Search Results (886)

Indigenous youth are increasingly recognized as important agents of sustainability; however, how environmental learning shapes pro-environmental intentions and behaviors remains insufficiently understood. This exploratory mixed-methods study integrates Experiential Learning Theory (ELT), the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to examine behavioral transformation among indigenous youth participating in community-based environmental learning activities in northern Thailand. Twenty-five indigenous student participants engaged in a structured environmental learning program developed through Citizen Science, Critical Participatory Action Research, and Living Lab approaches. Quantitative data from 250 activity-level questionnaire responses and qualitative data from 200 reflective responses collected from 25 participants through eight reflection prompts were analyzed using PLS-SEM, mediation analysis, permutation-based MGA, and the Gioia methodology. The model explained 50.0% of the variance in pro-environmental behavioral intention. Communication quality significantly enhanced attention (β = 0.452, p < 0.001), and participation strongly predicted practical experience (β = 0.660, p < 0.001). Practical experience contributed to perceived value of information, which enhanced perceived behavioral control (β = 0.691, p < 0.001), a key mechanism influencing behavioral intention. Peripheral information processing showed a stronger effect than central processing, and MGA revealed differentiated learning pathways across activity categories. Qualitative findings indicated a progression from environmental practices to advocacy and environmental identity, supported by indigenous ecological knowledge and intergenerational learning. This study provides an exploratory framework for understanding culturally grounded environmental learning and offers implications for designing sustainability education programs with indigenous communities. Full article

Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) are vital to the STEM pathways of Latine/x and other minoritized students, and experiential learning (ExL) is a high-impact practice shown to support postsecondary STEM success. The purpose of this paper is to understand how these intersect by conducting a systematic literature review on servingness in STEM ExL at HSIs, highlighting a growing body of research and policy efforts emphasizing intentionality in serving Latine/x students. Key findings center on the types of ExL HSI STEM students engage in along with structures for serving, including (1) intentional recruitment and engagement; (2) culturally responsive and sustaining STEM practices; (3) institutional and external support and resources; (4) facilitating interactions and engagement with faculty, staff, and industry professionals; (5) and institutional collaborations. We also identified important academic and non-academic outcomes associated with involvement in STEM ExL initiatives. Insights from this review underscore existing structures within HSIs that support more inclusive STEM ExL, while identifying potential opportunities for transforming STEM education within HSI organizations and systems through institutional, industry, and community capacity-building partnerships. Implications for future work on Latine/x servingness and intentionality in HSI STEM ExL are discussed. Full article

This article examines the role of psychosocial learning in the formation of prosocial behaviour within Christian religious education and broader religiously informed educational settings. While prosocial behaviour is frequently analysed from psychological, pedagogical, or sociological perspectives, less attention has been paid to the ways in which religious education contributes to the internalisation of prosocial dispositions through moral formation, role modelling, community life, and reflective experiential learning. The aim of this conceptual study is to analyse how selected principles of social learning theory, particularly observational learning, modelling, self-regulation, and reflective experience, can be interpreted within the context of Christian educational practice. The study draws on the pedagogical, psychological, and religious-educational literature and focuses on three formative environments: the family, peer groups, and structured social-psychological or pastoral training. The analysis suggests that religious education can provide a significant framework for cultivating empathy, solidarity, cooperation, responsibility, and altruistic concern for others. The article argues that psychosocial learning, when embedded in religious and moral education, represents an important pathway for the development of prosocial competencies and for the formation of socially responsible persons in contemporary pluralistic societies. Full article

