This study explores whether the emphasis of science news websites on dissemination over dialogue corresponds to the actual preferences of their science-oriented audiences. Based on interviews with science news website administrators (n = 8) and readers (n = 20) and two reader questionnaires (n = 89; n = 55), we found that readers favor dissemination, yet certain readers may also desire interactive discussions. Readers perceive the ability to comment as beneficial for readers and administrators; however, they do not expect administrators to engage in dialogue. Younger audiences showed a somewhat greater preference for online dialogic communication than their older counterparts.

Our goal in this study is to examine the interweaving of identifying (identity authoring ) and mathematizing of teachers in a Professional learning community (PLC) as they engage with a mathematical challenge. We rely on commognition and positioning theory to examine how storylines of teacher-students interfered with teacher-leaders' ability to hear mathematical ideas that were unfamiliar to them. We focus on one PLC session and show how the conflicts in positions, where the teacher-leader fought to maintain the identity of a mathematical leader, led to ineffectiveness of the mathematical discussion. We argue for the necessity of affording PLC participants alternative roles that would not threaten their professional identity as competent mathematics teachers.

The quality of parent-child interaction during shared reading may influence the activation and synchronization of reading-related brain networks. But could differences in brain activity while a child is listening to stories predict parent-child interaction level during reading? For this study, functional MRI including a stories listening task was performed with 22 4-year-old girls and behavioral measurement scores reflecting parent-child interaction as well as maternal depression levels affecting these interactions were collected using video observation data of a shared reading task of these children with their mothers. The study aim was to apply the fMRI stories-listening data to create a diffusion maps algorithm and then attempt to classify the level of parent-child interaction during a shared reading task outside of the scanner. The diffusion maps algorithm successfully clustered children in this manner, with higher parent-child engagement scores related to diffusion patterns in regions of the brain known to support reading. This study demonstrates that applying this diffusion maps algorithm to brain functional connectivity data can predict parent-child interaction during shared book reading. This algorithmic approach is a potential, novel, data-driven means to quantify parent-child interaction in different contexts (e.g., reading, play) and populations.

This paper examines the assertion that GenAI fundamentally disrupts computer science education (CSE) from the perspective of ten pedagogical and cognitive theories and models. To prove that GenAI disrupts CSE, it is shown that GenAI not only improves CSE, but that this improvement is achieved with less effort, in less time, and at a lower cost. Each of the ten theories and models examined serves as a lens through which the impact of GenAI on CSE is observed and analyzed. We illuminate specific aspects of CSE that are being transformed by GenAI, focusing on how these changes are making educational practices more effective from both cognitive and pedagogical perspectives, as well as more accessible, cheaper, and effortless, properties that have the potential to make GenAI a disruptive technology for CSE.The ten theories and models are grouped into three categories: Learning (Constructivism, Cognitive Load, and Motivation), Pedagogy (Bloom's Taxonomy, Assessment, Personalization/Diversity/Equity, and Didactic Transposition), and Competencies (KSA Model, Computational Thinking, and Metacognition).In addition to a theoretical examination, we present quotes of freshmen undergraduates who are studying towards a degree in either CS, electrical engineering, or data and decision sciences at our institution, the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

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.