Search Results (320)

Climate change poses significant risks to both natural and urban systems, and fostering climate literacy among younger generations is increasingly recognized as a key component of resilience strategies. This paper presents the outcomes of a transnational climate education project involving high school students from Cinisello Balsamo (Italy) and Edremit (Turkey), developed under the EU-funded Town Twinning program. The project combined scientific seminars, experiential learning, and digital tools (including carbon footprint calculators and immersive virtual glacier tours) to enhance climate knowledge and civic engagement. Youth Climate Councils were established to co-develop local sustainability proposals and engage with municipal authorities. Quantitative tests and qualitative evaluations confirmed significant learning gains and high satisfaction among participants. A comparative analysis with international initiatives highlights the project’s unique integration of scientific rigor, participatory methods, and cross-border cooperation. The proposed model offers a replicable framework for embedding place-based climate education into urban governance and youth policy. Full article

Two critical research problems emerge in creative education quality management: the framework misalignment problem, where business-oriented performance metrics inadequately assess design creativity and innovation, and the sustainability integration gap, reflecting limited incorporation of environmental and social sustainability dimensions into excellence models. This review article addresses these problems by developing an initial framework that adapts the Baldrige framework for urban design, architecture, art, and design education with integrated sustainability principles. Drawing on literature review and theoretical synthesis, the article proposes a framework that introduces three key epistemological shifts: prioritizing process over product, supporting non-linear and reflective learning pathways, and recognizing tacit, embodied, and experiential knowledge as central to creative education. The framework incorporates the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as core design challenges and introduces innovative evaluation tools, including portfolios with iterative review processes, community feedback loops, and SDG mapping rubrics. This research contributes to the educational quality management literature by offering a systematic framework that bridges business excellence models with creative education paradigms while positioning sustainability as a core educational objective rather than a peripheral concern. Full article

Rapid urbanization reduces green space and increases urban stressors, yet the mechanisms linking urban forests to residents’ subjective well-being remain incompletely understood. This study examines how perceived access, perceived quality, visitation frequency, and satisfaction with urban forests relate to citizens’ subjective well-being in Tehran. Using an online survey of 672 residents and structural equation modeling, this study estimates direct and indirect pathways among the constructs. The results show perceived access is the strongest predictor, raising visitation, satisfaction, and well-being, while perceived satisfaction is the most powerful direct driver of subjective well-being. Perceived quality positively affects well-being but with a smaller effect, and visitation frequency alone does not significantly improve well-being, underscoring that positive experiential factors such as satisfaction matter more than visit counts. The model explains 69.8% of variance in subjective well-being. This study refines the current theoretical foundation by integrating access, quality, frequency, and satisfaction within a single conceptual framework in a megacity context and directly comparing the relative strengths of accessibility versus quality as pathways to well-being. In the context of current knowledge it is among the first to test these comparative pathways using a large Tehran sample. Practically, these findings suggest that urban policy should prioritize equitable access and design that fosters satisfying experiences, not just increasing visit counts. Future research should use longitudinal or experimental designs, incorporate objective measures, compare multiple cities and types of green spaces, and explore moderators such as perceived safety, motivations for visiting, and place attachment to refine causal understanding and policy guidance. Full article

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most prevalent neurological disorder in young adults, characterised by physical, psychological and cognitive dysfunction. Exercise training is a safe management strategy. Healthcare providers (HCPs) acknowledge deficiencies in awareness, counselling strategies, and resources that prevent them from promoting and prescribing this effective treatment. We implemented an online evidence-based educational programme and evaluated the effect, acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of the programme in improving HCP confidence, knowledge, and attitudes towards remote exercise prescription to persons with MS. Methods: Physiotherapists and exercise physiologists were recruited and received the educational programme (online theory and 16-week experience of prescribing to persons with MS). Participants’ confidence, knowledge and attitudes towards exercise prescription, as well as their professional quality of life, were our primary outcomes—baseline (T1), immediately post-online theoretical learning (T2), post-application with clients (T3; approximately 16 weeks after T2), and at 12-month follow-up (T4). We gathered participants’ acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility evaluation at T2, T3 and T4. We analysed the effect on primary outcomes using generalised linear mixed models, with secondary and evaluative outcomes analysed as counts and qualitative themes. Results: Of 40 participants who provided baseline data, 24 completed the theoretical programme, and 16 completed the experiential programme. Self-confidence improved significantly (|βs| ≥ 1.27, SEs ≤ 0.31, |zs| ≥ 5.28, ps < 0.001), with large effect sizes (percentage change: 256.8–479.4%). Some theoretical domains framework-based domains have improved, such as beliefs about skills to prescribe evidence-based principles. Participants expressed high satisfaction with the programme and showed increased delivery of implementation behaviour change strategies. Conclusions: An online evidence-based education programme for MS care improved HCPs’ self-confidence, perceived skills and delivery of evidence-based exercise behaviour-based prescription. Full article

