Critical thinking (CT) consists of a deliberate and reflective process that can lead to informed decisions. It involves scrutinizing the trustworthiness and consistency of underlying assumptions, the sources of data, and the validity of other information. CT embodies deliberate, self-regulated judgment incorporating cognitive abilities such as analysis, evaluation, and inference. In this follow-up study to Gadot & Tsybulsky (2023), we confirm the role of Digital Curation (DC) as a catalyst for CT and present a structured taxonomy of DC practices that enhance CT. This taxonomy is designed to act as a systematic framework for categorizing DC tasks while capturing the personal and social facets of curation activities. The curation workflow is broken down into the acquisition and assimilation stages and incorporates the level of complexity. This classification can thus be harnessed by educators and practitioners to define the aims and competencies that are critical to fostering CT skills through DC practices.

Aim The differences between parent–child joint attention while reading together from a screen versus from a paper are unknown. The current study aimed to determine if parent–child brains synchronise differently during screen-based versus printed paper-based, in other words, a book reading. Methods The study was carried out in 2022 in Israel. Cohorts were recruited via posted ads. Cognitive and behavioural measures were assessed using standardised tests. In addition, two reading sessions were administered by the parent, one on the screen and another using a book, while electroencephalograph data captured their brain synchronisation. The difference in brain synchronisation between the conditions was correlated with behavioural measures. Results Of the 49 parent–child pairs age 3.94 years ± 0.751; 24 females who participated in language-based tasks for this study, electroencephalograph data from 11 dyads showed a higher brain-to-brain synchronisation during printed-based reading compared to screen-based reading was found and associated with the child's verbal and cognitive abilities. Conclusion Printed-paper reading fosters a higher parent–child neural synchronisation and cognitive engagement compared to screen-based reading.

Publicly accessible large language models like ChatGPT are emerging as novel information intermediaries, enabling easy access to a wide range of science-related information. This study presents survey data from seven countries (N = 4320) obtained in July and August 2023, focusing on the perception and use of GenAI for science-related information search. Despite the novelty of ChatGPT, a sizable proportion of respondents already reported using it to access science-related information. In addition, the study explores how these users perceive ChatGPT compared with traditional types of information intermediaries (e.g. Google Search), their knowledge of, and trust in GenAI, compared with nonusers as well as compared with those who use ChatGPT for other purposes. Overall, this study provides insights into the perception and use of GenAI at an early stage of adoption, advancing our understanding of how this emerging technology shapes public understanding of science issues as an information intermediary.

This study suggests the framing of structured mathematical modelling (MM) in an authentic scientific-engineering context. Taking a task design view, structure is maintained through inherent scaffolding for the dual purpose of preserving the authenticity of the extra-mathematical context and making the adaptations required to allow incorporation of the task into the duration of a regular lesson and within the full capacity of the curriculum. Participants were 23 secondary school novice mathematics teachers and two experts who possess extensive experience in MM task design. Research tools included a reflective diary filled in by the novice teachers throughout the design process, and a task design evaluation form that was filled in by the two expert designers. Both tools aimed at identifying MM task characteristics and the alignment of the designed structured MM tasks with the MM cycle phases. Findings show the presence of all the unique characteristics that underly a quality designed MM task, with relatively low presence of openness and high presence of accessibility and authenticity from the novice teachers’ point of view. The alignment with the MM cycle was further manifest in the designed tasks, with the validation phase as being less evident compared to the other MM phases. Theoretical and practical contributions are discussed in the paper, indicating the sequentially-oriented process by which the structured MM tasks scaffold students through the MM cycle.

This Special Issue brings together a collection of theoretical and empirical articles that variously apply, critique, and extend the concept of cosmopolitan nationalism. They mainly build on Maxwell, Yemini, Engel, and Lee’s (Citation2020) work that laid out the conceptual underpinnings of cosmopolitan nationalism and a growing body of work that has used it as an analytical lens to view education in an increasingly interconnected world (Poole & Qin, Citation2024; Wright, Lin, & Lu, Citation2024; Wright, Ma, & Auld, Citation2022; Yemini, Engel, Lee, & Maxwell, Citation2021; Yemini, Maxwell, Wright, Engel, & Lee, Citation2024). The overarching objective was to move beyond a portrayal of cosmopolitanism and nationalism as diametrically opposed to one another. The national and the global have so frequently been held in binary terms, dating back to decades-old discussions related to globalisation and debates over the weak-state vs. the strong-state in education policy formation (Engel, Citation2009). Scholars have continued to grapple with global education reforms in national spaces, seeking to understand the complex ways that global, national, and local ideas intersect, compete, marry, and become championed or resisted across different systems (e.g., Rizvi & Lingard, Citation2009; Tröhler, Piattoeva, & Pinar, Citation2022; Verger, Lubienski, & Steiner-Khamsi, Citation2016). Rather than being an oxymoron, cosmopolitan nationalism is put forward in this Special Issue as an analytical lens to understand the ambivalent values, motives, and/or processes that inform education policy and practice. Specifically, it refers to the

