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Fungi mostly reproduce through spores that are adapted for airborne dispersal; hence, fungal spores (and fungi) are found virtually everywhere. Fungi can be "friends or foes." Our friends include fungi used in the food and biotech industries, fungi that contribute to the cycling of carbon and nutrients, and those involved in the decontamination of polluted soils and/or water, to mention just a few examples. Many species, however, are foes--they are detrimental to plants, animals, and/or humans. Annually, >1.5 million people die due to invasive fungal infections. With the aim of enhancing microbiology literacy and the understanding of microbial concepts, we set up a project for the collection of airborne spores (the principal agent through which human airways are exposed to fungi). Students from five high schools in the Oeiras municipality partnered with us as citizen scientists; they carried out sampling by collecting fungal spores on adhesive stickers. The fungal spores collected by the students were subsequently processed in the schools and our research laboratory. Results obtained by the students themselves revealed a large variety of fungal species capable of growing in a rich medium at 30°C. In the research laboratory, using selective isolation conditions, 40 thermotolerant fungi were isolated, 32 of which were taxonomically identified as aspergilla, mostly from within the Aspergillus fumigatus taxa, yet exhibiting high genetic heterogeneity. The protocols and results were presented to the students, who were made aware of the local dispersal of airborne fungal spores, including some from potentially pathogenic fungi. Through carrying out scientific activities, the students developed both the interest and the self-confidence needed to implement future environmental investigations.

Microorganisms are ubiquitous in nature and are central to human, animal, environmental, and planetary health. They play a particularly important role in the food chain and the production of high-quality, safe, and health-promoting foods, especially fermented foods. This important role is not always apparent to members of the public. Here, we describe Kefir4All, a citizen science project designed to provide the general public with an opportunity to expand their awareness, knowledge, and practical skills relating to microbiology, introduced through the medium of producing fermented food, i.e., milk kefir or water kefir. During the course of Kefir4All, 123 citizen scientists, from second-level school and non-school settings, participated in a study to track changes in the microbial composition of kefirs, by performing and recording details of milk kefir or water kefir fermentations they performed in their homes or schools over the21-week project. At the start of the study, the citizen scientists were provided with milk or water kefir grains to initiate the fermentations. Both types of kefir grain are semi-solid, gelatinous-like substances, composed of exopolysaccharides and proteins, containing a symbiotic community of bacteria and yeast. The experimental component of the project was complemented by a number of education and outreach events, including career talks and a site visit to our research center (Kefir Day). At the end of the study, a report was provided to each citizen scientist, in which individualized results of their fermenting activities were detailed. A number of approaches were taken to obtain feedback and other insights from the citizen scientists. Evaluations took place before and after theKefir4All project to gauge the citizen scientist's self-reported awareness, knowledge, and interest in microbiology and fermented foods. Further insights into the level of citizen science participation were gained through assessing the number of samples returned for analysis and the level of participation of the citizen scientists throughout the project. Notably, the survey results revealed a self-reported, increased interest in, and general knowledge of, science among the Kefir4All citizen scientists after undertaking the project and a willingness to take part in further citizen science projects. Ultimately, Kefir4Allrepresents an example of the successful integration of citizen science into existing education and research systems.

In this essay, I argue that academic citizenship needs to be focused on civic professionalism. Too often, individualism renders undue costs to the broader academic community. Looking to research in higher education on civic professionalism, I argue that its tenets, which focus on contributing to the community, can allow those of us in academia to realize for ourselves what is needed for our students and future generations. I employ the lens of an ecological framework to illustrate the possibilities and priorities of viewing and implementing academic citizenship as civic professionalism.

This research aims to compare the social studies curricula of Thailand and New York State, USA, analyze their similarities and differences, and propose guidelines for improving the Thai social studies curriculum. The study employed a qualitative research methodology, using documentary analysis of the Thai Basic Education Core Curriculum B.E. 2551 (Revised B.E. 2560) in the social studies, religion, and culture learning area, and the New York State K-12 Social Studies Framework. The findings revealed that the social studies curricula of Thailand and New York State differ in many aspects, including their fundamental philosophies, goals for student development, curriculum structures, learning content, and instructional approaches. The Thai curriculum emphasizes cultivating morally good citizens with a love for the nation, while the New York curriculum focuses on developing knowledgeable, skilled citizens who actively participate in a democratic society. In today's rapidly changing world, the development of Thailand's social studies curriculum should foster 21st-century skills, digital citizenship, and a sense of global citizenship among learners while maintaining Thai identity and values. Policy-level recommendations include creating a new vision, designing a flexible curriculum, developing online platforms, and integrating artificial intelligence. At the practical level, suggestions include creating community learning innovations, using the city as a classroom, developing a competency-based curriculum, and building learning communities with local partners.