This article aims to critically engage with the capability approach by exploring its potential contributions to social work practice, specifically social work focusing on reducing child poverty. In high-income countries, an estimated 69 million children are either living in poverty or at risk of poverty. Despite its comprehensive social welfare system, Switzerland is no exception. This contribution is based on empirical research conducted between 2021 and 2025 in Switzerland with children and young people (CYP). The results of this participatory and artistic research not only demonstrate the value of considering the experiential knowledge of CYP affected by poverty in the context of social intervention, but also the importance of the participation of this social work audience in fostering professional and institutional practices along with promoting fairer, more inclusive and transformative public policies. This research precisely identifies how social work practice could support CYP’s evolving capabilities by applying the capability approach within social services. Specifically, it focuses on capabilities for voice and to aspire, as well as their progression vis-à-vis the transformation of social practice, which could be observed through the participation implemented as a foundational principle of action in social work practice. Full article

While Japanese universities promote English proficiency and intercultural competence, admissions still rely heavily on the standardised TOEIC test, often prioritising linguistic accuracy over cultural understanding. This emphasis can marginalise the experiential and interpersonal aspects of language learning essential for developing intercultural communicative competence (ICC). Although ICC is most effectively developed through a combination of formal instruction and informal learning, particularly involving authentic intercultural interactions, there remains a paucity of research examining how learners develop ICC beyond the classroom. Addressing this gap, the present study investigates how Japanese university students’ language repertoires, intercultural experiences, and knowledge shape their studies, and how their ICC develops throughout undergraduate education. One English major student was selected for in-depth analysis following his employment in a culturally diverse workplace that fostered meaningful intercultural interactions. His development was examined using four research tools: a survey, a journal, an interview, and TOEIC scores. The survey and test scores revealed growth in communicative assurance and language proficiency, while journal reflections and interviews captured critical incidents—including a shift from indirect to direct speech—that marked cultural adaptation. These findings suggest experiential learning fosters real-time communication, builds learner confidence, and supports transformational ICC development. Full article

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI (Gen-AI), into higher education presents a critical challenge: preparing students for the complex ethical dilemmas inherent in AI-driven research and practice. Current AI ethics education, however, often remains fragmented, overly theoretical, and disconnected from practical application, leaving a significant gap between knowing ethical principles and acting upon them. To address this pressing issue, this study proposes and validates a full-cycle AI ethics education system designed to bridge this gap. The system integrates three core components: (1) an updated four-dimensional ethics framework focused on Gen-AI challenges (research review, data privacy, algorithmic fairness, intellectual property); (2) a “cognition-behavior” dual-loop training mechanism that combines theoretical learning with hands-on, simulated practice; and (3) a full life-cycle education platform featuring tools like virtual laboratories to support experiential learning. A mixed-methods study with 360 students and 20 instructors demonstrated the system’s effectiveness, showing significant improvement in students’ ethical knowledge, a large effect size in enhancing ethical decision-making capabilities, and high user satisfaction. These findings validate a scalable model for AI ethics education that moves beyond passive instruction toward active, situated learning, offering a robust solution for higher education institutions to cultivate ethical responsibility in the age of Gen-AI. Full article

This article reconceptualises London as a learnt city, a dynamic learning ecosystem co-produced through digital mediation, affective experience, and embodied practice. Focusing on international university students in London, a transient, hyper-digital city, we employ a participatory reflective-mapping methodology to examine how urban learning unfolds across mediated, affective, and experiential layers of city life. The mediated city describes students’ imaginaries shaped by digital media and mapping apps. The affective city captures emotional registers, such as nostalgia, autonomy, and (dis)orientation, that emerge during urban adaptation. The experiential city foregrounds embodied engagements: movement, infrastructure use, routine navigation, and elective belonging. These three dimensions interweave to form an “urban collage,” revealing how students continuously remake both their identities and the city itself through integrated online and offline practices. The article advances critical urban and communication studies by contesting technocratic and neoliberal framings of urban learning. It positions learning as inherently spatial, affective, and relational—a sense-making process enacted in everyday urban experiences. By framing the city as a contested site of knowledge production and identity formation, this article contributes to debates in digital urbanism and critical digital pedagogy. The learnt city concept offers a novel lens for understanding how global cities—characterised by frictions of belonging and mobility—are lived, known, and shaped by those negotiating their multiple mediated, affective, and material dimensions. Full article