The objective of this systematic review was to analyze the scientific evidence published between 2015 and 2025 on the impact of active tourism in reducing sedentary behavior among children and adolescents, and its implications for health promotion and the economic development of the sector. The PRISMA 2020 guidelines were followed, with searches conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, including 13 studies with approximately 3100 participants across school, extracurricular, and residential camp contexts. The results show a consistent decrease in sedentary time during participation in active tourism programs, with moderate reductions in short-term interventions (≈5–15% or 20–30 min/day) and substantial decreases of up to 1.5–2 h per day in immersive programs. This displacement is mainly accompanied by increases in light physical activity, more limited improvements in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and reductions in screen time when the use of electronic devices is restricted. Overall, active tourism emerges as an effective and safe intervention with biopsychosocial benefits to counteract sedentary lifestyles in the young population. Furthermore, it demonstrates considerable applied potential as a driver of economic development by generating demand for educational, recreational, and tourism services, fostering destination diversification, and promoting sustainable territorial growth models. Full article

Ideathons and pitch competitions have expanded rapidly as experiential learning devices, but the textual artefacts they produce—presentation slides—remain under-examined. This study applies interpretable computational text analysis to 104 ideathon decks (1289 content slides) from four cohorts: Cambodia 2023, 2024, 2025 and Thailand 2025. Measures include lexical frequency, TF-IDF, lexicon-based sentiment, a ten-component pitch-completeness proxy, numerical density, and Jaccard similarity. Because sector designation was absent in Cambodia 2023 and present from 2024 onward, the longitudinal Cambodian data support an observational cohort comparison with an institutional change between cohorts; year effects, programme evolution, and sector designation cannot be separated. The Cambodia 2025 vs. Thailand 2025 contrast is a single-year cross-country comparison, not a longitudinal one. Between Cambodia 2023 and 2024, presentations show large Cohen’s d differences with 95% bootstrap confidence intervals (CIs) in total words, unique words, slide count, pitch completeness, and market-related vocabulary, alongside a small decline in type–token ratio. At fixed sector composition, Cambodia 2025 and Thailand 2025 differ sharply in surface vocabulary (top-50 Jaccard = 0.176): Cambodia leans toward agriculture, rural markets, and community development, while Thailand leans toward AI, learning, and cassava-centric agronomy. AI use was not directly measured, so all claims about generative AI are hypothesis-generating; the drop in within-cohort pairwise Jaccard from 2024 to 2025 (0.061 → 0.041) is consistent with—but does not establish—an augmentative rather than homogenising effect of AI assistance. Findings are reported as descriptive associations and interpreted through the lens of constraint-based creativity and institutional theory. We discuss implications for curriculum designers who wish to balance structural templates with exercises that promote diverse problem framings. Full article

Background/Objectives: This study evaluated the effects of a five-day intensive intervention aboard the Italian Navy sailing vessel Nave Italia for both cognitively healthy older adults and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, focusing on autonomy, depressive symptoms, quality of life, and mobility. Given the limited sample size, the study is framed as a proof-of-concept investigation of a multidimensional intervention that can be experienced jointly by older adults and, in the case of dementia, within a supportive relational context. Methods: The program integrated the “Nave Italia Method” developed by the Tender to Nave Italia Foundation with cognitive stimulation, physical exercise, social engagement, and emotional support within a highly immersive outdoor experiential context. A total of 30 participants were involved: 10 healthy older adults and 20 individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (10 embarked and 10 remained at home). Because of the small, non-randomized cohorts, the analyses focused primarily on within-group pre–post changes rather than formal between-group efficacy comparisons. Results: Autonomy and depressive symptoms showed no significant changes, while quality of life improved in embarked individuals with Alzheimer’s disease for the timeframe participants were directly in the intervention and showed a positive trend in cognitively healthy older adults. Balance and gait improved in the healthy older adult group for the same intervention timeframe, likely reflecting the combined effects of structured exercise and physically engaging shipboard activities. The program strongly stimulated motivation, perceived self-efficacy, and active participation, highlighting the importance of experiential learning in facilitating the transfer of skills to daily life. Findings suggest that brief, intensive, and immersive interventions can act as a motivational catalyst by enhancing emotional, social, and cognitive engagement and supporting adherence to more structured programs to be continued on land. Conclusions: Due to the lack of literature on integrated and multidimensional outdoor experiences designed for both cognitively healthy older adults and those living with dementia, the study addresses this gap by exploring the potential of unconventional and immersive interventions to promote the well-being and quality of life of older adults. These findings support the feasibility and short-term promise of the intervention as a proof of concept rather than as definitive evidence of efficacy. Full article

