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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.

The Brazilian Amazon is at the very core of current economic disputes driven by different versions of capitalism, which have determined a history of environmental devastation, and commercial and environmental exploitation. Accordingly, we thought about elaborating a study based on the following research aims: getting to know the environments' social representations and the Environmental Education giving meaning to environmental governance concepts, in the context of Pará State's Amazon. In methodological terms, this research was substantiated by the Theory of Social Representations, based on the ethnographic approach. It counted on the collaboration of 121 teachers trained in Pedagogy who work in municipal public schools in Castanhal City--Pará State. We used questionnaire, focus groups and participatory observation to collect data. Based on the main results, the environment's social representations and the Environmental Education elaborated by teachers provided powerful elements for natures' defense aimed at environmental awareness and citizenship participation in decision-making processes. Due to an adverse environmental scenario--of nature's commercialization and aggressive exploitation--the herein approached representations can help the population to redefine its history and, simultaneously, to set environmental governance processes to preserve the forest and the life of local communities.

We explored the psychological and educational impact of distance learning during the COVID-19 and racial injustice pandemics. The sample included 19 urban high school students of Color from the San Francisco Bay Area. Interview data were analyzed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis revealing seven themes: (1) challenges learning from home; (2) shifts that impact students' experience with school; (3) emotions emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic; (4) increased awareness and engagement related to racial injustices; (5) emotional reactions to the rise in awareness to racial injustices; (6) shifts in identity due to social isolation; and (7) coping strategies and support needed.

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.

In a time of record polarization and the questioning of the value of higher education, the internship plays an important and positive role in developing the civic minded graduate. Utilizing best practices in experiential education, an internship nurtures important civic skills in students and an orientation towards the common good. Through focus groups and surveys, our three-year research project found that internship sites and supervisors are integral partners in nurturing a student's ability to engage their communities. An internship, as an incubator for civic skills, is a valuable educational contribution to society.

In this article, a social movement lens is applied to examine the dynamics of an urbanbased language revitalization movement in the Autonomous Community of Galicia (North-western Spain). The potential of Resource Management Theory is explored as a way of systematically analysing the dynamics of urban-based language revitalization movements. It does this by identifying factors which both helped fuel the emergence and growth of this Galician grassroots movement as well as those constraining its potential development. Drawing on in-depth interviews and observations collected over six months of ethnographic fieldwork in one of Galicia's main cities, social movement theory is used to analyse the role of Galician social movement activists as social agents in shaping the success of their language revitalization initiative. We argue that a social movement lens provides a useful analytical toolkit to focus on the grassroots efforts of social agents involved in peripheral ethnolinguistic mobilization in minority language contexts such as Galicia. Ultimately, we aim to show that these social movement revitalization initiatives go beyond language as an object and are centred around language-based struggles which not only address strategy dilemmas but also scaffold social relations and ties among speakers as they mobilize within particular institutional fields.

Background: Like other professional training programs, social work pedagogy has long recognized the value of experiential learning for professional development. Despite social work's rich experiential learning literature involving field education, direct practice courses, and program evaluation, there is a dearth of literature examining how to make learning in the policy classroom experiential, particularly for large class sizes. Purpose: We asked, "How might electoral candidate debates provide experiential learning opportunities for large classes?" Approach: The authors organized municipal and federal election candidate debates attended in-person and online by over 300 undergraduate students in a social work policy class at a Canadian university. Integrating our experiences as instructors/organizers and a teaching assistant, within a social constructivist framework, we used Kolb's experiential learning theory, and critiques thereof, to analyze reflective assignments from 73 students. Results and Conclusions: Candidate debates, when facilitated appropriately, can encourage students in large courses to work through the stages of experiential learning and consider related concepts and possible links among social justice course content and social policy, social work practice, and political engagement. Implications: The paper contributes to a broader understanding of the opportunities and constraints associated with employing experiential learning in the large social work classroom and beyond.

