Given curiosity’s fundamental role in motivation and learning and considering the widespread use of digital stories as educational tools from the preschool age, we pursued measuring preschoolers’ curiosity when interacting with digital stories. Using 129 toddlers and preschoolers as a sample, three groups (one for each class) were given different versions of the same digital story to listen to: interactive, non-interactive, and animated. Toddlers' verbal and nonverbal behaviors were utilized to quantify curiosity as a condition brought on by the app. The participants' verbal and nonverbal behaviors were recorded during the digital reading aloud. Every child's data was encoded at one-minute intervals to examine concurrent behavior, and the results were then compiled. The findings show that interactive presentation formats encourage more touching and language use but less noise production and that interaction and the creative use of hot spots in digital illustrations are key elements in piquing viewers' curiosity while contributing to the strengthening of the engagement to the activity and the cultivation of critical thinking, creativity, and imagination.

One of the ways to enhance and improve the quality of learning delivery is through the use of technology, particularly the Internet, which facilitates faster and easier access to information. This research aims to explore the degree to which factors such as digital literacy, metacognitive awareness, meaningful learning, habits of using smartphones, and personal learning competence are related to one another. Both the relationship between metacognitive awareness and personal learning competence, as well as the relationship between smartphone habits and personal learning competence, are moderated by a moderating variable known as the fear of missing out. Fear of missing out is a moderating variable. Structural equation modeling, specifically partial least squares, was employed to analyze data from 597 engineering students. SmartPLS version 4 was the tool used for this analysis. The study found that the moderating variable, fear of missing out, significantly impacts metacognitive awareness, learning personal competence, and smartphone habits, making it a crucial factor to investigate. This result is significant because it is a variable that influences the learning that students go through for their education and because it is an extremely important thing to investigate.

With the current rate of technological advancements, higher education institutions around the world are increasingly adopting a wide variety of technology-related approaches to instruction. One of the teaching strategies used on digital platforms that has been successfully and widely adopted in higher education institutions is blended learning (BL). The objective of this investigation is to provide a comprehensive examination of the research efforts on BL in the context of higher education (HE) over the past 20 years, including the rise in publications, the most cited scientific journals and sources, and the upcoming research topics. This paper uses bibliometric analysis with a dataset of 651 documents from Scopus data, including 638 authors from 95 countries published in 271 journal sources. The results of the study show that the top three countries for BL research in higher education are the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia; the authors with the highest citation indexes are D. R. Garrison and B. Means, and the top two publishing sources are Education and Information Technologies and Internet and Higher Education. Based on the analysis, the main trends detected are (a) student participation and environment, (b) educational technology instructional innovation, (c) effective instructional strategies within the parameters of the COVID-19 pandemic, (d) effectiveness of evaluation in BL environments and (e) BL with Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Learning Management System (LMS) in HE. These findings offer meaningful insights to early career researchers who consult the publications and research lists above, as well as to policy makers who develop suitable BL in HE policies.

In an era where diversity and digitalization significantly influence higher education, understanding and adapting to various learning preferences is crucial. This study comprehensively analyzes 394 scholarly articles from 1984 to 2022 using bibliometric methods, providing a dynamic overview of the research patterns in learning styles within higher education. We identified four stages of development during this period: 1984–1995 (Low-interest), 1996–2005 (Early development), 2006–2018 (Development), and 2019–2022 (Intensification). Our analysis highlights that the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia were the top three leading publishers of research on learning styles in higher education. The results reveal three main topics of publications: educational technology, learning environments, and subject behaviors. This research not only identifies emerging research topics but also underscores the importance of adapting instructional strategies to diverse learning styles to enhance educational outcomes in higher education.

