Search Results (339)

This paper presents an ethnographically informed analysis of research in Cairo and Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt) surrounding the 2022 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP27) summit. I discuss the geopolitics and geopolitical disruptions of researching activism and activist lives in politically sensitive environments. As shown here, developing new methodological interventions plays a crucial role in understanding contextual methodological limitations, dealing with logistical challenges, and building authentic relationships with research participants. Here, I introduce counter-interviews as a methodological strategy to build trust and invest in researcher–participant relationships. This article draws on participant observation, conversations with environmental and climate activists and non-activists in Cairo prior to and after COP27 and in Sharm El-Sheikh during the second week of the summit, reflective field notes, and 20 semi-structured interviews conducted online between February and August 2023. Here, I use the term “environmental non-activism” to draw attention to the sensitivity, complexity, and fragility of political or apolitical environmental and climate action in an authoritarian context where any form of collective action is highly monitored, regulated, and sometimes criminalized by the state. The main argument of this paper is that examining interlocking power dynamics that shape and reshape the activist space in relation to the state is a requirement for understanding and researching the complexities and specificities of climate activism and non-activism in authoritarian contexts. Along with this argument, this paper invites climate education researchers to reevaluate what non-movements and non-activists in the Global South offer to their analyses of possible alternatives, socio-political change, and politics of hope (and to the broader field of activism in educational research, where commitment to disruption, refusal, and subversion play a key role. Full article

Sustainable education requires addressing the challenges posed by digital transformation, including technostress among university students. This study evaluates technostress levels in higher education through the validation of the TS4US scale and its implications for sustainable learning environments. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 328 university students from four districts in Lima, Peru, using an online survey to measure technostress. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to assess the psychometric properties of the TS4US scale, resulting in a refined model with two latent factors and thirteen validated items. Findings indicate that 28% of students experience high technostress levels, while 5% report very high levels, though no significant associations were found between technostress and sociodemographic variables such as campus location, employment status, gender, and academic level. The TS4US instrument had been previously validated in Chile; this study confirms its structure in a new sociocultural context, reinforcing its cross-cultural applicability. These results highlight the need for sustainable strategies to mitigate technostress in higher education, including institutional support, digital literacy programs, and policies fostering a balanced technological environment. Addressing technostress is essential for promoting sustainable education (SDG4) and enhancing student well-being (SDG3). This study directly contributes to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 3 (Good Health and Well-being) and 4 (Quality Education) by providing validated tools and evidence-based recommendations to promote mental health and equitable access to digital education in Latin America. Future research should explore cross-country comparisons and targeted interventions, including digital well-being initiatives and adaptive learning strategies, to ensure a resilient and sustainable academic ecosystem. Full article

Educational buildings, including schools, nurseries and universities, face stricter regulation and design control on indoor air quality (IAQ) and thermal conditions than other built environments, as these may affect children’s health and wellbeing. In this scoping review, wide-ranging health, performance, and absenteeism consequences of poor—and benefits of good—IAQ and thermal conditions are evaluated, focusing on source control, ventilation and air purification interventions. Economic impacts of interventions in educational buildings have been evaluated to enable the assessment of tangible building-related costs and savings, alongside less easily quantifiable improvements in educational attainment and reduced healthcare. Key recommendations are provided to assist decision makers in pathways to provide clean air, at an optimal temperature for students’ learning and health outcomes. Although the role of educational buildings can be challenging to isolate from other socio-economic confounders, secondary short- and long-term impacts on attainment and absenteeism have been demonstrated from the health effects associated with various pollutants. Sometimes overlooked, source control and repairing existing damage can be important cost-effective methods in minimising generation and preventing ingress of pollutants. Existing ventilation standards are often not met, even when mechanical and hybrid ventilation systems are already in place, but can often be achieved with a fraction of a typical school budget through operational and maintenance improvements, and small-scale air-cleaning and ventilation technologies, where necessary. Full article