There is increasing urgency to broaden access to inclusive and culturally sustaining K-12 civic education. Civic education can foster young people's development of their civic identity, which can support a functioning American democracy. Civic education often includes opportunities for learners to develop civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions, but not all learners may see themselves represented in traditional forms of civic education. In this essay, we propose reframing approaches to developing knowledge, skills, and dispositions by focusing on how they can be brought together to support the development of civic identity. First, we describe relevant literature on civic education. We then explain how three aspects of civic education inform learners' development of a civic identity: personal identity and values, mastery of civic knowledge, and creative capacity for civic action. We close with recommendations for how to support civic identity development in K-12 education.

Schools have been considered critical institutions for refugee youth. However, Muslim refugee youth experience challenges navigating schools during an increasingly hostile sociopolitical climate for Muslim people. Drawing on the adolescent development framework, this phenomenological study explores how school-based experiences help to shape Muslim refugee youths' identities. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 refugee youth who attended high schools in Chicago. Findings highlight how Muslim refugee youth expressed negative feelings of school and overall adjustment to their local communities due to stereotypes or perceptions of them being "terrorists" or "violent," which often translated into discrimination and bullying directed at them at the school level. Second, Muslim refugee youth expressed a desire to be civically engaged in their schools and communities to demonstrate their capacity to be "good citizens" or active participants with a high moral compass. Recommendations are offered on how to support Muslim refugee youth in school settings.

This article examines how making mathematics responsive to perceived differences in students' real-life needs historically produced racializing distinctions in school mathematics. Decentering social actors and their intentions, we analyze pedagogical techniques in social mathematics courses (1930s-1940s) and social justice mathematics education studies oriented to health and civic participation (1990s-). Despite shifts in ethico-political principles--from enlightening to empowering--racializing effects of these pedagogies persist by projecting relative distances between populations and cultural norms of proper living and well-ordered public life. Juxtaposing past and present, we highlight dangers in how pedagogical interventions to improve malleable differences in children and communities also racialize target groups as yet-to-develop the evidence-based reasoning or mathematical consciousness deemed necessary to attain what are imputed as healthy private and public life. We offer ordering pedagogies as an analytical tool to interrogate practices of racialization and to account for inherited regimes of truth operating in mathematics education by scrutinizing how pedagogical practices produce difference--dividing and ordering students along a hierarchy of perceived needs.

This paper describes forms of online youth civic engagement that center the experiences of youth with historically marginalized identities and documents ways that youth are civically engaged. Twenty U.S.-based, digitally active youth ages 16 to 21 years old were interviewed. Seven participants (35%) identified as female, nine (45%) as male, and four (20%) as gender nonbinary. Twelve (60%) identified as a first or second generation immigrant. Youth were recruited through youth-led movement accounts on Twitter and contacted via Direct Messaging. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with youth between March and September 2020, a period spanning the outbreak of COVID-19 and rise in participation in the Black Lives Matter movement. Inductive Constant Comparative Analysis was used to document forms of youth civic engagement on social media and understand how youth ascribed meaning to their civic engagement. Framed by literature on critical consciousness and psychopolitical resistance to oppression, findings highlight three forms of online youth civic engagement: Restorying, Building Community, and Taking Collective Action. These findings indicate that, for youth with identities that have historically been marginalized, social media is an important context to be civically engaged in ways that resist oppression and injustice.

This article analyses whether Brazilian graduates feel that their higher education programmes have contributed to the development of civic competences (ethics, critical thinking and respect for diversity), necessary to become active citizens in a democratic and fair society. The analysis considers disciplines and students' socioeconomic and cultural background, employing official data (2014, 2015 and 2016) from the National Test of Student Performance (Enade). Findings show that students of higher socioeconomic backgrounds tend to concentrate in programmes which lead to more prestigious and powerful positions in society. Curiously, it is these students who feel less confident that their degree contributed to the development of the above civic competences than their colleagues from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. These findings question whether higher education fulfils its mission to promote holistic human development for all students. These competences are particularly critical for privileged students who will be better positioned professionally to tackle societal injustices.