Cultural and religious diversity has become a defining feature of societies worldwide. Although religious music serves as a powerful medium for fostering intercultural understanding, it remains underexamined in educational research. This systematic review analyzes studies published between 2016 and 2025, identified through comprehensive searches of SCOPUS, Web of Science, and ERIC databases. Eleven peer-reviewed studies meeting thematic criteria were selected for in-depth analysis. Findings revealed persistent challenges in religious music education, including policy ambiguity, teacher identity constraints, and limited resources. The review identifies a shift from traditional knowledge transmission to experiential pedagogies, leading to outcomes such as emotional resonance, intercultural understanding, moral self-regulation, and student agency. It also highlights structural gaps in longitudinal research and a significant underrepresentation of religious music traditions from Eastern Europe and other non-Anglophone regions. A practice–outcome heatmap developed in this study uncovered unexplored links, particularly regarding student agency. Future research should investigate these underexplored pedagogical–outcome pathways and address current geographic and cultural imbalances by incorporating regional traditions—such as Eastern European choral and sacred music—into global academic discourse. Full article

Background: Despite more than 25 years of intensive effort following the landmark “To Err Is Human” report, conventional top-down medical error prevention strategies, grounded in the Safety-I paradigm, have largely failed to reduce patient harm. This persistent shortcoming underscores the need for a new prevention model. The medical literature contains an extensive yet systematically underutilized body of physician-generated experiential knowledge on “clinical pitfalls”—specific high-risk scenarios in which errors are likely to occur. This resource presents an opportunity for a novel, physician-driven approach to medical error prevention. The present paper proposes and evaluates such a model, grounded in the principles of Safety-II and translational medicine. Methods: The methodology involved a three-part conceptual analysis: (1) a critical review of the literature assessing the effectiveness of established error prevention strategies, (2) a quantitative bibliometric analysis of the PubMed database to determine the volume and temporal trends of publications on “clinical pitfalls”, and (3) a conceptual synthesis to design a novel physician-driven error prevention model. Each method is described in detail at the beginning of its respective section. Results: The literature review confirms the limited effectiveness of existing top-down safety initiatives, particularly in complex domains such as diagnosis and treatment. The bibliometric analysis identified more than 43,000 publications containing the keyword “pitfall,” with a sustained and significant upward trend in annual publications over the past three decades. The conceptual synthesis demonstrates that a physician-driven system—centered on a “Pitfall Bank”—addresses core weaknesses of current strategies, including unreliable data, heterogeneous knowledge, and cognitive biases. Structured as a circular translational mechanism, the proposed system facilitates a continuous cycle of practice-based problem identification and science-informed solution implementation. Conclusions: A physician-driven prevention system, architected as a translational engine, offers a promising and sustainable strategy to overcome the current impasse in medical error reduction and create a more resilient and adaptive healthcare system. Full article

This mixed-method study explores the impact of the Raising Climate Heroes: Ecological Game Camp on climate change knowledge, awareness, behavior, and emotional engagement among primary school students and adult participants. Designed with experiential and game-based learning approaches, the program aimed to enhance environmental literacy through interactive, nature-centered activities. The quantitative findings from pre- and post-tests revealed significant increases in climate-related knowledge, awareness, climate-friendly behavior, hope, and reductions in climate anxiety. All measurement tools demonstrated high internal consistency (α = 0.809–0.914), indicating strong reliability across both age groups. Qualitative data, analyzed using descriptive thematic analysis, showed high levels of participant satisfaction. The adults emphasized educational gains, professional relevance, and appreciation of academic facilitation. The children focused on enjoyment, outdoor experiences, and social interaction. Activities such as ecological experiments, composting, and collaborative cooking were most favored. The results suggest that combining cognitive and emotional elements through play and hands-on learning can effectively promote pro-environmental attitudes. This study contributes to the literature by demonstrating how climate education can be both engaging and transformative for diverse learner groups. Full article