Emotional empathy, mindfulness, and subjective well-being are essential to understanding human behavior and mental health among students. However, more research is needed to investigate how these constructs interplay within academic contexts. This study explored the hierarchical relationships between emotional empathy, mindfulness, and subjective well-being. The Multidimensional Emotional Empathy Scale (MDEES), The Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS), and the Subjective Well-Being Scale (WeBs) were administered with a sample of postgraduate professional diplomas in teaching students attending Al Ain University in Abu Dhabi campus and Al Ain campus (n = 1545). The results showed that emotional empathy (positive sharing, suffering, feeling for others, and emotional contagion) positively affects physical and eudaimonic well-being. A negative correlation was found between financial and social well-being and other components of emotional empathy, such as emotional attention and responsive crying. Mindfulness significantly improves emotional empathy in components like describing, accepting without judgment, and observing. This study revealed that some components of mindfulness, such as observing and acting with awareness, decrease emotional empathy, such as suffering and feeling for others. Acting with the awareness component in mindfulness decreases positive sharing, responsive crying, and emotional contagion. Future research could explore these relationships further and examine potential cultural differences.

The wide use of the Internet of Things (IoT) in all spheres of life has led to a surge of cyberbullying among learners worldwide. That is why it cannot be denied that underlying factors, manifestations, consequences, and preventive measures of cyberbullying improve the welfare and overall mental development of students. This systematic literature review examines the causes, effects, and preventive measures of cyberbullying based on empirical studies conducted on learners in various situations. The review will focus on existing material published between 2015 and April 2024. For the inclusion and exclusion of literature, the Scopus online database was employed, along with the guidelines of the PRISMA model. Of 1004 studies, 51 were closely reviewed to determine the responses to the objectives of this study. NVIVO-12 was used for both thematic and content analysis in this study. The results show that there are 29 causes, 12 forms, 31 effects, and 41 different preventives for cyberbullying. The results of this study will not only enhance the comprehension of various concerns for parents, guardians, policymakers, educators, and governments but also provide valuable insights to researchers for addressing this issue.

School dropout intention and reduced academic achievement are two crucial indicators of school dropout risk. Past studies have shown that school performance plays a mediating role in the models explaining dropout intentions. School burnout and test anxiety have been identified as predictors of both academic performance and school dropout. However, their combined effects on the intention to leave school have not yet been investigated. We aimed to address this gap by exploring the predictors of school dropout intention in a sample of 205 French secondary school students. Structural equation modelling analyses have revealed the specific facets of school burnout (devaluation) and test anxiety (cognitive interference) that explained the school dropout intentions and academic performance. Grade Point Average (GPA) was a mediator of the effects of these variables on the intention to drop out of school. The findings highlight the need to acknowledge assessments as a school stress factor that could contribute to health problems and intentions to drop out of school.

Psychological capital (PsyCap) emerges as a pivotal asset for mitigating student burnout in college settings, as it bolsters their learning empowerment and engagement. However, there have been inadequate empirical studies investigating the significance of these resources in promoting engagement and empowerment, ultimately leading to a reduction in students’ burnout within the context of higher education. To bridge this gap, we examined the extent to which PsyCap predicts student burnout through its impacts on academic engagement and learner empowerment. The sample of the study was college students (N = 562) who completed a battery of self-report questionnaires measuring their PsyCap, academic engagement, learner empowerment, and student burnout. We employed hierarchical multiple regression analyses and PROCESS macro to ascertain prediction and serial mediation effects. The results substantiated the hypotheses that PsyCap positively related to learner empowerment and academic engagement while negatively associated with student burnout. Further, students with higher levels of learner empowerment and engagement reported lower levels of burnout in their academic studies. The mediational results also revealed that engagement and learner empowerment acted as significant serial mediators between PsyCap and student burnout. The study’s findings underscore the critical significance of PsyCap within higher education, particularly in nurturing learner empowerment, and engagement, thereby reducing student burnout.

