A guiding theory for a continuous and cohesive discussion regarding generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in science communication is still unavailable. Here, we propose a framework for characterizing, evaluating, and comparing AI-based information technologies in the context of critical engagement with scientific information in online environments. Hierarchically constructed, the framework observes technological properties, user experience, content presentation, and the context in which the technology is being used. Understandable and applicable for non-experts in AI systems, the framework affords a holistic yet practical assessment of various AI-based information technologies, providing both a reflection aid and a conceptual baseline for scholarly references.

The current study aims to identify the factors influencing the integration of robotics activities into STEM education. In addition, teachers’ sense of competence, relatedness, and autonomy regarding the integration of robotics activities in STEM classes after they participated in robotics training was examined. Sixteen middle school teachers were interviewed and answered a questionnaire to examine their perceived influential factors and their relationship to teachers’ reported self-determination in integrating robotics activities. The findings identify three main factors that influence the integration of robotics activities into STEM education: attitudes and affect (e.g., teachers’ sense of interest in robotics), support (e.g., principal support), and learning conditions (e.g., robotic kits and the number of students in the class). These factors are related to the needs defined by Self-Determination Theory: relatedness, autonomy, and competence. The support factor is related to the sense of relatedness, which is associated with social contacts and the development of friendships within the robotics community. In addition, the support factor is related to the sense of autonomy, which is the extent to which the teachers receive autonomy from their principal to implement robotics activities. The attitudes and affect factor is related to a sense of competence and self-efficacy to implement these activities. Satisfying these needs may encourage teachers to adopt robotics activities into their lessons.

This book layouts historic and future perspectives at the introduction of technology into education systems: On the one hand, the book attempts to explain why despite numerous attempts, technology has struggled to integrate successfully into the education system for over a century; on the other hand, it explores whether this trend will persist in the foreseeable future, questioning if emerging technologies, like virtual reality or Gen-AI will ever be embraced by education systems worldwide, and introducing a hypothesis that these technologies will become inevitable so that education systems will have a little choice in adopting them. The underlying perspective is that education systems need to prepare for this new future and better start doing so now.

Recent research has highlighted the role of science education in reducing beliefs in science-related misinformation and stressed its potential positive impact on decision-making and behavior. This study implemented the Elaboration Likelihood Model to explore how individuals' abilities and motivation interact with the type of processing of scientific information in the peripheral vs. central persuasion routes. A representative sample of adults (N = 500) completed an online questionnaire during the second wave of COVID-19 (November 2020) focused on two COVID-19-related dilemmas involving social distancing recommendations. First, we examined whether relying on misinformation was associated with participants' stances and the complexity of their arguments and found that relying on misinformation was associated with the intention to reject social distancing recommendations and with the use of simple arguments. Second, we explored how motivation, operationalized as personal relevance, and abilities, operationalized as the highest level of science education, science knowledge, and strategies to identify misinformation, were associated with viewpoints and justifications. We found that personal relevance was associated with the intention to reject the recommendations but also with more complex arguments, suggesting that people did not intend to reject scientific knowledge but rather tended to contextualize it. Abilities were not associated with stance but were positively correlated with argument complexity. Finally, we examined whether motivation and abilities are associated with relying on scientific misinformation when making science-related decisions. Respondents with higher levels of science education and motivation relied less on misinformation, even if they did not necessarily intend to follow the health recommendations. This implies that motivation directs people to greater usage of the central processing route, resulting in more deliberative use of information. Science education, it appears, impacts the information evaluation decision-making process more than its outcome.

A unique course focusing on contemporary issues in engineering education is held at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. The course aims to expose senior engineering students to the main challenges faced by academics engaged in training engineers. The course deals with cognitive, affective and social aspects in higher engineering education, such as systems thinking, abstract thinking, motivation and soft skills. In the final project, the students present, in teams, major topics in engineering education based on a comprehensive literature review. The research described in this article characterised students’ attitudes towards the course. Thirty-nine undergraduate engineering students took part in the study. At the end of the course, the participants filled out a survey comprised of closed- and open-ended questions. According to the results, students hold positive attitudes towards the course. They claim that the course is interesting, provides a critical perspective on engineering programmes and promotes soft skills, but is also demanding.

This case study explored how Digital Curation (DC) can be applied to classroom Socio-Scientific Issues (SSI) instruction. It examined teachers’ perspectives on whether and how DC contributes to fostering the social and scientific dimensions of the SSI – the key components of the SSI-Teaching and Learning (SSI-TL) framework. Data were gathered from seven teachers during and after a professional development program on DC for science teachers designed to equip educators with resources to develop their own SSI-DC teaching units. The teachers indicated that DC enhanced the scientific and social dimensions of SSI, while also bolstering students’ digital skills, thus effectively addressing common hurdles to integrating both social and scientific dimensions in SSI instruction. Beyond presenting innovative strategies for the effective implementation of DC, the findings contribute to confirming the validity of the SSI-TL framework.