Background: Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a rare, potentially life-threatening disease in which delayed recognition and inappropriate medication use may result in preventable morbidity and mortality. We aimed to assess physicians’ knowledge regarding HAE-related triggers, clinical features, and management strategies across multiple medical specialties. Methods: This single-center, cross-sectional survey was conducted among 350 physicians at a tertiary training and research hospital. A structured electronic questionnaire assessed knowledge of HAE pathophysiology, diagnosis, medication-related triggers, and management. A predefined composite knowledge score (0–14) was calculated. Results: Although self-reported familiarity with HAE was high, overall disease-specific knowledge was limited. Awareness of critical medication-related triggers—including angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, and estrogen-containing therapies—was low across all specialties, with no significant between-group differences. Substantial knowledge gaps were identified in the recognition of clinical features, diagnostic evaluation, and acute management. In multivariable analysis, prior clinical exposure to HAE patients was the only independent predictor of higher knowledge scores (B = 1.097, p = 0.001), whereas specialty group, gender, and years of professional experience were not independently associated with knowledge scores. However, the regression model explained only a small proportion of the variance in knowledge scores. Conclusions: Significant gaps in clinically relevant HAE knowledge persist among physicians from multiple medical specialties. Prior clinical exposure was associated with higher knowledge scores, whereas specialty group, gender, and years of professional experience were not independently associated with physician knowledge. Targeted, practice-oriented educational interventions focusing on medication-related triggers and acute management may help bridge these knowledge gaps, complement experiential learning, and ultimately enhance patient safety. Full article

This study explores the behavioral intersection of nutritional health and environmental literacy among pre-service teachers within the national higher education context. Utilizing the Sustainable Healthy Diet Index (SHED Index) for the first time in Croatia, this research systematically examines the dietary habits, lifestyle choices, and socio-cultural patterns of future educators (N = 164) at the University of Split. The survey instrument evaluated the core SHED domains, Healthy Eating (HE) and Sustainable Eating (SE), alongside supplementary indicators monitoring food logistics, hydration, and waste management. Descriptive analysis revealed moderately high standardized overall SHED scores (M = 62.86), aligning with the original normative distribution. Notably, students achieved significantly higher descriptive sub-scores in the HE domain (M = 24.68) than in the SE domain (M = 18.06). Although domestic food consumption and circular recycling practices were well integrated, critical biospheric behaviors—such as reducing animal protein, consuming legumes, purchasing organic food, and composting—remain limited by cultural resistance and municipal infrastructure deficits. Furthermore, an independent t-test indicated no significant differentiation across study levels, highlighting a potential institutional stagnation throughout the five-year teacher education program. Regression analysis demonstrated that sustainable dietary choices appear to be strongly anchored in personal health concerns rather than biospheric altruism, with healthy eating emerging as the single strongest explanatory factor for of sustainable behavior. These findings indicate that to cultivate authentic ecological literacy in the future teaching workforce, higher education curricula require a systemic redesign that explicitly links sustainability to personal well-being through localized, experiential learning. Full article

Training educators to integrate sustainability into their practice is crucial for the 2030 Agenda. This article presents a mixed-method design to explore perceived changes in sustainability-oriented professional identity among pre-service primary teachers following a Service-Learning intervention. The design combines an instrumental case study with convergent mixed methods and a qualitative emphasis. Core instruments include reflective diaries structured around Kolb’s experiential learning cycle and a 10-item questionnaire on perceived competence development. Participants were 37 pre-service primary teachers in their fourth year of study. Inductive thematic analysis of the diaries revealed a shift from a teacher identity centred on content transmission towards one focused on facilitating experiential learning and acting as a community agent. Descriptive analysis showed mean scores between 3.59 and 4.51, with significant differences from the scale’s neutral point (p < 0.001). Methodological triangulation evidenced a gap between high endorsement of the community role (M = 4.30) and lower self-efficacy in collaboration strategies (M = 3.62) and in addressing complexity (M = 3.59). The article suggests that this design offers a promising framework that may be transferable to similar teacher education contexts, potentially providing a useful tool for operationalising Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 assessment in higher education. Its strengths, limitations, and transferability potential are discussed. Full article

