March 29th, 2005 – New survey shows that U.S. middle and high school students report being far less bored and far more interested, excited and challenged in a SmartLab from Creative Learning Systems than in school overall.

According to two national surveys recently conducted by the Gallup Organization and  Creative Learning Systems partner schools, students in SmartLab learning environments report being far less bored, and are far more likely to feel interested, challenged and excited than in school overall.

In a recent survey conducted by the Gallup Organization, U.S. middle and high school students were asked to identify words from a list of adjectives that best describe how they usually feel in school.  Perhaps not surprisingly, the most frequent response, cited by fully half of all students surveyed, was “bored”.  The most frequent response after bored was “tired”, with only as many as 31% selecting a positive word such as “happy” and “challenged”.  Overall, the top two - and three of the top five - responses represented negative word choices.

A similar survey conducted with SmartLab students provides a stark contrast to the findings in Gallup Organization survey.  Students were given the same list of adjectives and asked to select those that best represented their usual feelings in a SmartLab.  The most frequently cited response among SmartLab students was “interested” cited by 56% of those surveyed; the highest response for any word in either survey.  “Interested” was followed closely by “challenged”, “excited”, and “happy” in frequency of response.  None of the negative words ranked within the top five responses in the SmartLab survey and “bored” was only tied for 6th among response rankings.

The contrast between responses in the two surveys was dramatic indeed (see table below).  Students were less than half as likely to report feeling bored and tired, and more than two and one-half times more likely to report feeling interested and excited in a SmartLab as compared to school overall.

Creative Learning Systems SmartLabs have long been recognized for their ability to empower, engage and motivate students of all ability levels.  These survey results provide further insight into the efficacy of these technology-enabled learning environments and the project-based, student-centered approach that serves as their foundation.  As schools look for innovative approaches to improve student performance by addressing root causes such as boredom and lack of motivation, this survey illustrates how SmartLabs can play an increasingly important role in this effort. 

Download copy of the full survey report here.

Note: Source of school survey data – “Most Teens Associate School with Boredom, Fatigue” Gallup Organization, June 8th, 2004