The purpose of this narrative inquiry is to better understand why students in higher education are motivated to get involved in student government. We analyzed the responses of ten current student government leaders at public regional comprehensive institutions in the United States. The analysis is guided by Astin's theory of student involvement and the social change model of leadership development. The study finds that many leaders did not initially plan to engage in student government, emphasizing the impact of past civic involvement, current student engagement, and peer invitations on their subsequent student government participation. Implications call for institutions to deepen their understanding of enrolled students and provide accessible avenues for leadership development.

In this article, the authors focus on a one-week research project examining Frederick Douglass's civic actions to challenge racial discrimination African Americans faced before and after the U.S. Civil War. Our one-week research project was implemented at a free public charter school in amid-sized Southern city. Our project connects to the disciplinary literacy skills argued for in the indicators of the C3 Framework. The following research questions drove our study: (a) in what ways, if any, do students articulate the challenges African Americans faced in the slavery system?; (b) In what ways, if any, do students articulate the civic actions taken by Frederick Douglass to challenge racial discrimination in U.S. society? First, we define the concept of public issues and describe their importance in an abbreviated literature review. Next, our focus shifts to examining how disciplinary literacy skills advocated for in the C3 Framework helped to shape our project. Then, we briefly focus on the demographic information for the students that participated in our study along with giving the demographic information about the teacher that implemented this project. Next, methods utilized in our project will be given. Then, a description of the student data and analysis procedures is provided. Next, we talk about the findings from our study and give a discussion section to unpack our findings. Finally, we close the article with limitations from our study and recommendations for future research studies to build upon our project.

Mandated under Article 1, Section 2 of the United States Constitution, the decennial census determines the distribution of power and resources based upon population counts. College students are a hard-to-count population with limited knowledge about why the census matters and how to complete it. Politics and the global health pandemic made the 2020 Census exceptionally challenging. A university's center for civic engagement and students in a political science class collaborated with local, state, and national partners to develop and implement a campuswide 2020 Census Education and Engagement Program. Assessments of 2020 Census knowledge were administered to almost 2,000 students on a required university-wide Assessment Day. Subsequent data collection indicated knowledge about the 2020 Census is malleable, as evidenced by sizable gains over time as well as a positive relationship between census completion and participation in the 2020 Census Education and Engagement Program.

The goal of the study is to analyse the relation between students' digital learning and transversal skills, as well as between students' digital learning and virtues. In the correlative study, 73 teachers of Class 12 of general education institutions participated, filling out a questionnaire in the Google Docs environment. As a result of the theoretical analysis, the criteria for digital learning have been identified - access to digital technologies, cooperation, teachers' digital competence and availability of activities in compliance with cognitive engagement levels. The findings of the correlation analysis show that the availability of activities in compliance with cognitive engagement levels is the most important in the development of transversal skills, while in the inculcation of virtues - cooperation. The access to digital technologies has a statistically significant correlation with both transversal skills and virtues. The teachers' digital competence promotes digital literacy and such virtues as responsibility and wisdom. The recommendations developed as part of the study include compilation and promotion of the positive experiences of digital learning at the state and local government level; continuous monitoring and feedback analysis of purposeful digital learning and educational quality at school and classroom level; the application of digital learning resources based on the offer of activities in compliance with the students' cognitive engagement levels at the personal level.

Strengthening civic literacy needs to be done because this can help individuals become more critical, active, and responsible citizens. Strong civic literacy can help a person understand his rights and obligations as a citizen, as well as how to participate in political and governmental processes. It can also help individuals make informed decisions and contribute to building a healthy and just society. Strong civic literacy can also help people control the government and guarantee their human rights. The flipped classroom model is being used in this study to improve students' civic literacy. In order to improve civic literacy and learn about students' opinions of the teaching method, this study intends to investigate how teachers use flipped classrooms. The research method used in this study is a qualitative descriptive method, with interview data collection techniques; observation; and documentation studies. Teachers and 40 students in grade 5th elementary school were the subjects of this study. The findings show that the teacher used the flipped classroom model to implement four important steps of civic education learning. All stages and activities of the flipped classroom model were well accepted by the students. Students described the flipped classroom as a fun learning model that motivates them to learn more actively and independently, increases learning interest, and piques their curiosity about reading so that they become more knowledgeable about civic literacy.

