Search

In recent years, environmental problems have been increasing rapidly around the world and affecting a wide range of environments. Many campaigns are carried out to raise awareness about environmental problems. This study aims to determine the ideas of students at different education levels about environmental problems and to compare these ideas with each other according to their fields. The survey model was used as the research method. The study group of the research consists of a total of 298 students: 75 at the 4th grade level of primary school, 90 at the 7th grade level of secondary school, 56 at the 11th grade level of high school, and 68 at the 3rd and 4th grade level of the university. The "Environmental Problems Opinion Survey", consisting of four open-ended questions, for which validity studies were conducted, was applied to the study group. The descriptive analysis method was used to analyze the data. Environmental pollution is seen as the most important environmental problem at all levels of education. While the answer to the most important cause of environmental problems is littering at the primary school level, it is shown that people act unconsciously on environmental issues at other levels of education. While the answer to the question about your most frequent behavior to prevent environmental problems was "I throw away the garbage" at the primary school, high school and university levels, the answer to the question "I throw the garbage away" was encountered at the secondary school level. Finally, it was suggested that awareness-raising activities be held at all education levels regarding the solution of environmental problems. Based on all these results, it has been observed that similar answers are encountered at all levels of education regarding environmental problems. Conducting more studies to increase students' awareness of environmental problems is among the recommendations of this study.

In 2019 the Budj Bim cultural landscape in south western Victoria was listed on the World Heritage Register. It is significant firstly for the Gunditjmara people as a culmination of regaining control over their traditional lands and international recognition of their unbroken connection with the land extending back tens of thousands of years. It undermines a longstanding distinction made in heritage assessment between tangible (material) and intangible (immaterial) categories by instead seeing these as interdependent and 'constitutive entanglements' of everyday life. The corresponding distinction too often made between the built and the natural environment has resulted in a disproportionate acceptance that associates built environment heritage with European or Western societies and identities natural environmental heritage with Indigenous landscapes. Introducing a socio-material perspective where these formerly separate categories are seen as interdependent enables a new mode of understanding cultural connection to the land that is potentially transforming. Finally, it is significant as an exemplar of Indigenous led heritage work that brings together political struggle and advocacy, history work, and in the process creates new knowledge.

In the current study, an engineering design-based STEM activity was designed and implemented for 5th graders. The current activity is expected to provide guidance and perspective to teachers (practitioners) in designing and implementing an activity based on design-based learning, STEM activity, and engineering design process (EDP). At the same time, during the implementation of the activity, teachers and students experienced a STEM activity based on the EDP. In the fall semester of the 2022-2023 academic year, this STEM activity based on the engineering design process was planned for Friction force and water resistance in the 5th-grade middle school science course. Then, the activity was implemented in a class of 21 students. The activity was implemented in three class hours. This activity, titled "Let's Design a Water Slide Boat," aimed at designing a water slide boat that would be least affected by water resistance and friction force to improve students' engineering and design skills. This activity was based on NGSS and the objectives and outcomes set in the 5th-grade science curriculum of the Turkish Ministry of National Education.

Through a multistakeholder partnership, this research aims to catalyze the development of a blue economy corridor (BEC) through community-based asset mapping in the eastern portion of the Tar-Pamlico River Basin in North Carolina, a geographic area predominated by physically and culturally rural landscapes. Underpinned by appreciative inquiry, this project aims to counter a deficit model of community development in this portion of eastern North Carolina by increasing awareness of quality of life assets that communities currently possess and may leverage for sustainable economic, environmental, and social development through their inclusion in a digital interactive map freely available to the public.

This study aims to investigate environmentally responsible and sustainable development of 56 pre-service teachers which relevant to framework of sustainable development goals. The qualitative data were collected and analyzed by summarizing general perspectives. The 9 concepts were found and reported. The ways to sustain environments and education students to reach sustainable development can be done by reduce, reuse, recycle; conserve water; save energy; sustainable transportation; grow trees and keep open areas green; waste management; support eco-friendly products; reduce carbon footprint; and conserve biodiversity. These frameworks and perspectives should be incorporated in education and classroom in action.

As a result of human beings' activities to dominate nature and transform it for their own benefit as they continue to advance in science and technology, environmental problems such as climate change have become the biggest threat faced by the biosphere in the current century. One of the biggest problems of humanity today is the scarcity of water resources. It is important to reveal the meanings attributed to the concept of water in biology textbooks in order to identify and eliminate the deficiencies or gaps between the concepts related to the subject. The main purpose of this study is to analyze how the concept of water is presented in secondary school biology textbooks. In line with this purpose, answers to the following questions were sought: What biological concepts is water associated with in biology textbooks and how often is it used? Under which categories can the concept of water be classified in biology textbooks? In the study, document analysis was conducted on four biology textbooks published by the Ministry of National Education to be taught in high schools in the 2023-2024 academic year. A qualitative methodology based on inductive logic was used to analyze the data. How water is emphasized in biology textbooks was discussed, and categories were developed to conceptualize explanations about water. These categories were: water as a substance in the structure of organisms, water as a habitat for organisms, water as a substance involved in chemical reactions, water as a human health factor, water as an essential requirement for organisms, water as an environmental problem factor and water as a scarcity factor. According to the results of the textbook content analysis, it was seen that the relationships between water and health concepts in the category of water as a human health factor were well structured. In the study, it was seen that the concept of water was presented in accordance with the target achievements in line with the secondary school biology course curriculum and that the key concepts were given literally. However, it was revealed that the concept of water in textbooks should be structured according to the principles of the systems thinking approach.

