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Abstract Background The growing use of real-time PCR (qPCR) as a diagnostic method for bovine TB (bTB) requires rapid and effective DNA extraction methods, which are crucial for its success. Automated DNA extraction methods based on magnetic beads are a promising alternative to conventional silica column-based protocols (COL protocol) due to their high throughput capacity and reduced hands-on time. This study aimed to assess the performance of the MagMax CORE Nucleic Acid Purification kit and the KingFisher Flex instrument (KF protocol) as an alternative for scaling up the use of qPCR in bTB diagnosis. Methodology Performance was evaluated with two different real-time PCR (qPCR) protocols, based on the IS6110 element and the QuantiFast and VetMAX™ (QF and VM protocols) kits, on 145 frozen tissue homogenates confirmed as either bTB-positive or negative through a composite reference standard based on microbiological culture, column-based extraction, and qPCR, as well as on negative tissue samples spiked with 106 to 103 CFU/ml of M. bovis BCG. Results The performance of both qPCR protocols was very high on samples extracted using the KF protocol, with positive percent agreement (PPA) values of 89.04% [95% Confidence Interval (CI): 79.54–95.15%] and 93.15% [95% CI: 84.74–97.74%] for the QF and VM protocols, respectively, and negative percent agreement (NPA) values of 100% [95% CI: 95.01–100.00%]. A higher variability was identified in samples analysed with the same qPCR protocol but different extraction methods. Higher Ct values were identified for samples extracted using the KF protocol in both routine and spiked samples, likely due to using the same amount of starting material for both extraction methods, which was lower than recommended by the manufacturer for the KF protocol. Discussion The results of this study indicate that the MagMAX CORE Nucleic Acid Purification kit coupled with a KingFisher Flex instrument is a valuable alternative for the extraction of MTBC DNA from bovine tissues. However, the increased variability and Ct values suggest that a larger amount of starting material is recommended for this methodology, warranting further studies.

Providing an overview of the accumulated scientific knowledge regarding the learning of geometry with dynamic software by pre-service mathematics teachers is currently a pertinent issue in Mathematics Education. The interest in this topic within the field is reflected in the significance attributed to the role of the teacher as a pivotal actor in their students learning. Considering this, we present a systematic review that seeks to understand how the learning of school geometry content with dynamic software has been promoted and studied during pre-service mathematics teacher education. To do so, we have reviewed a group of journal articles, published between 2017 and 2023, following the principles of PRISMA declaration. The results reveal how researchers understand such learning, the pre-service teachers, the teacher educator, the tasks that promote it, and the production and analysis of data. Given these findings, we identify gaps in the research on this topic, among which stand out the view of pre-service teachers as autonomous subjects, the instrumentalist conception of dynamic software, and methodological approaches to data analysis that do not fully consider the role of the body in the act of knowing. These gaps reveal that the promotion of and study of learning of school geometry content with dynamic software have been explored little from sociocultural perspectives. Because of this, we believe it necessary to develop studies regarding learning from theoretical and methodological perspectives that demonstrate pathways for future explorations on the addressed topic and thus allow for the reduction of these gaps.

This study is focused on the analysis of online intercultural competence from a gender perspective. It uses online communications and student self-perceptions to explore similarities and differences. Videoconferencing was used as a tool for communication in higher education. A quantitative and qualitative methodologies were applied, including quantifying content analysis. The sample consisted of pairs of university students. The results show very similar scores between men and women in communication and self-perception in affective aspects. Statistical differences were found in the behavioural communication and in cognitive self-perception. Communications of negative nature are scarce in both groups. This study helps to understand the similarities and differences in students' communication and self-perception in an intercultural online context.

Reading is regarded as one of the basic learning processes that provides multiple skills and abilities for daily life. The study reported on here arose from evidence of reading comprehension difficulties of middle school students in Colombia, and from reflection on the didactic strategies used for the promotion and teaching of reading. The purpose of this research was to strengthen students' reading comprehension by taking advantage of the benefits of Easy-to-Read in the context of a methodology applied in Universal Design for Learning. The methodology was centred on the critical social paradigm, and the type of research was mixed with a design based on action research. The instruments used included non-participant observation, online questionnaire, standardised testing and a survey. The pedagogical proposal "Easy Reading" was designed and implemented to show progress in the students' reading comprehension skills, meeting the objectives set.

We present a case study of proving by three 12-13-year-old students with different levels of mathematical giftedness. After analysing students' proofs, we conclude that: there was a relation on the consistency and the students' levels of mathematically giftedness, being the least consistent the student not mathematically gifted and the most consistent the student with the highest level of mathematical giftedness; the variability was greater in the arithmetical problems; the quality of the proofs produced increased as the level of mathematical giftedness did; the two students with a lower level did better proofs in the arithmetical than in the geometrical problems, while the student with the highest level did not show significant differences between the two areas.