This complex personality trait serves as the main topic of our paper due to the increasing prevalence of perfectionism as well as the rising demands from educational organizations. Our paper can fill a research gap by examining its definitions, models, components, and influencing elements (personality, gender, and immediate environment) in addition to the role of perfectionism in secondary and tertiary education. We assume that perfectionism in higher education is based on its development at secondary school, and it is becoming more intense in time. In 2023 the authors conducted a survey among Hungarian university students to determine the degree to which the participants pursue perfectionism in their professional and personal lives. The questionnaire finally resulted in 550 responses. The findings of our research suggest that women tend to be more perfectionist, but the picture is differently deemed by individuals than by their immediate surroundings. Another noteworthy result revealed that personal perfectionism also depends on the people with whom those who consider themselves perfectionists live. Our SEM model also showed that perfectionism is stronger throughout university studies and that it might be descended from secondary school perfectionism. Personality traits do affect perfectionism at school, which intensifies in higher education after graduating from secondary school.

In this article, we present a study that examined the effects of visual art activities on the realization of aspects of empowerment in a blind ninth-grade elementary school female student with minimal residual vision. We focused on three key aspects: well-being, positive self-image, and empowerment of strengths and weaknesses. In addition to the student, her mother and a personal assistant who accompanies the student during each activity in art class participated in the study. Based on initial interviews with all three participants, we developed ten visual art activities that address at least one of the listed aspects in different ways. Based on interviews, rating scales, observations and analysis of the visual art solutions, we found that visual art activities have a significant impact on improving a person's well-being, helping to strengthen a good self-image, reinforcing strong areas and developing weaker ones. In the future, we could broaden the range of psychological aspects that could be influenced by artistic activities, and we would also obtain more interesting and reliable results if more people with different special needs were included in the research.

Augmented reality offers diverse potential applications for STEM education, enabling students to engage directly with virtual elements in real-time and providing them with immersive, natural experiences. This study conducted a bibliometric analysis of articles on this topic on the Scopus database to determine some quantitative information, such as general information about publications, countries, institutions, authors with the most contributions, and key trends in applying augmented reality technology in STEM education. An analysis of 201 studies published from 2005 to 2023 using Biblioshiny software and VOSviewer reveals that the United States leads in the number of studies conducted on this issue. Kryvyi Rih National University, Ukraine, has the most studies. The authors who contributed the most studies with the most citations on this issue are Lindner, C. and Rienow, A. from Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. Two primary research trends emerge, focusing on how Augmented Reality technology is utilized, particularly in STEM fields like Chemistry, which combines learning forms with other learning support tools and media such as mobile applications. Secondly, integrating augmented reality and virtual reality technologies into STEM programs at the university level, design of games, and virtual tools. This study offers important data for researchers looking to explore future applications of augmented reality technology within STEM education.

The concept of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) is presented as a framework that guides how to effectively integrate technologies in the educational environment. Through this model, we investigate the ethical implications related to the use of digital tools in teaching, and we outline the necessary knowledge that educators should have to address these issues of ethics and technology in the classroom. We assess the professional, ethical knowledge of pre-service teachers regarding their use of technologies using a descriptive and exploratory mixed-methods approach. The data for this research come from a Likert-scale questionnaire administered to 616 teacher-training students in Spain, as well as from personal interviews with 411 of them. From these data, we identify four of the eight dimensions of ethical knowledge: professional, ethical knowledge, ethics in the use of technologies, pedagogy for their integration in the classroom, and the use of content specific to the disciplines of pre-service teachers. The results obtained indicate that the preparation of educators with professional, ethical knowledge in training is insufficient, which highlights the need to address this issue in the post-pandemic context of the 21st century. Among the difficulties detected, it should be noted that this study is limited to a European university and a sample chosen for convenience, so it would be advisable to extend the study to other European universities.

The education of gifted students is often characterized by high expectations, ambitious goals, and significant effort invested in learning. Their experiences of success and failure are shaped by a variety of factors, including personal, family, school, cultural, and social influences. This article examines how gifted students perceive and experience their own successes and failures, as well as how these experiences are perceived and responded to by their peers. Using qualitative methods, the study involved semi-structured interviews with thirty gifted students from seventh to ninth grades across ten elementary schools in Slovenia. The findings indicate that gifted students experience a range of emotions in response to success, from satisfaction to anxiety, while their reactions to failure often involve frustration and self-criticism. Peer responses to their success and failure vary significantly, ranging from supportive encouragement to jealousy and social exclusion. These findings highlight the complex interpersonal dynamics at play within school environments. Understanding and addressing these dynamics is crucial for creating inclusive, supportive, and stimulating learning environments that nurture both the academic and social-emotional well-being of gifted students.

