Biology educators increasingly teach in classrooms shaped by digital devices, projected media, bright artificial lighting, dense visual displays, and frequent movement between lecture, laboratory, and online learning tasks. These conditions are often treated as background features rather than as factors that may affect attention, engagement, and cognitive access. Cognitive load theory has helped educators analyze how instructional design can support or overload working memory; however, science educators have fewer practical frameworks for examining the combined sensory, physical, and technological demands of the learning environment. This Perspective uses the term environmental load to describe task-irrelevant cognitive demand produced by the physical, sensory, spatial, and technological conditions of biology learning environments, including lighting, noise, temperature, visual clutter, screen exposure, device interruptions, room arrangement, and limited opportunities for movement. The article situates this concept within prior work on cognitive load, student engagement, classroom design, lighting, and educational technology. It then argues that environmental load is particularly relevant in biology and laboratory learning because students must coordinate terminology, diagrams, models, procedures, safety expectations, and abstract systems while managing the physical space around them. Practical next steps include classroom environment audits, intentional screen breaks, reduced visual complexity during cognitively demanding tasks, research on sensory conditions in science classrooms, and professional development that treats cognitive access as both an instructional and environmental concern.

This study aimed to conduct a comparative assessment of mathematical competence, including vocabulary, operations, and mathematical problem-solving, in children diagnosed with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Individual assessments were administered to evaluate intelligence quotient (IQ), mathematical competence, reading, and written language for both groups (SLD: N = 17; ADHD: N = 17). The results revealed statistically significant differences between the groups in several WISC-IIIGR measures, including Verbal IQ, Information (factual knowledge, long-term memory, recall), Arithmetic (attention, concentration, numerical reasoning), Digit Span (short-term auditory memory, concentration), Picture Arrangement (planning, logical thinking, social knowledge), Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI), and Freedom from Distractibility Index (FDI), as well as in Mathematical Operations and Mathematical problem-solving. Both groups demonstrated challenges across several assessed domains. To explore these difficulties in greater depth, canonical correlation analyses (CCA) were conducted on three variable sets. Findings suggest that while both SLD and ADHD are associated with cognitive challenges, they present largely distinct patterns of cognitive deficits. Findings are interpreted in terms of differential cognitive profiles and their potential implications for differentiated instructional approaches. In particular, results are linked to the design of mathematical tasks in 5th-grade mathematics inclusive classrooms, aiming at reducing cognitive load and supporting mathematical learning in students with ADHD and SLD.

Practical, skill-based training for gender-affirming communication is persistently lacking in nursing education. Curricular content is typically brief and didactic, and there is a significant lack of systematic integration and validated assessment tools to prepare students for inclusive clinical behaviors. To increase nursing students' competence in gender-affirming communication by developing and preliminarily validating a digital microlearning system grounded in the connect, introduce, communicate, ask, respond, and exit (CICARE) model. Multiphase developmental research was conducted in accordance with the analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation instructional design model. A university nursing department in northern Taiwan. Needs assessment involved 20 stakeholders, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexual and gender minority (LGBTQ+) individuals and experienced health-care professionals. Usability testing involved 20 senior nursing students. A triangulated needs assessment was conducted through in-depth stakeholder interviews and a systematic literature review. Qualitative data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Instructional content was mapped to the CICARE communication framework, experiential learning theory, and microlearning principles. The content validity index was calculated, and system usability was evaluated through student testing. Five themes identified through reflexive thematic analysis informed the development of corresponding CICARE-aligned digital microlearning modules. Expert review yielded an overall content validity index of 0.87, and usability testing demonstrated high acceptability (mean=4.98). Qualitatively, students reported that the structured behavioral scaffolding significantly reduced their anxiety regarding pronoun use during gender-affirming interactions. The CICARE-based digital microlearning system offers a scalable, theoretically grounded intervention to translate gender-affirming communication knowledge into observable clinical behaviors. These findings support the longitudinal threading of the system throughout the nursing curriculum to foster sustained communication competence.