The purpose of this investigation was to identify, examine, and analyse the opinions of four international postgraduate students who embarked on a service-learning project required by the course taken in Semester 2, 2021/2022. It included engaging in community service, connection to their academic endeavours, reporting the outcomes, critical reflection, and reciprocity. Choral speaking activities were selected as the tool for their engagement with children in the community. The qualitative approach was chosen as the research design, employing in-depth semi-structured interviews. The findings pointed to the beneficial aspects of service-learning which include: (1) enhances multicultural understanding; (2) improves civic involvement; (3) acknowledges that academic work has real-world importance; and (4) promotes language learning as well as reciprocity, that need to be improved.

Educators in Belize are charged with ensuring that all Belizeans are given an opportunity to acquire a quality education that promotes personal development and productive citizenship. Consequently, Belizean law now requires all children from ages five through fourteen to attend at least eight years of primary school. Students with special needs have historically not received accommodations in the education system, so many teachers struggle with meeting the needs of students with learning disabilities in these inclusive settings. This qualitative case study explored teaching strategies and contextual factors in inclusive primary classrooms in Belize and was conducted in the form of Community Engaged Research in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports, and Culture (MOE). Findings suggest consistent approaches for differentiating instruction, teacher passion for teaching and commitment to meeting student needs, a need for additional resources and training, and a disconnect between families and schools. Interpretation of these findings through Hornby's (2015) theory of inclusive education suggests that Belize is primarily following inclusivity as students with disabilities are integrated into the mainstream educational system. However, while some principles and practices of inclusion are followed, other features are absent. Adding a special education component could enhance student learning as individualization and standardization of instruction, expectations, and assessment could occur between teachers, across grade levels, and in communication with families. A special education component with associated teacher training could support teacher desire for additional resources and meet the needs of an increasingly diverse population of students.

This mixed methods study investigates student learning outcomes from undergraduate STEM and non-STEM courses, employing farm-situated place-based experiential learning (PBEL) modules at a private liberal arts university in the Midwest. Given that these courses occurred during both COVID-19 and U.S. police brutality protests, this study critically interrogates the influence of this "dual pandemic" on student meaning-making. The study examines how student scores on environmental science literacy, civic-mindedness, sense of place, and scientific reasoning measures changed throughout the PBEL courses. With the exception of scientific reasoning, change in each measure was statistically significant (p<0.001). A stepwise linear regression determined whether any measures predicted civic-mindedness. Environmental science literacy and university place attachment were found to be predictive of civic-mindedness. Focus group data revealed how PBEL modules affected student learning outcomes and how the dual pandemic affected student civic-mindedness and place attachment.

This case study investigates aspiring school leaders' perception of political literacy in educational leadership, offering critical recommendations for principal preparation programs, policymakers, and future research. As a qualitative study, the case addresses integrating political literacy policy, developing relevant professional development opportunities, and initiating future research to gauge the possible impact of political literacy as a practice and subject. Moreover, findings reveal the challenges and strategies for implementing political literacy in school settings through the lens of experienced teachers with aspirations to be school leaders. The research suggests that a comprehensive approach emphasizing political literacy may empower aspiring school leaders, improve school-community relations, and promote an informed citizenry. This study signifies a crucial step towards cultivating politically literate school leaders equipped to foster democratic engagement and critical thinking within school communities.

This study explores the potential of a new perspective on research into the impact of higher education on students' civic engagement. We propose shifting from viewing engagement as the key dependent variable to two "fundamental constituents": political interest and agency. Both constituents have been presented as either static or determined entirely by factors external to education, such as maturation, but also as dynamic and affected by various aspects of the educational experience in higher education. Furthermore, as analyses of these effects based on sample means do not account sufficiently for the intersectionality of background variables that define the student experience, we propose that data are explored through cluster analysis. Employing this type of analysis, a case study conducted at a small international liberal arts college in the Netherlands showed four distinctly different patterns in the development of both constituents of civic engagement. Based on further data obtained from the same sample, we offer suggestions for specific foci in further research about the impact of higher education on the development of civic engagement.

This study aimed to develop a deeper understanding of the longterm impacts of place-rich community-based learning on university students. This study was informed by transformative learning theory, which recognizes how learning experiences that expand the learner's worldview help develop autonomous thinking. A mixed-methods approach was used to explore the perspectives of graduates who participated in immersive community-based learning (CBL) experiences. Graduates from two programs at the University of Prince Edward Island between 2004 and 2017 completed the Civic-Minded Professional scale online. A subset of respondents were invited to participate in interviews. Students' experiences of dissonance, transformational learning moments, reflection, and civic engagement were also assessed. Key findings include participants' expanded and deeper appreciation for cross-cultural awareness, their more deliberate engagement with volunteer opportunities, and their emergence as advocates for the communities they worked with. Findings will be used to improve, diversify, and develop new CBL experiences for university students.