As digital transformation progresses, schools are increasingly confronted with psychosocial challenges such as technostress, digital overload, and unequal participation in digital (learning) environments. This article investigates the conceptual relevance of digital well-being for school development, particularly in relation to social inequality. Despite growing attention, the term remains theoretically underdefined in educational research—a gap addressed through a theory-driven review. Drawing on a systematic search, 25 key studies were analyzed for their conceptual understanding and refinement of digital well-being, with a focus on educational relevance. Findings suggest that digital well-being constitutes a multidimensional state shaped by individual, media-related, and socio-structural factors. It emerges when individuals are able to successfully manage the demands of digital environments and is closely linked to digital inequality—particularly in terms of access, usage practices, and the resulting opportunities for participation and health promotion. Since the institutional role of schools has thus far received limited attention, this article shifts the focus toward schools as key arenas for negotiating digital norms and practices and calls for an equity-sensitive and health-conscious perspective on school development in the context of digitalization. In doing so, digital well-being is repositioned as a pedagogical cross-cutting issue that requires coordinated efforts across all levels of the education system, highlighting that equitable digital transformation in schools depends on a critical reflection of power asymmetries within society and educational institutions. The article concludes by advocating for the systematic integration of digital well-being into school development processes as a way to support inclusive digital participation and to foster a health-oriented digital school culture. Full article

The accelerated transformations in the education system marked by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) require a rethinking of pedagogical approaches. The VUCA environment requires a new educational management system in line with new technological trends in order to respond effectively to all the internal and external factors that may affect the quality of teaching. A particularly important course of action is updating teaching methods by combining traditional teaching methods with new interactive methods that promote the introduction of certain digital applications during the teaching of new topics. In this sense, the quantitative research carried out in the present study among second-year students from the psycho-pedagogical program organized by the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania, has highlighted the fact that innovative teaching methods are more effective, contributing to the development of personality and communication skills among pupils and students. Also, the results obtained after applying the Mann–Whitney test showed that there is a significant difference between students involved in different educational activities and those who do not have contact with the educational environment in terms of perceiving the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of the educational environment. At the same time, in the context of the VUCA world, in order to ensure the effectiveness of the teaching–learning process, teachers need to develop new skills such as stress management, adaptability, creativity, technological skills, and time management. Addressing the specific competencies that teachers need to acquire in order to improve their teaching and to respond effectively to the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity in education, this study contributes to the creation of a sustainable education system, which is able to cope with all transformations (technological, legislative, socio-economic, etc.). The article is based on the results obtained in the postdoctoral research conducted at the end of 2024. Full article

Teacher education plays a key role in promoting inclusion and educational equity, especially in contexts characterised by increasing socio-cultural diversity and technological advancement. In this framework, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and digital technologies are presented as complementary and innovative strategies to create accessible, flexible, and motivating learning environments for all students. The study analysed the impact of UDL-focused learning activities and integrated Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). A comparative tool was applied before and after the intervention to measure the level of knowledge, perception, and digital competence of prospective teachers. Statistical analyses were carried out to evaluate the changes obtained. Findings reveal significant improvements in knowledge about UDL, as well as positive perceptions of ICT as a resource for inclusion. Participants demonstrated a greater understanding of UDL principles and strengthened their digital competences to design educational proposals adapted to diversity. The research confirms the value of integrating UDL and ICT in teacher training, fostering inclusive educational practices. It highlights the need to strengthen training programmes that respond to the current challenges of the education system. Full article