Reducing listening anxiety in blended learning: The role of AI-driven feedback and strategy in EFL education.

The rapid adoption of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in higher education has transformed learning experiences; however, limited research has examined how psychological and motivational factors influence student engagement in AI-supported learning environments. Drawing upon Self-Determination Theory (SDT), Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT), and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study investigates the relationships among perceived autonomy, competence, relatedness, expectancy, value, autonomy support for AI use, autonomous motivation for AI use, student motivation, and student engagement. A quantitative research design was employed, and data were collected from 297 undergraduate and postgraduate students at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. The proposed model was analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings revealed that perceived autonomy, perceived relatedness, and perceived value significantly enhanced autonomy support for AI use, while perceived autonomy, competence, and relatedness positively influenced autonomous motivation for AI use. Furthermore, autonomy support and autonomous motivation significantly increased student motivation, which subsequently emerged as the strongest predictor of student engagement. In contrast, perceived expectancy showed no significant influence on either autonomy support or autonomous motivation, while perceived competence did not significantly affect autonomy support. This study extends existing AI-in-education literature by integrating SDT, EVT, and TAM within a unified framework to explain student engagement in Generative AI-supported learning environments. Practically, the study provides valuable guidance for educators, instructional designers, and policymakers seeking to implement Generative AI technologies in ways that enhance meaningful learning experiences and sustainable student engagement in higher education.

Finance law and regulation is a required core course of higher vocational finance majors. Whether financial law and regulation instruction design can achieve the purpose of improving students' financial legal literacy and professional practice ability greatly depends on whether it has appropriate instructional design strategies. Taking loan contract legal system as an example, starting from the three aspects of constructivist learning theory, situational cognition theory, and ideological-political curriculum (kecheng sizheng) construction, by means of systematic diagnosis method, four kinds of instructional structural defects existing in today’s financial law and regulation courses have been found. Firstly, there is a lack of coherent connection between teaching content and professional practice. Secondly, teachers dominate most of the teaching activities instead of letting students engage fully. Thirdly, the whole process evaluation pays more attention to results but neglects practitioners’ abilities. Fourthly, the ideological-political curriculum construction is still very weak because it cannot be deeply integrated into every aspect of teaching activities. To solve these problems, this paper tries to build up a tripartite instructional design framework of integrating law knowledge, vocational situation and value shaping together. Theoretical reasoning and experimental evidence indicate that if finance law and regulation courses could put real financial legal cases as organizing threads of teaching contents, use Problem-based Learning (PBL) and Flipped Classroom Model in combination as teaching methods, establish multi-dimensional evaluation system consisting of process evaluation and terminal evaluation parts simultaneously, students’ legal practice ability will surely improve and their own contractual spirit will also grow up.

This study aims to synthesize global research trends and theoretical developments regarding the integration of APOS (Action, Process, Object, Schema) Theory and Computational Thinking (CT) in mathematics education over the past decade. The method used is a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of 18 reputable journal articles with a time span of 2016–2026. The results of the review indicate that the integration of CT and APOS is not merely a pedagogical choice, but an epistemological necessity that forms a complementary symbiosis. On the one hand, APOS provides a structured cognitive map that reveals the urgency of providing scaffolding at the Action and Process stages to prevent missing stages in students who are still stuck at the basic computational level. On the other hand, empirical findings support the implementation of the M-APOS model which is proven to significantly improve CT abilities with Cohen's d of 1.57 raises a critical reciprocal hypothesis: that the CT pillars are suspected to act as facilitators that activate the effectiveness of the transition between APOS stages. This study concludes that designing learning tools such as diagnostic instruments, modules, and digital worksheets that position CT as a cognitive entry point in the APOS traversal is an urgent priority. This adaptive instructional design is projected to transform students from mere mechanical calculators into autonomous, reflective problem solvers with systemic thinking capabilities.