Although a large body of literature discusses the advancement of community engagement in higher education, a less substantial body of scholarship explores how engagement is promoted and institutionalized within universities. In this exploratory study, using a discourse analysis of official reports posted on the websites of three university cases, the qualitative results unfolded how community engagement was institutionalized. The study identified some of the basic mechanisms social language uses to create institutions within institutions, like university engagement. The study provided data to support the theoretical assumption that language, through a host of possible configurations of texts, generates discourses that engender social actions such as institutionalization. Those processes disclosed how engagement was produced, and it is still evolving. Further research strategies are discussed.

Engaged learning seeks to cultivate integrative approaches that require students to use multiple points of view or approaches in their coursework. Similarly, civically engaged courses ask students to consider public problems that involve multiple stakeholders, institutions, and policies. We are interested in whether courses designed to meet civic engagement goals might also improve student self-assessment of integrative learning at our institution and could serve as a developmental step toward more holistic strategies. To test our hypothesis that student participation in civic engagement would improve student self-assessment of integrative learning, we compared summative student survey scores from students enrolled in similar courses with and without a civic engagement component (n = 275). Boxplot and statistical analysis (unpaired two-sample Wilcoxon test) were used to determine if civic engagement pedagogy made any meaningful impact on integrative learning. Our results show strong overall improvement in survey scores after civic engagement courses.

Despite a strong theoretical foundation, teachers' pedagogical practices that represent the principles of democratic educational theory are not holistically understood. This qualitative integrative literature review provides a more complete view of the practices used by those who define themselves as democratic educators. By analyzing and integrating existing literature on classroom practice this review discusses four pedagogical approaches that engage democratic educational practices including inquiry, artistic, oral, and student-centered methods.

Purpose: Following globalisation, a rich literature on global citizenship education developed (Akkari & Maleq 2020; Goren & Yemini 2017). However, recent developments in international politics prompt us to ask whether global citizenship education gives young people a grasp of the international world. We argue that global citizenship education theory must be supplemented because it does not provide much guidance to help young people understand international politics properly. Design/methodology/approach: We discuss how theories of global citizenship education conceptualise international conflicts and how three theories on international politics offer supplementary conceptions and perspectives. Findings: Global citizenship education should be supplemented with theories of international politics. Research limitations/implications: Our analysis only indicates some implications for global citizenship education, and further research on the didactical implications is required. Practical implications: Global citizenship education must rely on a wider set of theories to prepare the students for understanding global issues.

This article discusses the notion of a 'morally equipped' childhood and adolescence, and how such a notion can help us get a fresh perspective on the relation between young people's participation and empowerment, and the formation of personal and the collective moral repertoires of modern society. Utilising a mixed-methods approach inspired by the sociology of conventions (SC) and the sociology of regimes of engagement (SRE), we analyse letters to the editor of the Norwegian children's newspaper Aftenposten Junior, to investigate the formats of children's generalised moral arguments. We demonstrate that our informants exhibit a broad moral sensibility in the letters we have analysed, particularly showing keen engagement with issues related to civic rights. We discuss the young participants' expressions in the light of convention theory. We make a case for how becoming 'morally equipped' could be understood as being able to engage, challenge, and articulate the tensions and negotiations between personal formats of daily experiences and interactions, and collective formats, such as public expressions, throughout childhood and adolescence.

Over the past few years, we have worked together in a citizen science project called "Diamonds on the Soles of our Feet" (see also Goldin et al. 2021, Goldin et al., 2023). In this project we engaged with 420 young learners in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. We came to see participating schools as collaborative ecosystems where young citizens become entangled with water through experiential encounters that make science alive and relevant. Through our engagement with citizen science, we experienced the transformative power of affect and the relevance of emotions in education as a social and political project. In our pedagogy we depart from the idea that human beings are separate from the biosphere, thus recognising the interdependency of all life forms on earth. We believe that keeping science education in laboratories and libraries affirms what Bozalek and Zemblyas (2023) call "privileged irresponsibility". We propose that citizen science and its transformative potential can be one way to redress such irresponsibility. Through impactful encounters with human - nonhuman entanglement and the emotions which are evoked in this process, citizen science can create opportunities for response-ability (Bozalek & Zemblyas, 2023), through teaching and learning with the heart. Such entanglement also resonates with relationality as the currency of care theorists. In the context of our citizen science work, caring for unfamiliar others is a form of non-human-centred care with unfamiliar water bodies in which the binary of inside-outside learning becomes porous as the geographies of water penetrate the classroom walls. In "Diamonds on the Soles of our Feet," we noted how watery spaces and images move back and forth caring-with and through human bodies - waterbodies to school, school to waterbodies. The entanglement with the nonhuman resonates with Massumi's (2015) notion of becoming where there is an unrolling of an event that is a becoming of two together.