This article proposes that in a new social contract for education, reimagined universities should be institutions that are human rights-centered. A human rights mission incorporates conventional university policies oriented toward diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) but goes beyond this traditional framework by drawing attention to root causes of systemic violations of human rights (including violence within the university itself) and inclusive processes of internal reform, oriented towards social justice involving especially the voices of the most marginalized. This article begins with a presentation of the application of the human rights framework to university settings, including binding legal standards, soft policies, and a holistic framework known as the human rights-based approach. A human rights-centered university is one that will undertake change with an orientation toward deep transformation that will enable the university to fulfill its core aims to foster values such as respect, empathy, equality, and solidarity and promote active citizenship to address the pressing needs of society.

Encouraging children to become 'good citizens' who positively contribute towards society through charitable and philanthropic action as part of their civic participation has become a core focus of policy and practice. Yet the opportunities afforded to children for active civic learning within primary education remain under-researched. This article presents findings from a multi-survey study that seeks to unpick 'what' and 'how' active civic learning is happening in primary schools across England. By mapping active civic learning across the country, we find that these opportunities are unequally dispersed. Specifically, from an early age, children from more affluent backgrounds are more likely to be prepared for active civic engagement, orientated around ideas of social justice, than those from disadvantaged backgrounds. This raises significant challenges for education policy and practice and calls for greater attention to be paid to civic learning for all children in early and middle childhood.

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.

Civic leadership programming can be found across the United States and allows individuals the opportunity to gain skills focused on engaging their local community, creating space for change and impact to occur, and developing civic agency, a practice of working together across differences. This work describes civic leadership understanding, an examination of Generation Z characteristics, and provides a description of the Civic Leadership Academy at one university. The results of a 3-year longitudinal series of phenomenological focus groups identify student-derived themes that set a definition of civic leadership: catalyst of social awareness and change, bridging people and passions, and developing a culture of service. In addition, they identify barriers to service and provide strategies to challenge these barriers through curricular and co-curricular programs.

This paper explores the social media literacies of Dakari, a 16-year-old Black teen reader, writer, and activist, within a broader 3-month multi-case study on diverse teens' online literacies. The focus is on Dakari's multimodal literacy practices related to social justice activism and civic engagement. The study highlights how social media platforms empower youth, exemplified by teens like Dakari who utilize these spaces to influence culture, practice critical literacies, and establish civic identities. Examining Dakari's case, three key themes emerge: (1) addressing systemic racism, (2) driving change as a content creator, and (3) challenging the idea that one must wait until adulthood to make a difference. The study highlights the transformative potential of youth of Color's social media literacies, suggesting a reimagining of educators' roles to recognize and respect teens' online literacies while fostering youth identity and political engagement. It is imperative to reshape teaching methods for justice and social change in the digital age. This involves supporting student literacy development and acknowledging the timely language and literacies of youth in social media contexts.

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).

Background or Context: Public school library book challenges have garnered ample media attention in recent years as many school districts and advocacy organizations have reported record numbers of book challenges. Book challenges are not a new phenomenon, historically speaking, but they have often illuminated values clashes in communities and raise questions about the rights and freedoms of public school students. Judicial rulings and school district policies that address book challenges could provide insights for many members of school communities (including, but not limited to, school board members, students, parents, and teachers) as they experience challenges, but these aspects of the legal record and their influence on responses to book challenges remains underexamined in scholarship. Purpose, Objective, Research Question, or Focus of Study: The 1982 Supreme Court case "Island Trees School District v. Pico" remains the lasting judicial precedent for interpreting public school students' First Amendment rights as they interact with school library books. We examine the extent to which school district book challenge policies align with court precedent set in "Pico" (1982) and the implications for students' rights and democratic participation during book challenges. Research Design: Drawing on elements of the law and society framework as well as political analysis categories, this study uses qualitative methods to illuminate specific elements of district policies that govern book challenges. Specifically, we examine 29 policies in school districts that experienced a publicly reported book challenge between 2017 and 2021 to understand relationships between school district book challenge policies and the "Pico" (1982) precedent. Conclusions or Recommendations: Our findings reveal ample space between judicial rulings and school district policies we examine. In fact, we find a broader array of relevant actors in book challenge processes than conceived by the courts and raise implications for students' constitutional rights and protections related to who policies indicate may or must be involved in these processes, the settings in which book challenge decisions are made, and the limited roles for public involvement during school library book challenges.

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.