ABSTRACT Dialogical peer feedback is an important element of socio-cultural pedagogy design. However, many student teachers have unbeneficial experiences with dialogical – or collaborative – peer feedback. To advance the development of theory and pedagogical support practices for dialogical, collaborative, and exploratory peer feedback, this study combined theories of dialogical peer feedback, higher-level collaborative learning, and exploratory social thinking. Video data collected during a four-cycle educational design research study (conducted over four years in subject teacher education) were analysed to identify observable patterns in students’ interaction modes. The research design involved yearly shifts in pedagogical support practices towards (a) feedback exemplars involving repetition and multiple presentational modalities and (b) demonstrations exemplifying dialogicality and the use of a feedback protocol. The results show that each yearly change in pedagogical design nudged students’ interactions towards more dialogical and exploratory feedback across successive cohorts, while unilateral feedback and demonstrations of individual expertise became less common.

This study aims to propose gamification as an active methodology to strengthen digital competencies in teachers at the Babahoyo Educational Unit. Using a quantitative-descriptive approach, a survey was conducted with 15 purposefully selected teachers to diagnose the current use of playful techniques, knowledge about gamification, level of digital competencies, and the prevalence of traditional methodologies in their pedagogical practices. Results showed that most teachers still use traditional methodology (lectures, blackboard, posters), are unaware of gamification as a pedagogical strategy, and have significant limitations in mastering digital tools and educational platforms. In response to this diagnosis, a teacher training program is proposed, structured in four training units: institutional diagnosis, pedagogical foundation of gamification, gamified instructional design with digital tools (Kahoot, Genially, Quizizz, Wordwall, Educaplay), and implementation and evaluation of gamified strategies. Each unit includes pedagogical phases, participatory activities, digital resources, and formative assessment criteria. The proposal seeks to transform teaching practice through active methodologies that increase student motivation and develop digital competencies in both teachers and students. It is concluded that gamification, applied with a pedagogical approach and comprehensive training, represents a strategic tool to overcome the limitations of the traditional approach and innovate educational practice in technical contexts.

Identifying stakeholder behaviors for competency-based pharmacy education: A stage 1 behavior change wheel analysis.

ABSTRACT Recent research in science education has mainly focused on children aged 3–6, while studies on those aged 0–3 remain scarce. This study analyzes the exploratory behavior of children aged 0–3 in an educational setting that was intentionally designed to foster emergent scientific learning in early childhood, with a particular focus on the phenomenon of magnetism. Using a qualitative approach, 38 video sequences recorded in a nursery school were analyzed by applying an ad hoc analytical scale developed for this study, drawing on the Exploratory Play Scale by Van Schijndel et al. (2010. “A Sciencing Programme and Young Children’s Exploratory Play in the Sandpit.” European Journal of Developmental Psychology 7 (5): 603–617). The findings reveal a progression from spontaneous sensory exploration to intentional strategies, in which the science educational setting and materials serve as mediators in the development of early scientific practices. This study reinforces the view that complex scientific phenomena, such as magnetism, can be introduced at very early ages (0–3). Furthermore, it underscores the potential of well-designed and structured educational environments to foster the emergence of scientific activity, reaffirming the importance of adults’ role in the pedagogical design of learning spaces for children aged 0–3.

Virtual Reality (VR) has shown significant potential in enhancing student engagement and learning outcomes in STEM education, yet its application in music education remains underexplored—particularly concerning how varying levels of immersion affect learning performance and student perceptions. This study compared the effects of immersive VR (using head-mounted displays) and non-immersive VR (using tablets) on eighth-grade students’ engagement, learning performance, and perceptions during a musical instrument recognition task. A quasi-experimental design was employed with 43 students divided into two groups, both of which completed pre- and post-tests, questionnaires, and interviews. Statistical analyses, including paired and independent-sample t-tests and effect size calculations, revealed that while both groups significantly improved, the non-immersive VR group outperformed the immersive group with a medium-to-large effect size (Cohen’s d = 0.63). Questionnaire responses suggested that tablet-based VR facilitated better focus, understanding, and ease of use, whereas immersive VR promoted critical thinking and confidence despite usability challenges like motion sickness. These findings highlight that the level of VR immersion has distinct impacts on learning and user experience. Non-immersive VR may be more suitable for tasks requiring cognitive clarity and accessibility, while immersive VR could better support deeper cognitive engagement. Educators and instructional designers should align the level of VR immersion with educational objectives to optimize learning effectiveness and user experience.