Social justice is increasingly being seen as relevant to the science curriculum. We examine the intersection of participatory science, social justice, and higher education in the United States to investigate how instructors can teach about social justice and enhance collaborations to work toward enacting social justice. Participatory science approaches, like those that collect data over large geographic areas, can be particularly useful for teaching students about social justice. Conversely, local-scale approaches that integrate students into community efforts can create powerful collaborations to help facilitate social justice. We suggest a variety of large-scale databases, platforms, and portals that could be used as starting points to address a set of learning objectives about social justice. We also describe local-scale participatory science approaches with a social justice focus, developed through academic and community partnerships. Considerations for implementing participatory science with undergraduates are discussed, including cautions about the necessary time investment, cultural competence, and institutional support. These approaches are not always appropriate but can provide compelling learning experiences in the correct circumstances.

Despite the democratised access to digital media, there are still gaps in uses and opportunities according to age, sex, socioeconomic level, and location. In addition, the study about the use of digital media by children and adolescents has focused more on the risks than on the opportunities. This study analyses the relationship between different uses of digital media (socialisation, socio-political, and learning purposes), with school civic engagement. A sample of 524 students (M[subscript age]=12; 43.7% girls) from Santiago de Chile participated. Structural equation modelling with latent variables was used to test a parallel mediation model in which the use of socialisation in digital media is related to school civic engagement, through digital media use for socio political purposes and the digital media use for learning purposes. In addition, multigroup analysis by sex was tested. The main results showed that digital media use for socialisation has a positive effect on school civic engagement through the parallel mediation of digital media use for socio-political purposes and the digital media use for learning purposes. The multigroup analysis showed that mediation is significant in both boys and girls. The results have contributed to the expansion of knowledge about the opportunities of digital media on civic engagement in formal school contexts.

One of the challenges in substantiating deliberative democracy as a normative theory is the educational challenge of how to cultivate civic virtue, especially mutual respect and civility, in children. The cultivation of civic virtue is not limited to school education, but is also an activity related to family education. However, liberal theorists who advocate the theory of deliberative democracy, based on the dualism of public and private, have limited their discussions to the issue of civic development in the field of public education. This article proposes to understand and compare the many competing theories on public-private dualism, particularly in liberal and feminist spaces. Beginning with an analysis of the work of liberal theorists such as David Archard as well as Harry Brighouse and Adam Swift, and moving on to that of feminist theorists such as Susan Okin, this article examines competing theories on education in school and in the family, to whom the responsibility of education belongs, and where feminist and liberal thought enlighten these debates. This article will clarify the theoretical tendencies and principles of liberal arguments aimed at overcoming the public-private dualism in education, and present a strategy for overcoming the challenges that this theory encompasses by seeking reference points in feminist thought, especially with attention to conception of relational autonomy.

The urban development of learning is a key goal of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). However, the drive to achieve urban learning requires several key points. Citizenship and cooperation are associated with developing the city of learning. This research studies the relationship between citizenship and cooperation in driving the learning city. The study uses the methodology of the structure-equation model (SEM) to study citizenship relationships. Cooperation and learning cities are based on civic data analysis of 500 samples. The result showed that the two observed variables were public participation and The four observed variables are: policy collaboration's positive effect on cooperation; citizen-subjectivity, citizen-intersubjectivity, citizen-sub politics, and citizen-globality's positive effect on citizenship; Furthermore, the six observed variables are: inclusive learning in the education system; revitalized learning in families and communities; effective learning for and in the workplace; expanded use of modern learning technologies; improved learning quality; and a vibrant culture of lifelong learning. In part of the regression between latent variables, we found that cooperation has a positive effect on learning cities (b=0.882), and citizenship has a positive effect on learning cities (b=0.056) and cooperation (b=0.217).

