today's students require different forms of work. Teachers need to adapt to the needs of students so students can be more motivated and better able to achieve learning outcomes. I think that working alone does not involve negotiation, mediation, and other skills that do not just depend on each other's work. It is not easy to work with others. The reasons are very diverse and imply that each one takes on his responsibilities.

I am constantly adapting my methodologies to the classes and to the students of each class. One project in one class becomes a different class in another class. For what matters is that students learn and what I am teaching if it fits their interests.

These results were not surprising: first, because most of the students are Portuguese and Bulgarian; then, because at least in Portugal, prevails the school of individualism and competition for the grade to have good results in individual exams. It is therefore natural that most students value individual work and home study in isolation. 

The same tendency is seen in the interests of the subjects: languages, mathematics, science, technology - the dominant subjects of the exams; the arts have been enormously devalued in the school system while these youngsters have been in the system in previous years. 

However, knowing the demands of the world of the 21st century, we know that it is important to counteract this tradition and change the tendency of the school. I have experience of proposing the work in pairs and in collaboration, in the form of study in class, with observation of the process and the final product, oral and / or written; some projects involve getting out of the classroom and finding the answers elsewhere. At first, many students act strange and resist; by the middle and at the end, many students recognize that this is a better way to learn more things. Therefore, disregarding tradition is important, even if tradition is personalized by our students. 

That makes me think we have to change the focus, if we want to prepare them for the challenges of the 21^st century. Some small steps are being taken here in Portugal. As a teacher I can provide more collaborative work and be more flexible in the assessment of their learning process. 

The answer to question number 3 was not so surprising to me, they usually like languages and they are clearly aware that they might need to live and work abroad in the future. They also know we live in a multicultural world and communication and travelling involves speaking a foreign language. The surprise comes from the 3^rd place – Maths – this is traditionally a difficult subject and at first sight I would say most students didn’t like it. On the other hand this shows that they recognize the important of developing mathematical skills because it is believed this area will provide more job opportunities in the future. 

 

 

I think the majority of portuguese students don´t have enough technology to all students and also the all the equipments to improve collaborative learning and digital learning. 

 I am very surprised that a great percentage of children prefer to study at home and individually. I think that the reason is that they are not used to working in groups. But in the future most of them will have to do it in their jobs. That is why it is important to introduce collaborative work at schools. Additionally, I would like to know my students' interests to prepare material and projects related to them so that they get motivated when learning. For example, I would do debates or oral presentation in which they talk about their likes to get to know my students better. 

I had the idea that most of the students had Technology as their first choice.

I did not think that the majority prefer learning individually to learning in a group with other colleagues.

The school is still faced in a traditional way were students prefer to work individually, as they are focused on achievement and high grades.

School and teachers have an important role in the way students can improve learning introducing several and different approaches in a collaborative manner.

Learning will have to be organized using problem-solving methodologies; procedures based on questionnaires that allow points to be assigned; scoring guides or checklists; tools that allow groups to be formed based on competencies and interests or at random; proceed to the recording of reflections on the work in progress by each group that is part of the group.

The digital resources are very attractive to the students, I will make use of them and take advantage of them as an opportunity to provide meaningful learning with motivation and enthusiasm, trying to bring school culture closer to the digital culture of students and society in general and also provide the acquisition of skills for the 21st century.

The experience of being outside the classroom motivates students. Teachers need to understand that the classroom outside the four walls offers a very important educational resource because it allows contact with nature as well as providing the development of skills and knowledge applicable to the real world.

An important goal of teaching is to increase students' knowledge by expanding what they already know and what they can do. However, it is important to realize that the learning materials / tools and the teacher can only facilitate the process. It is up to the student to engage and learn new skills and cross-cutting themes that combine knowledge, skills and attitudes, considered necessary for personal achievement and development, active citizenship, social inclusion and employment, which are essentially the skills of the 21st century.