For the educators and ed-tech advocates who work tirelessly to ensure their students have access to a 21st-century education, here's the good news. We have yet more tangible proof that education technology is helping kids learn.

In the face of skepticism about the efficacy of ed-tech, eSchool News, after consulting with thought leaders in the field, decided the best antidote to the negativity often abroad in Washington, D.C., would be to gather evidence from those with firsthand experience.  We realized it would take more than just grownups in suits to make the case for education technology on Capitol Hill (and even at the other end of Pennsylvania Ave.) So we went straight to the source, asking those most directly affected--the students themselves.

That's why, with major funding from the Pearson Foundation, eSchool News created the Empowered Education Awards (EEA): to give students the chance to answer the skeptics.

The program asked students to produce and send us three- to seven-minute original videos based on the theme "How Technology Helps Me Learn," illustrating how their schools are employing technology to advance learning. We received scores of entries from schools across the United States--and even one from Japan.

We've pared down these responses to the three most creative and original videos in each category: elementary, middle, and high school. The finalists' entries are posted to our web site, and we'd like you to help us choose the winners. (To participate, go to http://www.eschoolnews.com/empowered, watch the student videos, and rate each of the nine finalists; winners will be announced in September.)

Here are the three finalists in each grade-level category:

Elementary School

- No Title (Elitha Donner Elementary School, Ga.): Donovan Harold-Husted demonstrates how technology has moved into every aspect of his life, and how it always proves useful.  Technology, he says, can help everyone learn and can also make our lives more exciting. 

- Detective Ashlee and My Missing Classmates (Skyview Elementary School, Calif.): Detective Ashlee Francis helps viewers solve the mystery of the missing classmates. Clues are left around the school, and only through knowledge of technology will Ashlee be able to find her friends.

- How Technology Helps Us Learn (Ernest Hemingway Elementary School, Idaho): According to Grace Gorham and Tara Burchmore, technology isn't just about computers--it's anything made by people to solve problems. Second-graders at the school program Roamer robots to travel through a maze and use a flight simulator to work on their accuracy, concentration, and attention to detail. 

Middle School

- Satellites and Us (Yokota Middle School, Tokyo): Christy Chanin, news anchor for White Tiger Network News (WTNN) on the outskirts of Tokyo, Japan, explains how students at her school are learning how satellites can improve everyday life. WTNN reporter Allison Jones takes viewers on a journey from her living room to the Miraikan to demonstrate how satellites work and how they affect our lives.