How do subtitles shape where learners look, and what they learn, in bilingual instructional video? Subtitles are increasingly central to instructional video in multilingual education, where learners must integrate spoken input with written text. In the present paper, we recorded eye movements while university students watched two-speaker instructional videos to test the effects of audio language (original L2 vs L1 dubbed) and subtitle language (L1 vs L2). Experiment 1a (N = 40 Spanish L1, English L2) contrasted original English audio with Spanish-dubbed versions, and we found that dubbing shifted gaze from the speakers' mouths to their eyes; comprehension was also higher for dubbed L1 than original L2. Experiment 1b tested the same Spanish-speaking participants with English-audio videos containing either English (L2) or Spanish (L1) subtitles, and included native English speakers viewing the English-audio/English-subtitle condition as a comparison group. In both groups, participants consistently devoted most of their gaze to subtitles rather than to the speakers' eyes or mouths, independent of subtitle language; comprehension was equally high for L1 and L2 subtitles. Taken together, these findings indicate the key role of subtitles in guiding visual attention, with direct implications for the design of bilingual multimedia instruction.

Growing rates of mental illness among the pediatric population have led to increased morbidity and mortality, with suicide being the second leading cause of death among children aged 10-14. Barriers to mental health (MH) care, including limited access to resources, stigma, and education, perpetuate the crisis. Pediatric primary care providers must seize every opportunity to bridge this gap. This project created an age-appropriate virtual educational program for adolescents aged 12 to 18 on the MH assessment tool, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), which is commonly used during well-child visits. A clinician‑authored slide deck was converted into a 10‑minute Articulate Storyline® module delivered on clinic tablets. Using a backward-design approach, every screen and interaction was mapped to four learning objectives focused on (1) feelings literacy, (2) PHQ-9 comprehension, (3) early-detection awareness, and (4) help-seeking efficacy. As a clinician-designed module not yet formally deployed to the target population, formative feedback was limited to informal review by four adolescent testers prior to final release. Teen testers who reviewed the material requested shorter card-back text, an option to replay narration, and higher color contrast on negative-emotion cards. By grounding the module in the validated PHQ-9 screening tool and evidence-based instructional design principles, and by engaging key stakeholders, the interactive virtual educational program bridges critical MH gaps by educating and empowering adolescents to understand their mental well-being and proactively engage in their care.

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an artificial intelligence-supported training framework in enhancing the teaching competence of prosthodontics graduate students. Twenty-one first-year prosthodontics graduate students at Fujian Medical University participated in a structured, four-stage intervention over two semesters: baseline assessment, AI platform training, AI-assisted iterative teaching practice, and final evaluation. DeepSeek served as the core AI tool for lesson preparation, lecture script drafting, concept map generation, and interactive teaching design. Teaching competence was assessed at seven time points across five dimensions: teaching attitude and language, teaching content, logical structure, professional accuracy, and interactivity. Longitudinal changes were evaluated using repeated measures analysis, and students also rated the usefulness of the AI tool on a 5-point Likert scale. Overall teaching competence improved significantly from baseline (56.52 ± 4.83) to the final evaluation (77.24 ± 4.11; F = 45.32, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.69). All five dimensions showed significant gains, with the largest improvements in teaching content and logical structure. Individual growth curves demonstrated continuous progress for nearly all participants. Students reported high perceived usefulness of AI (median 5, IQR 4-5), reflecting positive engagement with AI-assisted training. The AI-assisted training framework was associated with improvements in prosthodontics graduate students' teaching competence, particularly in content completeness and structural coherence. The introduction of DeepSeek, with strengths in Chinese semantic processing and professional reasoning, offers a potentially useful and localized tool for dental education. This framework may provide a strategy to help cultivate graduate students with skills in research, clinical practice, and teaching, potentially supporting the development of future high-quality faculty.

