Education Sciences

Readers use letter-sound knowledge and blending skills to consciously decode unfamiliar words, gradually building a large inventory of recognizable words. The storage of these words in long-term memory depends on forming connections between phonological sounds and their written forms, which results in a highly accurate and automatic recall of word pronunciations. For words to be read instantly, these phoneme-grapheme connections need to operate automatically, allowing for rapid, effortless recognition. In this study, we examine the connections between rapid access to phonemic sounds, spelling ability, and word reading among first- and second-grade students. Using a quantitative, correlational design, we examined first- and second-grade students’ performance on timed phoneme substitution, spelling, and sight-word reading and tested predictive relations using ordinary least squares regression. The results show that rapid skill in substituting phonemes directly predicts both automatic word reading and spelling. This finding highlights the importance of developing quick phonemic manipulation skills, which are essential for achieving fluent, precise word reading.

This study examines the systemic and political dynamics shaping the professional trajectories of Palestinian educators trained for boundary-crossing roles in Jewish state schools in Israel. While specialized programs successfully cultivated intercultural competence and pedagogical readiness, these gains were undermined by entrenched structural and ideological barriers. 12 in-depth semi-structured interviews with 12 Palestinian teachers were analyzed as well as findings from a telephone survey with 99 graduates. Findings reveal that institutional absorption failure, manifested through contractual precarity, geographic misalignment, and organizational inertia, prevented the conversion of individual readiness into stable tenure. Inclusion was found to be conditional, requiring sustained emotional labor, linguistic self-censorship, and political alignment, particularly during periods of heightened sociopolitical tension following 7 October 2023. These patterns reflect deeply rooted power asymmetries that marginalize Palestinian citizens and perpetuate tokenistic integration. This study argues that durable professional integration in contested spaces demands a paradigmatic shift: from viewing inclusion as a temporary concession to embedding stability and equity as structural principles. Such transformation requires dismantling institutional mechanisms that reproduce asymmetry and investing in long-term ecological supports, such as permanent contracts, culturally responsive leadership, and inclusion protocols. Without these systemic reforms, intercultural competence remains insufficient to overcome the political and structural forces.

Authentic student projects in higher education reflect plausible real-world scenarios, connecting the curriculum to students’ future careers. In Human–Computer Interaction, this is realised through focus on real-world design and evaluation problems, which offer similar challenges to those found in industry settings. A limitation, however, is seen in the teaching of participant recruitment, with students typically choosing convenience samples of friends and family as their research participants rather than developing a balanced and budget-conscious recruitment strategy. This paper presents Recruitment Rush, a boardgame designed specifically to meet this challenge, presenting a meaningful real-world recruitment scenario that can be played in under an hour to stimulate understanding of how to recruit participants for a study. Evaluation of the game with 95 students and academics shows that the game is engaging and invites conversation and reflection on the nature of participant recruitment even beyond the direct HCI context.