(1) Background: As digitalisation transforms society, digital competences are increasingly essential. Yet students’ digital competences often vary significantly, largely influenced by socio-economic background. Some schools—termed “resilient schools”—effectively counter these disadvantages and foster high digital competence. This study investigates the prevalence of such schools and examines how they differ from others. (2) Methods: Drawing on representative ICILS 2023 data, quantitative secondary analyses—including descriptive statistics, t-tests, and multiple regression—were conducted. Following the identification of resilient schools, in-depth analyses focus on those countries with substantial proportions of resilient schools above 10 percent (Austria, Italy, and Portugal), as these countries seem to have effective strategies to foster school resilience. (3) Results: The findings highlight considerable cross-national variation, indicating that school resilience is context-dependent. Resilient schools consistently emphasise student learning-related factors—such as ICT-related attitudes and educational aspirations—while the influence of home environments is less pronounced than in other schools. (4) Conclusions: Strengthening student learning-related factors appears to be crucial for building digital resilience. These insights can inform policy and practice aimed at fostering educational equity and closing the digital divide, particularly in socio-economically disadvantaged contexts. Full article

Background/Objectives: Despite its well-established health benefits, adherence to the Mediterranean lifestyle (MedLife) has declined globally, including in its region of origin, alongside a significant shift toward ultra-processed food consumption. Understanding the factors associated with MedLife adherence is essential for developing targeted interventions and tailored policy recommendations. As part of the MEDIET4ALL PRIMA project, this cross-sectional study aimed to comprehensively examine geo-demographic, socio-economic, psychological, behavioral, and barrier-related factors associated with and potentially contributing to MedLife adherence. Methods: Data were collected from 4010 participants aged 18 years and above across ten Mediterranean and neighboring countries using the multinational MEDIET4ALL e-survey, which included the validated MedLife index, along with various other questionnaires. Results: Results indicate that only 22% of respondents demonstrated high adherence to the Mediterranean lifestyle (MedLife), with significant variability observed across countries, age groups, education levels, and health statuses. Spain had the highest proportion of participants with high adherence (38%). Factors associated with significantly higher adherence rates include older age, living in the Mediterranean region, higher education levels, a greater awareness of MedLife principles, lower perceived barriers, normal BMI, better health status, and stable economic and marital conditions (p-values ranging from 0.04 to <0.001). Additionally, individuals with high MedLife adherence exhibited more socially and physically active lifestyles and experienced less psychological strain (p < 0.001). Regression analyses identified MedLife awareness as the strongest positive predictor of adherence (β = 0.206), followed by social participation (β = 0.194) and physical activity (β = 0.096). Additional positive contributors include life satisfaction, sleep quality, living in the Mediterranean region, age, and education (β ranging from 0.049 to 0.093). Conversely, factors that are negatively associated with adherence include sedentary behavior, living environment, and barriers such as low motivation, taste dislike, price unaffordability, limited availability, and the time-consuming nature of preparing Mediterranean food (MedFood; β ranging from −0.036 to −0.067). Conclusions: These findings indicate that fewer than one in four adults across Mediterranean and neighboring countries demonstrate high adherence to MedLife, supporting prior evidence of suboptimal adherence even within Mediterranean regions. This study identified a range of behavioral, socio-demographic, and environmental factors—both positive and negative predictors—that can help guide the design of targeted, culturally adapted interventions to promote MedLife behavior. Future research should incorporate objective measurements and longitudinal monitoring to better understand underlying mechanisms, establish causality, and develop sustainable strategies for enhancing MedLife adherence in diverse populations. Full article

The research on teaching scaffolding for preschool children’s oral language development (OLD) has become an important topic in the academic world. However, there remains a lack of evidence-based research on the integration of scaffolding strategies integrated into creative art contexts to support children’s creative expression and language production. In this study, a qualitative case study was conducted to analyze the non-participatory observation and artwork analysis of five-year-old children’s drawing activities in a kindergarten in China based on socio-cultural and scaffolding theories. Three types of core scaffolding strategies were summarized. The findings reveal that the three strategies work together dynamically within the children’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): (1) the visual prompt strategy enriches the vocabulary diversity of metaphors, adjectives, and ordinal words; (2) dialogic narrative co-construction effectively improves narrative coherence across exposition, rising action, climax, and resolution; and (3) emotional engagement strategies foster a safe expressive environment, promoting the integration of affective vocabulary with intrinsic motivation. Accordingly, a three-dimensional integrated “visual-linguistic-emotional” scaffolding model was constructed, emphasizing the practical guidelines of simultaneous scaffolding and gradual scaffolding withdrawal during the warm-up, creation, and sharing sessions of the drawing activity. This study expands the application of scaffolding theory in unstructured art contexts, and provides a systematic practical framework for the design of cross-contextual language support strategies and teacher training in preschool education. Full article