The main objective of this study is to examine the correlation between digital skills and their correlation with digital citizenship among students enrolled at a university in Peru. The research was carried out using a sample of 906 participants, encompassing individuals of various genders, with ages spanning from 17 to 54 years. The methodology of choice aligns with a non-experimental, cross-sectional, descriptive-explanatory design. The findings of this study indicate that the development of participation skills, whether in traditional face-to-face settings or in online digital platforms, significantly influences the formation of digital citizenship. The aforementioned observation holds considerable ramifications for the field of digital skills education, underscoring the imperative to prioritize and actively advocate for the development of participation skills in the context of the digital age. The importance of digital skills in our contemporary society is widely acknowledged. However, the connection between digital skills and digital citizenship is intricate and complex.

As video games have evolved, they have emerged as useful tools in areas such as education, tackling global issues through their storylines and mechanics. However, never in the history of video games, not even today, has there been parity in the proportion of women directly employed in the development of video games. This paper is part of a broader research project undertaken in the context of a doctoral thesis within the framework of the R+D+I project 'Building global citizenship with young people: researching transformative practices with participatory and inclusive methodologies'. It provides a historical perspective on video games and their place in culture and society, and attempts to outline a brief genealogy of the contributions of pioneering women in the video game industry. Recognising the work of women and addressing gender representation in video games is now a matter of great importance. Current trends in the video game industry reflect the impact of the pandemic on video game consumption habits, its expected continued growth in the future and its relationship with the development of virtual and augmented reality. Video games are therefore likely to remain an important part of culture and society in the future, with an ever-increasing role in education. It is therefore imperative to showcase the achievements of women in the video game industry, to highlight inequalities and to provide girls with genuine role models.

In this paper, we, two transnational doctoral students and language educators of color, engage in a reflexive dialogic conversation focusing on the positionality of our identities. Utilizing duoethnography research methodology, we explored our academic and professional journeys in post-secondary education in our home countries and an Anglophone context. A discussion on negotiating our positionalities in our immediate academic, professional, and sociocultural contexts is provided. We argued that unveiling one's positionality requires a prolonged reflexive engagement that assists in establishing quality in qualitative research and exploring fluidity in positionality. We closed with implications and invitations to use duoethnography as a path to self-exploration, solidarity, and allyship.

Listening comprehension is a crucial skill in English as a Foreign Language education, yet listening assessment still needs to be explored. This study aims to understand how listening is assessed in a Colombian private language institution and its potential connection to students' underperformance in listening proficiency tests. We characterize the listening assessment used in B1-level classes through a descriptive case study. Utilizing a rubric, we analyzed fourteen listening tasks from various sources, including course materials and a mock PET exam. Our analysis had two primary objectives: (a) to uncover the rationale behind test design and its alignment with the curriculum, and (b) to evaluate the knowledge types targeted and the forms of listening assessment employed using categorization. Our findings reveal that despite the curriculum's holistic listening development goals, assessments predominantly focus on phonological knowledge through dictation tests, in which students primarily engage with audio media and recordings. These findings suggest a misalignment in the way listening is approached during the whole course, the examinations used to assess listening during the B1 level, and the use of an external standardized test as the exit exam. This study holds potential implications for curriculum alignment and the enhancement of language assessment literacy within our context, shedding light on potential factors contributing to students' underperformance in listening comprehension.

Deaf-blindness is a type of dual disability wherein visual and auditory capabilities are significantly impaired. Special communication methods have been developed for the deaf-blind community. Yet, these methods require that both people involved have prior knowledge and training to successfully communicate, limiting deaf-blind people's social interactions, particularly in academic settings. This paper describes the development of a device that enables two-way communication between a severely deaf-blind user and a hearing person with no prior knowledge of Braille and no additional intermediaries. A Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) scheme for speech recognition was designed and implemented along with the development of an algorithm capable of developing both text-to-speech and Finger-Braille-to-text conversion. Lastly, a system integration via 3D modeling and additive manufacturing was carried out to deliver a functional prototype. The resulting device aims to allow deaf-blind students to send and receive information entirely in finger Braille, using buttons and vibrotactile feedback. In contrast, the hearing tutor receives auditory messages and speaks to reply, making the educational experience as familiar as possible for both parties. Users testing the device achieved an average typing accuracy of over 95% and demonstrated an understanding of commands transmitted through the device's components.

We provide a composite counter story based on our own experiences grappling with investigating elementary Latinx learners' experiences and how we have leaned on each other to resist the whiteness of learning to do research in pursuit of a Ph.D. As the counterstory shows, we collectively worked together to write our own continuations of the story between Rodrigo, a graduate research assistant on a project about Latinx learners' experiences, and Luz, a 4th grade Latina learner who is participating in the study. Together, we supported each other to use storytelling to challenge dominant narratives of the relationship between researcher and researched. Our hope is that this counterstory helps others to reflect on and explore issues of assimilation and provides them permission to challenge how we do research.