Objective:Reading difficulties (RD) frequently co-occur with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and children with both RD + ADHD often demonstrate greater challenges in reading and executive functions (EF) than those with RD-only.Methods:This study examined the effect of a 4-week EF-based reading intervention on behavioral and neurobiological correlates of EF among 8–12 y.o. English-speaking children with RD + ADHD (n = 19), RD-only (n = 18), and typically developing children (n = 18). Behavioral and resting-state fMRI data were collected from all participants before and after 4 weeks of the EF-based reading computerized program. Group (RD + ADHD, RD-only, typical readers) x Test (pre- and post-intervention) repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted for reading, EF, and brain functional connectivity (FC) measures.Results:Across groups, reading (fluency, comprehension) and EF (inhibition, speed of processing) behavioral performance improved following the intervention. Exploratory subgroup comparisons revealed that children with RD + ADHD, but not RD-only, showed significant gains in reading comprehension, whereas inhibition improved in both RD groups, but not among typical readers. Furthermore, across groups, FC between the frontoparietal (FP) and cingulo-opercular (CO) networks decreased following the intervention. Exploratory subgroup comparisons revealed that children with RD + ADHD, but not RD-only, showed a significant decrease in FC of FP-CO and FP-dorsal attention network.Conclusions:These results support the differential response to an EF-based reading intervention of children with RD with and without comorbid ADHD at brain and behavioral levels.

Online Collaborative Writing (OCW) is a prevalent practice among undergraduate students, yet challenges arising from a lack of group awareness (GA) often hinder effective collaboration. To address such challenges, this study included three phases: (1) A preliminary study (n=9) aimed to identify challenges that undergraduate students face while engaging in asynchronous OCW. (2) A GA tool (i.e., SITU) was designed to address the identified challenges by allowing students to invite their peers to edit specific sections of the document and provide written feedback. (3) The effect of SITU on students’ online writing behaviors and peer editing outcomes was evaluated. Students in the experimental group (n=32) worked on an OCW task with SITU while students in the control group (n=30) worked without it. Employing a mixed-methods research design, data were collected via screen-capture recordings of students’ writing processes and group interviews. Results from the preliminary study revealed that students experienced discomfort in editing parts of the shared document written by peers and encountered difficulties in coordinating task-related activities. The main study revealed that collaborative writing with SITU led to an almost twofold increase in the time students spent on conducting major edits to paragraphs written by peers.

The prevalence of diseases stemming from poor nutrition emphasizes the importance of educating people about healthy eating habits. One approach to achieving this is through educational escape games, which embody the features of a situated learning environment. Utilized the situated learning theory as a theoretical and methodological framework, the goal of our study was to examine the role of science-based educational escape games in facilitating knowledge construction and awareness about healthy nutrition. The study was conducted in the setting of a science teacher preparation program, where 165 preservice science teachers were engaged in an escape game named Zombie Attack about proteins in food and the human body. The study applied the pretest-posttest design, in which quantitative and qualitative data were collected concurrently before and after game participation. The findings showed that the escape game experience had a positive effect on the participants’ knowledge gain associated with topics such as energy of macronutrients, protein percent daily value, and proteins in the body. With regards to awareness about healthy nutrition, the study identified five types: Health, Composition, Environment, Source, and Ethics, with a significant gain in all categories following the escape game experience. Overall, the study advocates the use of escape games as a method for fostering interactive learning of scientific concepts, encouraging collaborative problem-solving, and facilitating self-reflection activities.

The expanded Simple View of Reading model suggests language processing and word reading as contributors to reading comprehension and points at the participation of executive functions as supporting these abilities. Switching and inhibition are both executive functions (EF) contributing to reading, especially in languages with two writing systems—shallow and deep, such as Hebrew. Here, we aimed to determine the specific role of switching/inhibition both cognitively and neurobiologically in the Simple View of Reading model among 49 eight- to 12-year-old Hebrew-speaking children. Children underwent reading and cognitive behavioural testing as well as a five-min resting-state fMRI scan. Functional connectivity of the fronto-parietal network related to switching/inhibition was determined and included in a moderation model. Results suggest that both switching/inhibition abilities and functional connectivity within the fronto-parietal network moderate the relations between word reading and reading comprehension. This strengthens the contribution of switching/inhibition to facilitating reading comprehension and supports the need to include it as part of the expanded SVR model.

Background Although it has been suggested that peer interactions that are meaningful both mathematically and dialogically are rare, not much is known about them. We draw on commognition to suggest a unified definition of dialogic mathematics peer learning as a peer interaction including two features: (a) a shift from familiar ways and rules of doing mathematics to newer, more developed ones; (b) openness to and critical engagement with each other’s suggestions that involves reliance on the more developed rules. Method We empirically demonstrate the affordances of the suggested lens by micro-analyzing five dyadic interactions of middle-school students working on a geometric task designed to encourage a shift from familiar visual/configural ways of doing geometry to more developed deductive ones. Findings Only one out of the five interactions included both features of dialogic mathematics peer learning; three interactions lacked both features; and one interaction included the openness and critical engagement feature but still not the mathematical shift feature. Contribution The paper provides discursive conceptual and methodological tools for examining the intersection between two important strands of the learning sciences—mathematics learning and dialogic learning—as well as empirical and practical conclusions that foreground the complexity and fragility of this intersection.