An i-voting system may promote electoral participation by reducing travel cost and time to polling places, especially among youth who are more accustomed to technological changes. We study the linkage between travel costs on election day and voter turnout by comparing past electoral participation with stated voting behavior in a hypothetical i-voting system. We believe that the link between transportation costs, i-voting, and voter-turnout emerges as an interesting opportunity to disentangle the mechanism behind the expected increase in political participation after diversifying voting channels. Data were collected using an online questionnaire that was disseminated among Chilean university students. Binary and bivariate probit estimates show that conventional turnout probability among university students is negatively affected by travel costs on election day. Interestingly, whereas political interest and democracy valuation still augment the probability of voter turnout with i-voting, travel-to-polling-station costs are not statistically relevant.

This study assesses the degree to which students practice digital citizenship values at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University. The researchers identified elements of digital citizenship and divided them into three areas: respect, education, and protection. Following a descriptive approach, the sample consisted of 540 male and female students who were randomly selected. The study found strong results in all three areas, although protection had the lowest practice. Female students were significantly more likely than male students to practice these values. Significant differences were also found according to field of study.

Many research institutions and funders have recently stated their commitment to actively support and promote 'Equality, Diversity and Inclusion' (EDI) in various aspects of health research including Patient and Public Involvement (PPI). However, translating this commitment into specific research projects presents significant challenges that existing approaches, practical guidelines and initiatives have not adequately addressed. In this paper, we explore how the lack of clear justifications for the EDI commitment in existing guidelines inadvertently complicates the work of those involved with PPI and we stress the need for conceptual clarity for any EDI effort to yield meaningful results. Our focus centres on the first principle of the EDI discourse, 'equality', particularly in the form of 'equality of opportunity' as outlined in current guidance provided by the National Institute of Health Research in the United Kingdom. We examine challenges related to justifying and implementing a general, unspecified commitment to equality of opportunity and explain that this reflects a lack of consensus regarding the moral value of PPI in research -- a profound problem that remains unaddressed. We then discuss how the presence of several opposing moral perspectives on PPI, makes determining the most appropriate way of addressing barriers to involvement complex and controversial, raising ethical implications for the work of health researchers, PPI specialists and coordinators. Finally we make suggestions on how future research can enrich the concept of 'equality of opportunity' in PPI and improve practice. While our primary focus is on the NIHR, a strong advocate of PPI in research, this analysis will point to normative and ethical considerations that may be relevant to other research institutions and funding organisations aiming to promote equality of opportunity in their public and patient involvement strategies.

In the author's experience, students are often coming to the school library to explore new ideas and concepts that they may not be able to explore in the traditional classroom because of curricular demands or time constraints. And the library is always open to that exploration. According to the author, they build the high-interest collections for this purpose. The author ensures they have books that capitalize on students' curiosity and allow them to learn new things about themselves -- to be brave and see where they can go. Then there are those who come to learn in less traditional ways in the library. The author states they are notorious for always saying "Yes!" to trying something new in the library if students make a case for it. This is how they have gotten a bearded dragon, a sewing club, a recording studio, coding workshops, a Dungeons & Dragons club, and a forthcoming e-sports team. Saying "Yes" comes from a wish to respect students' courage to explore. But having a pet also gives the students a moment to show a different kind of bravery: feeling vulnerable but doing something anyway. In New York City, the Department of Education has an initiative called "Respect for All." The author's campus serves a primarily Afro-Caribbean population. This means students who are queer are feeling a tremendous amount of societal pressure. Books on relationships, sexuality, abuse, dealing with being arrested -- resources on topics that students are dealing with but are too nervous to check out. All of this seeking of this important and sensitive information takes bravery, even if young people choose not to interface with me to acquire it. Most of the time, it's an admission to themselves that they need guidance. It takes bravery to organize your peers, to take charge, and to build a community. It takes courage to work together and to make decisions on your own. Because the school library is a center of self-guided learning, it harnesses this brand of bravery. The school library is a proving ground for leadership, collaboration, and finding oneself. Students demonstrate this every day in school libraries across the country. Students see the school library as somewhere worth fighting for, and their bravery is the truly sustaining power in our space.

Secret societies and fraternal orders came to America with the arrival of the colonists, bringing ideals that influenced the founding of the United States. As the country grew and prospered, so did fraternal organizations, which exerted political influence, provided mutual aid for health and security to its members, and were instrumental in the growth of civic engagement. During the height of the Golden Age of Fraternity, one third of American men were members of a fraternal order. With the Depression of the 1930's, fraternal societies began a slow decline that continues to the present although the groups evolved to became more inclusive in their membership and took on community service projects in their local communities. Scholars suggest that despite efforts to adapt to societal changes, fraternal groups, like other American civic institutions, are suffering from the growing lack of civic engagement in society, which may be traced in part to the rise of digital communication. This paper follows the evolution of fraternal organizations in the United States, explores their changing roles in society, and suggests additional research to explore the future viability of fraternal groups.