The integration of AI tools in education is reshaping how students view and interact with their learning experiences. As AI usage continues to grow, it becomes increasingly important to understand how students' perceptions of AI technology impact their academic performance and learning behaviours. To investigate these effects, we conducted a correlational study with a sample of 44 students to examine the relationship between students' perceptions of ChatGPT’s utility—focusing on usage frequency, perceived usefulness, accuracy, reliability, and time efficiency—and key academic outcomes, including content mastery, confidence in knowledge, and grade improvement. Additionally, we explored how these perceptions influence student behaviours, such as reliance on ChatGPT, procrastination tendencies, and the potential risk of plagiarism. The canonical correlation analysis revealed a statistically significant relationship between students' perceptions of ChatGPT's utility and their academic outcomes. Students who viewed ChatGPT as reliable and efficient tended to report higher grades, improved understanding of the material, and greater confidence in their knowledge. Furthermore, the bivariate correlation analysis revealed a significant relationship between dependency on ChatGPT and procrastination (r = 0.546, p < .001), indicating that a higher reliance on AI tools may contribute to increased procrastination. No statistically significant association was identified between ChatGPT dependency and the risk of plagiarism. Future research should prioritize the development of strategies that promote the effective use of AI while minimizing the risk of over-reliance. Such efforts can enhance academic integrity and support independent learning. Educators play a critical role in this process by guiding students to balance the advantages of AI with the cultivation of critical thinking skills and adherence to ethical academic practices.

This study aims to develop and validate a green behavior instrument based on local potential using structural equation modeling (SEM) with smart partial least squares (SmartPLS). The instrument consists of 40 statements covering five main indicators: environmental maintenance, waste reduction, saving natural resources, sustainable mobility and consumption, and community education. This study addresses a gap in existing research by creating a context-specific tool for assessing green behavior, incorporating local cultural and ecological factors. While prior studies emphasize global sustainability principles, they often overlook the significance of local practices and values, which are essential for effective environmental education. By integrating local potential, this instrument bridges global sustainability goals with regional contexts, enabling meaningful and practical student engagement. The instrument was validated through content validity testing, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and construct validity and reliability testing using SEM with SmartPLS. The results indicate strong content validity, with content validity index (CVI) values ranging from .80 to .90. After analysis, 34 valid items were retained from the initial 40. This study contributes to the literature by developing an instrument that aligns with global sustainability goals while integrating local cultural practices and ecological contexts. It offers insights into how local knowledge enhances sustainability education, providing a holistic framework for assessing green behavior across diverse regions.

This study examines how work well-being is addressed in Finnish leadership education programs. The data consist of 91 publicly available course descriptions from Finnish leadership education programs in 2023, including those for master’s degrees from universities of applied sciences, traditional university-level leadership programs, and specialist vocational qualifications in leadership and business management. The study uses content analysis to examine the role of work well-being in leadership training. The results indicate that work well-being is often linked to organizational performance and treated as a tool for achieving economic goals, with less emphasis on the inherent value of employee well-being. This instrumental approach is prevalent across the different types of leadership training programs, including those found in the universities of applied sciences, traditional universities, and programs for specialist vocational qualifications in leadership and business management. The study also finds that leadership training programs often emphasize self-leadership and personal development, which can perpetuate a culture of individual responsibility for well-being and may lead to superficial leadership practices. The study concludes that Finnish leadership educators should prioritize holistic approaches to work well-being in leadership training, emphasizing its intrinsic value alongside its role in organizational performance, while researchers could explore methods to integrate and evaluate these balanced perspectives in diverse educational contexts.