This study explores how teachers working in social music projects in Spain understand their professional development and which elements they identify as central to their learning processes. Although teacher professional development (TPD) has been widely studied in formal music education contexts, less is known about how it unfolds in socially oriented and community-based settings. The study adopts a qualitative design based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with seven music teachers involved in social music projects across Spain. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis to identify recurring themes and patterns in participants’ accounts. The findings show that teachers understand professional development as an ongoing and situated process closely linked to their daily practice. Experiential learning, adaptation to uncertainty, collaboration with others, and continuous reflection emerge as key elements in their development. In addition, participants highlight the importance of expanding beyond strictly musical training to include pedagogical, social, and relational competences. These results suggest that professional development in social music projects differs from more traditional models by emphasising context, experience, and community engagement. The study contributes to current discussions on music teacher development by highlighting the need for more flexible, collaborative, and context-sensitive approaches to TPD. Full article

As digital platforms reshape cities, urban spaces now host both routine functions and attention-driven experiential activities. However, traditional studies often conflate these distinct modes into aggregate activity intensity or urban vitality metrics. This study operationalizes spatial engagement through two proxy dimensions—routine use (RU) and digitally expressed experiential attention (EA)—and applies Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Random Forest SHapley Additive exPlanations (Random Forest SHAP) to multi-source behavioral and built-environment data from Shanghai to evaluate their spatial misalignment and built-environment associations. The results show that RU and EA are only moderately aligned and exhibit distinct spatial patterns. RU follows a more continuous center-to-periphery distribution, whereas EA is more selectively concentrated around landmarks and commercial destinations. Their built-environment associations also differ: RU is more strongly related to building density (β = 0.159) and functional mix (β = 0.226), while EA is more closely associated with service accessibility (β = 0.262) and syntactic integration (β = 0.210). In addition, under the random-split evaluation, RU is more readily predicted from the included built-environment variables, whereas the spatial block results indicate limited geographic transferability for EA and UAG. These findings provide a differentiated framework for moving beyond monolithic metrics and for interpreting relative contrasts between recurrent functional use and digitally expressed attention. Full article

This study analyzes how the integration of native maize cultivation, cultural identity, and technological innovation can promote sustainable and experiential tourism in rural Mexico. The research was conducted in the community of Llano de Guadalupe, Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca. The participatory Action Research process progressed through institutional coordination, participatory diagnosis, biofertilization training, monitoring activities, and community dissemination phases conducted between 3 March 2025 to 25 May 2026. The methodological process included institutional coordination, participatory diagnosis, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, field observations, and the implementation of agroecological practices based on biofertilization. An AI-assisted illustrated field notebook was co-designed to support intercultural education, knowledge exchange, and community participation. The study also incorporated collaborative storytelling, seed preservation practices, and the co-design of sustainable tourism routes grounded in local gastronomy, biodiversity, and agricultural traditions. Preliminary impact indicators showed the expansion of participation from two pilot producers to 54 local producers after community dissemination activities. Findings indicate that the integration of traditional ecological knowledge with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) can strengthen community empowerment, intergenerational learning, and sustainable livelihoods while preserving biocultural heritage. The proposed circular framework connects ecological, social, cultural, and economic subsystems by transforming agroecological practices into educational and tourism assets. The results suggest that Indigenous and rural communities can lead sustainable destination development when supported through participatory governance, inclusive education, and context-sensitive technological innovation. The Tlaxiaco case offers a transferable framework for sustainable rural development that contributes to food sovereignty, biodiversity conservation, environmental stewardship, and local economic resilience. Full article