Very little has been published reporting on long-term outcomes experienced by young adults (aged 19 to 34 years old) who participated in 4-H youth development programs. We adopted Gambone et al.'s (2002) framework advancing three long-term outcomes for early adulthood: economic stability, health and well-being, and community involvement. With cross-sectional survey methods, we compared long-term impacts between 693 California 4-H young adult alumni and 373 young adults in a U.S. general population sample who had not participated in 4-H. The results demonstrated that 4-H alumni report more positive long-term outcomes than the U.S. general population sample. The study contributes to the dearth of research around long-term outcomes, may be useful for marketing and funding, and will help better understanding the public value of Extension.

There is an increasing interest and growing practice in Citizen Science (CS) that goes along with the usage of websites for communication as well as for capturing and processing data and materials. From an educational perspective, it is expected that by integrating information about CS in a formal educational setting, it will inspire teachers to create learning activities. This is an interesting case for using bots to automate the process of data extraction from online CS platforms to better understand its use in educational contexts. Although this information is publicly available, it has to follow GDPR rules. This paper aims to explain (1) how CS communicates and is promoted on websites, (2) how web scraping methods and anonymization techniques have been designed, developed and applied to collect information from online sources and (3) how these data could be used for educational purposes. After the analysis of 72 websites, some of the results obtained show that only 24.8% includes detailed information about the CS project and 48.61% includes information about educational purposes or materials.

Science literacy has many personal and societal benefits that allows for better informed decision-making. Although the importance of science literacy is recognized globally, there are many challenges associated with its promotion. Scientists are more frequently engaging with nonscientific audiences through public outreach activities and with increasing support from institutions and professional societies. This is especially true regarding microbiologists and other related professionals since the start of the global 2019 coronavirus disease pandemic heightened the need to convey novel and rapidly evolving scientific information to lay audiences. The means by which professionals engage with these audiences affect the efficacy of the relay of scientific information. One method of engagement is the "ambassador approach," which aims to establish dialogue among different groups of people and scientists. In this perspective article, we discuss this approach, highlighting activities for the promotion of science literacy organized by the American Society for Microbiology Ambassador Program and similar programs of other scientific societies. We discuss the benefits and challenges of implementing an ambassador approach, propose potential improvements that could be made to existing programs promoting science literacy, and ultimately advocate for increased implementation of science ambassador programs. [This article was written on behalf of the Young Leaders Circle of the American Society for Microbiology.]

The widespread use of digital technologies and the expansion of social networks has created new communication and meeting spaces where people and social and political actors connect with each other. This opens diverse spaces and possibilities for digital engagement in a more accessible, immediate, continuous, egalitarian, and personalized way. Digital technology facilitates learning, dissemination, and access to information, turning it into a means of communication and fueling the practice of critical thinking. In particular civic critical thinking practices improve the organization and effectiveness of civic networks and spaces for citizen participation, ultimately helping to produce responsible, conscious citizens. This study proposes a series of hypotheses based on the relationships between digital learning, critical thinking and civic participation, and tests them using the technique of structural equation modeling (SEM) with partial least squares (PLS) applied to a sample of 191 primary and secondary school students. The results indicate that digital tools have a positive impact on the development of critical thinking, and this influences citizen participation, transforming people into more engaged citizens of the world with participatory attitudes and values.

As a pedagogical approach aiming at increasing the quality of classroom talk, dialogic teaching and learning puts an emphasis on students' understanding and thinking and supports their learning process in numerous ways. As recent studies show, alongside promoting students' cognitive, social, and emotional development, dialogic teaching and learning pedagogy supports the acquisition of 21st-century skills as well as contributing to the internalisation of democratic values and active citizenship. Nevertheless, despite its importance for student learning, the present research literature also indicates that productive forms of dialogue are still not prevalent in most classrooms. Considering that one of the reasons for the limited adoption of this approach can be related to the tendency of considering dialogic pedagogy solely from a cognitive perspective (i.e. conceptualising dialogue as specific forms of verbal interactions and moves) while mostly ignoring its socio-emotional dimensions (e.g. classroom climate and ethos, interpersonal relations, emotions), this conceptual review study looks into well-known models and relevant literature to uncover and highlight the common characteristics of cognitive and socio-emotional dimensions of dialogic teaching and learning approach. It is hoped that this review study will be helpful for researchers and educators who wish to study and implement dialogic pedagogy in classrooms. [This article includes an extended summary in Turkish.]