Computational thinking is accepted today as a collection of cognitive and social skills required for functioning in the 21st century. The paper presents a conceptual view at computational thinking that encompass concepts, problem-solving skills, application skills, and social skills. To impart those perceptions and skills the paper proposes the Four Pedagogies for Developing Computational Thinking (4P4CT) framework, which relies on active learning, project-based learning, product-based learning, and context-based learning, and advocates implementing computational thinking across all the education system in all subject matters at all ages by all teachers. The framework is presented and its implementation in an academic course for preservice K-12 teachers, taught so far in 16 classes attended by 409 preservice K-12 teachers, is described in detail. To support the effective development of the expected competences among preservice teachers, two types of empirical qualitative evidence, related to student outcomes, are presented: (a) simulations of computational processes, and (b) reflections that indicate a change in preservice teachers' perceptions and the application of computational thinking in their future teaching work.

Background

As artificial intelligence (AI) technology rapidly advances, it becomes imperative to equip students with tools to navigate through the many intricate ethical considerations surrounding its development and use. Despite growing recognition of this necessity, the integration of AI ethics into higher education curricula remains limited. This paucity highlights an urgent need for comprehensive ethics education initiatives in AI, particularly for science and engineering students who are at the forefront of these innovations. Hence, this research investigates the role of an online explicit-reflective learning module in fostering science and engineering graduate students' ethical knowledge, awareness, and problem-solving skills. The study’s participants included 90 graduate students specializing in diverse science and engineering research tracks. Employing the embedded mixed-methods approach, data were collected from pre- and post-intervention questionnaires with closed-ended and open-ended questions.

Results

The study's results indicate that the online explicit-reflective learning module significantly enhanced students' knowledge of AI ethics. Initially, students exhibited a medium–high level of perceived ethical awareness, which saw a modest but statistically significant enhancement following the participation. Notably, a more distinct increase was observed in students' actual awareness of ethical issues in AI, before and after the intervention. Content analysis of students’ responses to the open-ended questions revealed an increase in their ability to identify and articulate concerns relating to privacy breaches, the utilization of flawed datasets, and issues of biased social representation. Moreover, while students initially displayed limited problem-solving abilities in AI ethics, a considerable enhancement in these competencies was evident post-intervention.

Conclusions

The study results highlight the important role of explicit-reflective learning in preparing future professionals in science and engineering with the skills necessary for ethical decision-making. The study highlights the need for placing more emphasis not only on students’ ability to identify AI-related ethical issues but also on their capacity to resolve and perhaps mitigate the impact of such ethical dilemmas.

Children who live in under-resourced communities and attend under-resourced schools deserve access to high-quality teachers and educational opportunities to support their success and well-being. This study emerged from a professional development (PD) for urban teachers working in such schools, to expand educational opportunities for elementary students through outdoor science teaching. Engaging frameworks of communities of practice (CoP) and critical pedagogy of place (CPP), this critical ethnographic study investigates how urban elementary teachers engage in discourse about critical issues of place. Additionally, the investigation seeks to understand how a CoP supports such discourse. The primary data for this study were multiple sets of researcher field notes collected from participant teachers during virtual spring and in-person summer PD. Over the course of the PD, participants shifted from viewing their outdoor teaching spaces with a deficit perspective to an asset-focused one. As they visited one another’s teaching sites, the CoP the teachers were a part of created opportunity for discourse about social justice linked to issues of place within their particular school neighborhoods. The ability of urban elementary teachers to connect social justice to issues of place and to the teaching of science has implications for countering the injustice that characterizes many urban communities in the USA and elsewhere.

There is a decline in recent years in the number of students studying chemistry in higher education. Many studies have been conducted on elementary and high school students' choice with fewer focusing on the factors that influence undergraduate students to choose to major in chemistry. Research also indicates that belonging to a minority group influences the choice of pursuing science. Despite a higher percentage of Israeli Arab students studying chemistry in high school compared to Israeli Jewish students, the percentage of those who continue to study chemistry in higher education is small. They also lack sufficient representation in academia and industry. Analyzing the similarities and differences in the perceptions of Israeli Jewish and Arab students may shed light on the societal aspect and its role in shaping chemistry participation. This led us to ask the following questions concerning undergraduate chemistry students: (1) What are the factors that influence undergraduate chemistry students to choose a chemistry career? (2) What are the differences between Jewish and Arab undergraduate chemistry students in choosing chemistry career, if any? (3) How do the factors that influence chemistry career choice correlate, if at all? Guided by the social cognitive career theory (SCCT), we used quantitative and qualitative methods to identify and analyze factors and categories. These factors and categories were related to personal and environmental themes and influenced third-year chemistry undergraduate students to choose a chemistry career. 117 third-year undergraduate chemistry students took part in this research. The findings indicate that there are six major factors in choosing a career in chemistry by undergraduate students, which are divided into two themes, a personal theme, and an environmental theme. Our study shows that ‘self-efficacy – scientific/chemistry learning’ is secondary to students’ desire to complete an academic degree. The influence of their friends and family and extrinsic motivation related to rewards/status/prestige are more influential as well. When exploring differences between Israeli Jewish and Israeli Arab societies, our findings revealed variations in the factors influencing career choices. Our findings have practical implications for educational institutions aiming to foster a diverse and inclusive learning environment in chemistry education.