As colleges and universities enroll increasing numbers of neurodivergent students, questions of inclusion, belonging, and sustained engagement have become central concerns in higher education research and practice. This article presents a theory-informed narrative synthesis of scholarship on dialogic pedagogy, student belonging, neurodiversity, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and trauma-aware education. It also includes a reflexive institutional illustration of the Ongoing Academic and Social Instruction Support (OASIS) program. Institutionally reported outcomes are interpreted as descriptive indicators rather than causal evidence, given the absence of independent evaluation and comparative data. The analysis highlights both the promise and the constraints of dialogic approaches, including issues of power, scalability, and structural limitations. The article concludes with implications for practice and a research agenda emphasizing longitudinal and comparative evaluation. Full article

Although new AI systems have been developed based on the integration of information from multiple sources under conditions of uncertainty, classical probabilistic models are unable to provide structured, interpretable, and reliable representations in the presence of contextual and order effects. Specifically, the fundamental principles of Kolmogorov’s assumptions underlying the modeling overlook certain common violations in real-world decision-making processes, such as non-commutativity, contextual dependence among agents, and interaction effects between information sources characterized by experiential heterogeneity. A Positive Operator-Valued Measure (POVM) formalism defined on a Hilbert space of latent states forms the basis of this article’s structured epistemic representation framework to support the reliability and interpretability of the black box in AI. The resulting model generalizes the classical epistemic quadruplet: Probability, Plausibility, Credibility, and Possibility within a single geometric framework in which three essential non-classical effect mechanisms emerge—(i) the non-commutativity of information acquisition, (ii) the contextuality arising from incompatible observational frameworks, and (iii) the interference interactions between information acquisition channels. We propose the concept of a quantum-inspired fusion operator (QI-Happenability), which introduces symmetric and antisymmetric feedback interaction terms based on the estimation of ordered residuals. An analysis of the proposed framework is then performed using real data, validating the model on the Efron et al. diabetes regression dataset (N = 442; ten standardized physiological predictors; continuous disease progression target), available in scikit-learn, which showed a 17.4% reduction in mean absolute error (MAE) compared to traditional models and significant improvements over polynomial machine learning baselines, as well as ensemble machine learning methods, within a rigorous cross-validation protocol. Contextual analysis indicates that 68% of cases violate classical bounds (CHSH inequality, p < 0.001), empirically confirming the non-classical structured representation in multi-source data. The results confirm the proposed approach as a simpler, more interpretable, and more reliable alternative to black-box models: this work demonstrates how the use of structured epistemic representations in reasoning under uncertainty preserves formal interpretability while retaining useful semantic information. By linking quantum cognition and applied AI, this work could help lay the groundwork for a new generation of interpretable and reliable decision-making systems. Full article

This study employs a qualitative narrative inquiry to explore how support systems and industry engagement influence youth employability and entrepreneurial aspirations within South Africa’s TVET sector. The central research question examines how young people’s personal stories reveal the impact of systemic barriers and support mechanisms on their identity construction, resilience, and agency. Using in-depth interviews and focus groups with 24 purposively sampled youth across Gauteng’s TVET colleges, the analysis combines thematic and narrative approaches to uncover recurring patterns and narrative structures. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 30, with a balanced gender distribution, representing various socio-economic backgrounds and career interests, selected through purposive sampling to ensure data richness and saturation. The analysis integrated thematic and narrative approaches, with a detailed coding process, theme development, and measures to mitigate bias through member checking and peer debriefing. Findings indicate that experiential learning, mentorship, family encouragement, and industry connections serve as critical support mechanisms that shape youth perceptions of opportunity and self-efficacy. Conversely, systemic barriers such as resource limitations and skills mismatches are frequently narrated as obstacles constraining pathways to employment and entrepreneurship. The study concludes that integrating youth narratives into policy development can foster more inclusive and effective strategies for youth empowerment. These insights contribute to the literature on youth employment by highlighting the active role of storytelling in identity negotiation and social critique within socio-economic contexts. Full article