Skills in interdisciplinary collaboration are required to address many complex problems facing society. As such, interdisciplinarity is a critical competency for students to develop. However, teachers' effectiveness in teaching interdisciplinarity is often hindered by silo structures within university faculties. To address this in the Experts in Teamwork (EiT) programme, a MSc in a Norwegian university that develops students' interdisciplinary teamwork skills through projects that address real-world challenges, a community of practice (CoP) evolved among teachers from different EiT classes. Over 20 months, CoP members participated in digital and in-person discussions, lecture exchanges, student and professional conferences, and coevaluation of student work, with an aim of better understanding interdisciplinarity and approaches for teaching it to students. The success of the CoP in achieving these aims was evaluated through a series of focus groups consisting of members of the CoP. The CoP achieved some success in fostering pedagogical conversations that were transformative for participants' understanding of interdisciplinarity in their practice. Participants reported that CoP participation influenced their interactions with students, ultimately helping students to develop a better understanding of interdisciplinarity. However, participants reported limitations in the CoP as a professional development resource, citing its newness and the required time commitment. Participants felt that these issues could be addressed via greater institutional support.

The impact of digitalisation on everyday life has necessitated the need for learners to acquire digital competence as part of their education. In order to prepare students to become digital citizens, it has become necessary for teachers to acquire and implement digital competence in the classroom. This study applied the DigCompEdu framework to Lebanese schools and teachers to examine the digital competences of teachers and their alignment with Ministry of Education & Higher Education (MEHE) standards. This study followed a cross-sectional descriptive design and involved 170 in-service teachers in Lebanese schools. This study found that whilst schoolteachers' practice meets all MEHE indicators, there is a significant need for training to schoolteachers in using digital tools and resources to promote collaboration in the learning process. The findings highlighted the importance of digital competences in schools and the need for ongoing training and support for teachers in this area.

The university system must be able to respond to the growing demand for graduates with certain skills that guarantee their employability. A key requirement of this goal is the use of different teaching-learning methods, such as the flipped classroom methodology. However, although some studies have shown the advantages of this model, more research is needed to identify the reasons for these positive effects and the contexts in which it works best. In this paper, we analyse the perceptions of students of six undergraduate subjects at the University of Jaén (Spain) concerning their acquired competences and the formative assessment received in a flipped classroom environment. In addition, we analyse whether these two variables influence these student perceptions of achieving better academic outcomes. The results show that both aspects explain student perceptions of better performance and are key elements in the provision of a better learning environment. In this way, these results contribute to the literature concerning the positive effects of a flipped classroom on the teaching-learning process in higher education.

Identifying mathematically gifted students is an important objective in mathematics education. To describe skills typical of these students, researchers pose problems in several mathematical domains whose solutions require using different mathematical capacities, such as visualization, generalization, proof, creativity, etc. This paper presents an analysis of the solutions to two problems by 75 students (aged 11-14), as part of the selection test for a workshop to stimulate mathematical talent. These problems require the use of the capacity for mathematical generalization of solution methods. We define a set of descriptors of such capacity, use them to analyze students' solutions, and evaluate how well students with high capacity for generalization can be distinguished from average students. The results indicate that the two problems are suitable for identifying potential mathematically gifted students and several descriptors have high discriminatory power to identify students with high or low capacity for generalization.

Digital Citizenship is an emerging field of research but there is still a lack of knowledge into what works and how to implement educational practices to develop digital citizenship. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between young people's participatory profile and their perceptions of the development of digital and socio-civic skills, and to understand how young people exercise their citizenship in the United Kingdom. The study consists of 124 responses to an online questionnaire. The analysed data suggests that the current framing of citizenship education curriculum in the UK is still focused on more traditional forms of political participation and more work needs to be done in terms of developing citizenship education for a digital era.

The sanctioned language around "mathematics teacher knowledge" in the US centers pedagogy, content (mathematical knowledge), and students. Yet, this teacher learning approach often promotes (explicitly or implicitly) teaching and learning of mathematics that operationalizes mathematics as rigid, as a gatekeeper, and only useful for global competition in STEM-related fields. These tacit capitalist goals result in teachers being expected to convey "clear and useful" mathematical information to students, not question why mathematics is being taught, who benefits, and/or how to intervene if the learning environment is harmful for students who are Black, Indigenous, students of Color, multilingual, dis/abled, queer, nonbinary, and/or of immigrant backgrounds. In this article, we build upon a form of relational knowing that intertwines mathematics, pedagogies, students, and politics called Political Conocimiento in Teaching Mathematics. Focusing on political knowledge brings the margins to the center by recognizing political issues cannot be separated from other dimensions or added on, as if politics are not already present in mathematics teaching and learning. As three women of Color, we present empirical results from three teacher education programs in the USA with teacher candidates (n = 55) who range in intersectional identities. Using scenario-based activities that support their development of political knowledge, we apply the lens of "The Mirror Test" to highlight how teacher candidates' intersectional identities influenced the ethical identities they enacted. Some candidates focused more on "accountability" while others focused on "performativity." We offer implications for future research on ethical identities in mathematics education with teachers and teacher candidates of various intersectional identities.