The article explores how pro-environmental action relates to knowledge processes and fosters transformative changes in vulnerable settings. Drawing on eleven pro-environmental initiatives in five countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Portugal, Romania and Türkiye), the study focuses on locally embedded actions responding to environmental threats, biodiversity loss and traditional practices. Based on 71 semi-structured interviews with citizens, we captured how environmental stewardship is shaped through lived experience, situated knowledge and shifting roles of actors under variable, often adverse governance conditions. We found that knowledge emerges as a co-produced and relational process, blending scientific, traditional, experiential and process-related knowledge. This supports participation and legitimacy and enables transformative (or behavioural) change. Transformative outcomes appear as behavioural shifts, self-empowerment, increased community agency and broader societal signals evolving from participation. The article contributes to the debate on sustainability transformation as it showcases potentially uncharted factors in current sustainability transition studies, i.e., emotional, political and relational dimensions of local pro-environmental actions in vulnerable settings. Even if systemic conditions limit transformative processes, this practical knowledge might be scaled up or adapted to other local or regional contexts to confront dominant socio-economic models and propose more inclusive, just and sustainable alternatives. Full article

Virtual reality offers unique opportunities to personalize learning by adapting instructions to individual learning styles. This study explores the relationships between learning styles, cognitive load, and learning outcomes in a virtual reality environment designed for engineering education. Drawing on Kolb’s experiential learning theory, the research investigates how immersion and flow, in relation to learning styles, influence learning outcomes within the Submarine Simulator, an educational tool for underwater engineering. To enhance instructional design in virtual reality, this study proposes to aggregate existing and validated models, such as Kolb’s framework, to develop new models tailored specifically for learning environments in virtual reality. This research aims to highlight the interplay of these variables in a learning process focused on acquiring knowledge in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fields, specifically hydrodynamics, through designing and operating a simulated submarine model in virtual reality. A cohort of 26 students from MINES Paris—PSL participated in a three-phase testing process to evaluate the effectiveness of original virtual reality software designed to support learning in underwater engineering. The findings enhance our understanding of how learning styles influence learner engagement and performance and how virtual reality environments can be optimized through adaptive instructional design guided by these novel models tailored specifically for such immersive settings. Full article

Virtual Reality (VR) is a useful educational tool in healthcare, allowing students to practise and improve practical skills. In speech therapy (ST), the need to revise academic curricula to adapt them to university contexts and integrate them into advanced clinical practices has highlighted the need to analyse the use of VR in this sector. The objective of this scoping review was to investigate whether research has considered using VR to support ST students’ training and highlight potential gaps in the literature. The study followed the JBI methodology for scoping reviews and was reported according to PRISMA-ScR guidelines. A protocol to conduct the current review was developed and registered on the Open Science Framework. The articles considered were retrieved from databases specialising in healthcare, computer science, and education, and were enhanced by results found with the help of AI-based tools. No constraints were applied and all study types were considered. Fourteen studies were included in the review and analysed under four core subjects: VR technology, ST context, training purposes, and main outcomes and assessment methods. The VR types identified in the studies were grouped into four categories, i.e., non-immersive VR (6/14, 42.9%), immersive VR (5/14, 35.7%), non-specified VR type (2/14, 14.3%), and semi-immersive VR (1/14, 7.1%). Most studies (5/14, 35.7%) focused on clinical skills acquisition, others addressed communication and interpersonal collaborative skills (3/14, 21.4%), while the remaining focused on person-centred care and awareness, clinical interviewing or reasoning skills, and performance knowledge (2/14 each, 14.3%). VR is still in its early stages in ST education. Some recent studies suggest VR supports students’ communication, interdisciplinary, and clinical skills. Although still limited in the context of ST education, the increasing affordability and ease of development of VR, along with its growing use in other healthcare fields, suggest that its underuse might be due to institutional barriers and lack of standardised frameworks. Overall, the findings suggest that VR offers promising support for experiential and skills-based learning. Full article

Adequate initial training should ensure that future physical activity and sports sciences (PASS) professionals acquire skills that include not only in-depth knowledge of the content to be taught but also an understanding of the most effective teaching strategies for its transmission. The objective of this descriptive, exploratory, and quantitative study was to analyze the degree of acquisition of gymnastics teaching competencies of 107 future Portuguese PASS professionals, according to gender and training course. The research instrument was the Physical Education Teaching Competence Perception Scale, adapted to the gymnastics context. The main results showed that Portuguese students perceived themselves as having acquired medium levels of teaching competencies for gymnastics across all the dimensions analyzed, and feeling less competent in adapting curricular specifications. Regarding gender and training year, female students perceived themselves as more competent in the dimension related to the ability to use gymnastics content as teaching tools, with a significant difference. First-year students perceived a higher level of competence compared to their second- and third-year peers. Therefore, there is a need for more contextualized and reflective initial training, incorporating experiential learning modules that simulate real scenarios for adapting the gymnastics classroom. Full article