This study investigates the impact of transformational leadership and the work environment on teacher performance, with a particular focus on how the work environment moderates this relationship within crisis-affected educational settings. A quantitative, survey-based approach was adopted, utilizing a random sample of 509 teachers from various schools across Lebanon. Data analysis was conducted using Smart PLS 4 to assess direct and moderating relationships. The results reveal that while the work environment has a strong and significant positive effect on teacher performance, transformational leadership does not exhibit a statistically significant direct impact. This contrasts with prior studies conducted in stable educational settings, where transformational leadership has consistently been linked to improved teacher performance. The findings suggest that prolonged socio-economic and political crises shift teachers’ reliance more toward a supportive work environment, as basic stability and resource availability become more critical determinants of performance. In such conditions, leadership effectiveness appears contingent on the presence of a positive work environment. This study contributes to the literature by highlighting the fundamental role of the work environment in shaping leadership effectiveness and teacher performance in crisis contexts. It offers empirical insights to inform leadership practices and policy interventions in fragile educational systems. Full article

Desktop Virtual Worlds (DVWs) offer unique spatial affordances for education, yet understanding of how these environments support meaningful learning experiences remains limited. This study introduces the Socio-Spatial Embodiment Model, a novel framework conceptualizing learning in DVWs as shaped by the interconnection of embodied presence, place-making, and community formation. Through semi-structured interviews conducted with 14 experienced educators from the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium, we investigated how these dimensions intersect and what design strategies facilitate this integration. Thematic analysis revealed that strategic design employs cognitive offloading techniques and biophilic metaphors to enhance embodied presence, balance familiar elements with spatial innovations to create meaningful places, and leverage synchronous engagement with institutional identity markers to facilitate learning communities. Our findings identified design strategies that facilitate stronger perceived student connections to the learning environment and community, when DVW designs address spatial, emotional, social, and cultural factors while reinforcing both cognitive and perceptual processes. This research advances understanding of embodied learning in virtual environments by identifying the dynamic interdependence among presence, place, and community, providing practical strategies for educators in creating more meaningful virtual learning experiences. Full article

Climate change, urbanization, and socio-economic inequality are increasing the severity of urban challenges, emphasizing the imperative for a resilient built environment. Yet, architectural education has lagged in adopting resilience principles into its central curricula. This paper critiques dominant pedagogical paradigms and identifies shortcomings in interdisciplinary collaboration, digital tool adoption, and practical problem-solving. Moving its focus from local to international best practices for resilience, the study extracts key dimensions for learning architecture and explores case studies in leading schools that reflect pioneering, resilience-centric pedagogies. The findings highlight the importance of scenario-based learning, participatory design, and the use of technologies like AI, GIS, and digital twins to strengthen resilience. The article also explores how policy reformulation, accreditation mandates, and cross-sector collaborations can enforce the institutionalization of resilience education. It demands a pedagogical shift toward climate adaptation design studios, inter/transdisciplinary methods, and technological skills. The study ends with action guidelines for teachers, policymakers, and industry professionals who want to ensure that architectural education becomes responsive to resilient urban futures. Full article

The article analyzes the meanings embedded in street art in Florence that portrays women, likely created by female artists. Between 18 May and 27 May 2024, during the Communities and Artistic Participation in Hybrid Environment (CAPHE) project, we observed a significant number of feminist street art pieces in Florence’s historic center. Using qualitative content analysis based on Gillian Rose’s methodology (2016), we interpreted the collected visual materials through semiotic and socio-cultural lenses. The findings revealed the deliberately interventionist nature of the analyzed works, addressing themes such as gender inequality, human rights, violence against women, and cultural stereotypes. This street art serves as a social manifesto and a means of activating both the local community and tourists, aligning with global feminist discourse while addressing Florence’s local issues. We conclude that Florence’s street art provides a space for visual resistance, education, and the promotion of gender equality and women’s emancipation in the context of contemporary social challenges. Full article