This paper examines college students` participation behaviors and the use of social media tools. The descriptive survey model was applied to investigate university students' participation behaviors. The data was collected through a "Participation Questionnaire" from 284 college students in Kazakhstan. The result showed that students who spend less time on social media are positively related to participatory citizenship. Moreover, students with fewer social media accounts are more likely to engage in political, volunteer, and social events than students with fewer social media accounts.

This article provides a rationale and resources for teaching climate justice and civic engagement across the STEM curriculum in K-12 and higher education. It presents a culturally responsive approach to STEM teaching and learning that centers social justice issues arising from climate impacts, and energy extraction and development activities, with a focus on participatory and equitable solutions and actions. This approach promotes STEM curricula that introduce social justice issues into the classroom as an entry point for investigating the issues using STEM. A social justice approach allows students to make meaning of abstract and disparate STEM knowledge and skills through real-world issues aligned with their interests, experiences, identities, and communities. In this article, we provide resources for teaching STEM through climate justice and civic engagement that are being collectively developed by groups in Washington (WA) State, led by Deb Morrison at the University of Washington (K-12); Sonya Remington Doucette and Heather Price at local community colleges (Bellevue College and North Seattle College); and Irene Shaver at the WA State Board of Community and Technical Colleges.

Information literacy is critical to finding, evaluating, using, and creating information. Information literacy also influences how we navigate daily life, workplace environments, and civic participation. This paper argues that students transitioning from high school to college lack skills in information literacy. In Higher Ed., faculty and librarians are charged with teaching students to research, create and add to the body of knowledge of their corresponding disciplines. Students must have solid information and digital literacy skills to achieve this goal. Based on the premise that Faculty-Librarian partnerships can utilize their respective discipline assets to strengthen students' information literacy skills, the authors engaged in a project to foster these abilities in post-secondary students. The authors approach this collaborative academic endeavor from a human rights approach recognizing that students need information literacy skills to engage in lifelong learning and civic engagement.

Citizen science's (CS) deployment and benefit over the last ten years have been remarkably substantial in their contributions to the massification of citizen participation in tech-based CS projects. Insights into how CS projects influence community changes through proposals of actions and public policies are essential to understanding how they facilitate citizens' advocacy in decision-making at various ecosystem levels. To this end, we conducted a systematic literature review of tech-based CS projects published between 2017 and 2022, in which the participation of the tertiary education sector played a central role. We used a guideline that education plays a fundamental role in developing technology-based CS projects. The more educational processes, such as incorporating activities that strengthen complex thinking in citizens, the greater their involvement in decision-making to propose public policies that address their current problems. Findings suggested that a) there is significant involvement of the educational system with CS; b) CS projects do not comply with the innovation helixes; c) tech-based CS projects usually indirectly develop competencies and sub-competencies of complex thinking, and d) social actions are clearly articulated through these competencies and sub-competencies that determine the complete cycle of tech-based CS projects, which result in organized actions or public policies. To sum up, this study serves as a call for long-term co-design projects that consider both the individual development of the participants and the integral impact on decision-making at all levels.

Community-engaged learning opportunities are increasingly prevalent in higher education. In addition to positive personal growth and learning outcomes, these opportunities allow students to learn about the community surrounding their campus and formulate their own understandings of social responsibility and citizenship. These connections can be especially powerful for students at colleges and universities located in or near urban areas. This study assesses the impact of REAL Dayton, a community engagement immersion program at a midsized Catholic and Marianist university, on students' attitudes toward and perceptions of their city through pre/post surveys and interviews. The program encourages students to build their knowledge of the city and create sustained relationships with the broader community. This research enhances understandings of the effects and outcomes of community engagement programs for students. Findings demonstrate the impact of community engagement on student knowledge about their city and student perceptions of their own roles as community members.

A multipartner agricultural and nutrition project was implemented in Kenya between 2015 and 2018. This study examined the impact of the international learning and research project on the emotional and civic engagement status of 43 Kenyan women farmers receiving agricultural and nutrition interventions, comparing this group to a control group. Some project women experienced higher emotional worthlessness in the short term but less worry in the long term in comparison to the control group women. Project women also had higher overall civic engagement levels after the 3-year project compared to the control group women. Our results demonstrate that experiential learning has advantages and disadvantages for overseas communities. For community benefits, research and learning projects should be a partnership with community members.