Sustainable architecture is taught across architecture and engineering subjects as an interdisciplinary education. In this paper, the authors investigated the contribution of the Passivhaus standard to sustainable design education. The research was carried out using a questionnaire and focus group discussion to explore the experiences of a cohort of master's-level students at a Russell Group University who had been taught the theory and practice of the Passivhaus standard. Findings revealed that 73% of the students felt Passivhaus and its tool were beneficial instruments supporting sustainable design education. Results showed that the consideration of the Passivhaus standard in the design studio helped drive positive changes in the design and that it can be considered a scaffolding instrument for sustainable design education. The standard supported the utilisation of a student-oriented pedagogical approach, as students can critically evaluate their own work against principles and benchmarks.

With the rapid integration of generative artificial intelligence into programming education, concerns have emerged regarding university students' potential dependency on such technologies. However, there is a lack of validated instruments to systematically measure generative AI Dependency on programming contexts. To address this gap, the present study aimed to develop and validate the Scale of Generative AI Dependency on Programming among University Students. The study further seeks to contribute to the conceptualization of GenAI dependency as a context-specific construct in programming education, rather than treating students' reliance on GenAI as a general or undifferentiated form of technology use. Drawing on prior research and theoretical frameworks related to technology dependency and learning behaviors, an initial item pool was constructed to capture students' dependency on generative AI across three dimensions: cognitive, affective, and behavioral dependency. Using a convenience sampling approach, data were collected from 1,295 university students with programming learning experiences involving generative AI. Item analysis was first conducted to examine item discrimination and reliability. Exploratory factor analysis was then employed to identify the underlying factor structure of the scale, followed by confirmatory factor analysis to test the model fit and construct validity. In addition, Pearson correlation analyses were performed to provide evidence of criterion-related validity. The results were generally consistent with a three-factor structure with satisfactory reliability and validity, indicating that the scale may serve as a useful instrument for assessing generative AI Dependency on programming among university students. Theoretically, this study extends the application of the ABC framework to AI-supported programming education and provides preliminary evidence that GenAI dependency may involve interrelated cognitive, affective, and behavioral components. Practically, this scale provides researchers and educators with a useful tool for investigating students' dependency on generative AI in programming and for informing instructional design and intervention strategies in programming education.

Cationic charge regulation in nanogel networks for enhanced siRNA delivery.

ABSTRACT The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into education presents both opportunities and challenges, particularly in inquiry-based and context-sensitive science classrooms. Although commercial AI tools are increasingly available, it remains unclear how teachers can move from passive consumers of technology to active designers of AI-mediated instruction. This position paper proposes two professional competencies needed for teachers to maintain and enact expertise in AI-enhanced environments, digital integration competency and automation design competency. Digital integration competency refers to teachers’ ability to collect, connect, and analyze educational data for instructional purposes. Automation design competency refers to teachers’ ability to design digital automated workflows that are aligned with pedagogical goals. Both competencies depend on data preparation and require teachers to exercise professional judgment in evaluating and transforming instructional data. This conceptualization extends the TPACK framework by addressing the practical demands of AI integration in science teaching. These competencies support teachers’ professional agency, responsible innovation, and capacity to resist the risks of technological colonization in the age of AI. Drawing on classroom examples, international policy frameworks, and current research, this paper offers a conceptual foundation for rethinking teacher expertise in AI-integrated science education. It ultimately reimagines the teacher not as a passive user of technology, but as a designer of AI-supported instructional environments.

Systematic Instruction is a critical training methodology that staff supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities should be proficient in implementing. Through the application of Systematic Instruction, staff can facilitate skill acquisition across a wide range of areas, enabling people with disabilities to develop essential competencies in home, work, and educational settings. This article provides an in-depth exploration of the original principles and instructional design elements underlying Systematic Instruction, at a time when many original documents are no longer readily available. Additionally, contemporary applications of this methodology are explored, demonstrating Systematic Instruction’s enduring relevance and effectiveness more than 50 years after its development.