Challenge, adventure, and risky play have repeatedly been found to be learning environments that positively shape childhood well-being and development. Extant evidence-based research conveys the physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional growth associated with risky play provision. However, understanding the interplay of risky play, injury, and safety is more nuanced and complex. The goal of this paper is to introduce a tool which allows educators, parents, health practitioners, urban planners, playground designers, certifiers, manufacturers, and inspectors to estimate both the benefit and risk of outdoor play and learning settings, such as playgrounds, adventure parks, or risk-taking activities. One of the key challenges associated with societal risk appetite or risk tolerance has been the inability to quantify the inherent benefits of risk taking in playgrounds and educational settings. Historically, the assessment of ‘benefit–risk’ has been dominated by a zero tolerance of incidents, whether in the workplace or road safety settings. Against this backdrop, if playgrounds and outdoor learning settings are boring, children will go elsewhere to seek thrills and adventure, which may often be manifested in antisocial behaviour. In 2023, ‘benefit–risk’ was formally recognised in the area of sport and recreation by the International Organisation for Standardisation, when it published the ISO 4980:2023 benefit–risk assessment for sport and recreational facilities, activities, and equipment. ISO 4980:2023 is a departure from the traditional view of risk management, in that it presents a perspective of risk which is not limited to framing risk as negative, but rather balances the calculation of positive benefits as well as the risks associated with the activity. Correspondingly, hazardous situations which have zero benefit should be eliminated or mitigated. The tool introduced in this paper offers playground inspectors and educators the ability to measure and assess both the benefit and risk of outdoor playgrounds and educational settings where children play, learn, and flourish. Full article

Background: Multicultural education and second-language acquisition engaged neural networks, supporting executive function, memory, and social cognition in adulthood, represent powerful forms of brain-inspired multisensory learning. The neuroeducational framework integrates neuroscience with pedagogical practice to understand how linguistically and culturally rich environments drive neuroplasticity and cognitive adaptation in adult learners. Objective: This systematic review synthesizes findings from 80 studies examining neuroplasticity and cognitive outcomes in adults undergoing multicultural and second-language acquisition, focusing on underlying neural mechanisms and educational effectiveness. Methods: The analysis included randomized controlled trials and longitudinal studies employing diverse neuroimaging techniques (fMRI, MEG, DTI) to assess structural and functional brain network changes. Interventions varied in terms of immersion intensity (ranging from limited classroom contact to complete environmental immersion), multimodal approaches (integrating visual, auditory, and kinesthetic elements), feedback mechanisms (immediate vs. delayed, social vs. automated), and learning contexts (formal instruction, naturalistic acquisition, and technology-enhanced environments). Outcomes encompassed cognitive domains (executive function, working memory, attention) and socio-emotional processes (empathy, cultural adaptation). Results: Strong evidence demonstrates that multicultural and second-language acquisition induce specific neuroplastic adaptations, including enhanced connectivity between language and executive networks, increased cortical thickness in frontal–temporal regions, and white matter reorganization supporting processing efficiency. These neural changes are correlated with significant improvements in working memory, attentional control, and cognitive flexibility. Immersion intensity, multimodal design features, learning context, and individual differences, including age and sociocultural background, moderate the effectiveness of interventions across adult populations. Conclusions: Adult multicultural and second-language acquisition represents a biologically aligned educational approach that leverages natural neuroplastic mechanisms to enhance cognitive resilience. Findings support the design of interventions that engage integrated neural networks through rich, culturally relevant environments, with significant implications for cognitive health across the adult lifespan and for evidence-based educational practice. Full article