This study examines the factors influencing English language achievement among non-English major undergraduate students in Thailand, with a specific focus on the differences between high-achieving and low-achieving learners. Conducted at Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna, this research adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative data from questionnaires and qualitative insights from semi-structured interviews. Three primary influencing factors were identified: student-related factors (e.g., motivation and self-regulated learning), teacher-related factors (e.g., pedagogical practices and teacher-student interactions), and environmental factors (e.g., availability of learning resources). Student motivation and self-regulation emerged as the strongest predictors of success, while teacher-related factors unexpectedly showed a negative influence, suggesting a misalignment between teaching strategies and student needs. Environmental factors, though positively perceived, had a less direct impact on outcomes. Practical implications include enhancing intrinsic motivation, adopting tailored teaching strategies to meet diverse learner needs, and strengthening teacher-student relationships to support low-achieving students. Policymakers are encouraged to address resource disparities and develop targeted interventions to enhance English language proficiency among students.

This study evaluates the impact of an educational intervention strategy – Project-Based Learning (PBL) – designed to enhance university students' knowledge of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), their integration into academic curricula, and their relevance for future professional and personal applications. The research is motivated by the recognised importance of the SDGs in education and the current limited integration and understanding within higher education settings. The study applied a pre-test and post-test experimental design used, involving 199 first-year students from the University of Cordoba (Spain), enrolled in Primary and Early Childhood Education programmes. The intervention comprised PBL activities aimed at increasing knowledge and perceptions of the SDGs. Data were collected using a questionnaire assessing three dimensions: knowledge of the SDGs, the importance of their inclusion in the curriculum, and the perceived relevance of applying SDG principles in professional and personal contexts. The findings indicate that the intervention strategy effectively improved, albeit partially, students' understanding and perception of the SDGs. There was a significant improvement in students' knowledge. However, regarding the perceived importance of integrating the SDGs into their curriculum and the relevance of the SDGs for their future professional and personal lives, no effects were observed. These results underscore the partial efficacy of PBL in promoting sustainability competences and global citizenship among students, suggesting the need to explore other pedagogical methodologies for greater effectiveness. The study advocates the integration of SDGs into higher education curricula to better prepare students for future challenges, emphasising the need for further research to explore the long-term impacts and broader applicability of such educational intervention.

Sensory integration (SI)-based intervention programs aim to improve the motor performance of children with moderate autism spectrum disorder (MASD), which may contribute to the development of their gross and fine motor skills. This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of a SI-based training program in developing gross and fine motor skills in 70 children with MASD aged 6–9 years (M = 7.11, SD ± 1.19) and selected intentionally from a daycare center in Al-Ahsa in Saudi Arabia. The study used the quasi-experimental approach and followed the experimental design with two groups, which were randomly distributed and examined for equivalence. The study also used the Gross Motor Skills Scale (GMSS), the Fine Motor Skills Scale (FMSS), and the training program based on SI. The study found that the experimental group had significantly higher post-test scores in the GMSS and the FMSS than the control group, with these differences being statistically significant. However, no significant difference was observed between the post-test scores and the follow-up test scores within the experimental group, indicating stability in their performance over time. This indicates the effectiveness of the training program used in developing the targeted skills and the continuation of the training effect after the program’s application period. The study suggests that children should use SI-based training programs to enhance their motor skills.

Work-based learning (WBL) is an important tool for enhancing students' employability skills in vocational education and training. Many studies have underlined the importance of a variable of WBL, self-efficacy, and vocational identity in developing vocational students' employability skills. Nonetheless, the research is limited and examined separately. Therefore, this study investigates how WBL, self-efficacy, and vocational identity influence employability skills and how self-efficacy moderates between WBL and employability skills. Four hundred and three state university students in Yogyakarta were involved in the data collection. This study used structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis to test its hypothesis. The results of the study revealed that the implementation of WBL did not have a direct effect on employability skills; however, self-efficacy was able to moderate the relationship between WBL and employability skills. However, WBL directly influences vocational identity, which in turn directly influences employability skills, while self-efficacy also directly influences employability skills. This research has important implications for improving learning that can improve students' self-efficacy skills in an effort to build students' employability skills in vocational education and training.