1.  Why should educators care about “today’s” student perceptions of levels of engagement? 

The world has changed, as have our students. We now live in a global culture and economy that is dependent on technology. While some students have embraced the change, others have become disengaged. Teachers need to understand that today's learners want to make sense of the world, and need to find meaning in the educational environment in order to support their beliefs, values, interests, and goals.

Stewart (2007) provides the following compelling comments:

“In a world in which knowledge is changing rapidly and technology is providing access to vast amounts of information, our challenge is not merely to give students more facts about geography, customs, or particular conflicts. Rather, our challenge is to hone students' critical-thinking skills and to familiarize students with key concepts that they can apply to new situations. In this way, they can make sense of the explosion of information from different sources around the world and put factual information into perspective and context. Only then can this information become meaningful.”