This study explored the impact of an active project-based, aquaculture constructivist-learning program, as perceived by high school students. The purpose of this case study was to discover if participation in the program influenced students' interest, engagement, and future educational and career aspirations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) when integrating aquaculture in and outside the classroom. Likewise, the study also wanted to explore students' knowledge about aquaculture and skill development after their participation in the program. The study employed a qualitative methods approach to explore students' attitudes and experiences. Qualitative data were collected from post-student focus groups at three different public, rural high schools in Kentucky. Other qualitative data included teacher journal reflections (e.g., personal documents) and public newspaper articles (e.g., public documents). Four emergent themes were found: (1) Students show excitement and enthusiasm in the hands-on, aquaculture program; (2) students show attention to detail in the hands-on, aquaculture tasks, it sticks, and are more responsible; (3) students are collaboratively engaged with their peers; and (4) greater interest and confidence in STEM through practical application. Results demonstrated that the program engaged learners in real-world problem-solving and decision-making situations while working collaboratively in small works. It also appears that students gained an important life skill, responsibility, as well as self-confidence in STEM, after participating in the program.

Local leaders are essential for helping Michigan achieve its 30-year water strategy goals. The Michigan Water School is an Extension nonformal educational program to address the knowledge gap of local leaders. We evaluated programs conducted from 2017 to 2019. Results revealed program outcomes in knowledge, attitudes, perceptions of criticalness to work, and stewardship and behavioral intentions aligned to water quality, water quantity, and field experience units. Growth areas for program improvement include water policy, economics, planning, and finance as well as expanding the focus of the program for transformational leadership and to broaden recruitment efforts.

Understanding the dynamic relationships of the entities that have the most impact on an organization - or that the organization impacts the most - is at the core of stakeholder management approaches. In this article, we present an experiential exercise that provides a creative practical, low-overhead, discussion-oriented classroom activity to engage in a critical examination of the concept of stakeholders. This exercise is especially effective for the stakeholders usually invisibilized. Rather than relying on presenting stakeholder theory, this exercise uses fictional writing as a way for students to give a voice to water, a most often invisibilized stakeholder on an academic campus. The activity encourages reflection on the perception we hold toward certain stakeholders and aims to raise awareness toward the underrepresentation of some of them despite the centrality of their contribution to the organization. The exercise also enables students to grasp that there are limits when trying to speak on behalf of someone or something that structurally does not have a voice. This exercise can be used at the graduate level. Recommendations for adapting the exercise to the large classes are included.

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.

As a person obsessed, perhaps overly so, with preventing water damage, an ailing dishwasher led to a system whereby who did the dishes in our household became a matter of chance. What happened next, however, was besmirchment of my character from hockey teammates, close friends, and especially from a room full of future elementary school mathematics teachers. Most individuals, from those casting aspersions, were not even able to support their slander by, for example, providing me with a simple solution, the kind you would find in the back of a school mathematics textbook, demonstrating that the dishwasher system I had implemented was unfair. Making matters worse, data collected from a simulation of my system did not result in probabilistic discussions regarding order mattering, the number of outcomes, the assignment of labels, lists or diagrams; rather, a flimsily understanding of the data resulted in a rather raucous echo chamber where my fate was sealed. Unable to sit idly by any longer, I proposed a tweak to the system, which preyed on a school yard notion of fairness, that helped me regain my honour and perhaps proved that revenge is a dish best served cold.

This study examines the efficacy of a novel college sustainability course in promoting relevant environmental knowledge and interest in careers related to environmental aspects within the Taiwanese educational context. The core content of the course covers the essential concepts of sustainability and introduces students to environmental issues and their interrelation with the nexus of food, energy, and water, as well as related economic and social issues. This action competencefocused course was designed to allow students to develop their understanding of sustainability through a combination of engaging lectures, novel group activities, case studies, exercises, and team projects. The sample consisted of 44 Taiwanese undergraduate and graduate students majoring in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Participants' interest in STEM careers and perceived knowledge were measured by a pre-test and post-test administered before and after the program, respectively. Analyses of variance, correlation analyses, and cross-lagged panel regression analyses were conducted to test four hypotheses. Results of repeated-measure analysis of covariance indicated that knowledge increased significantly from pre-test to post-test, but not career interest. Results of a cross-lagged panel regression analysis also indicated that pre-test knowledge was a significant positive predictor of post-test career interest. By creating an engaging class atmosphere and promoting experiential self-learning activities, this course was highly effective in enhancing students' knowledge of key sustainability aspects. Implications for interest development theory and sustainability pedagogy are also discussed.

Aquaponics systems model aquaculture and hydroponics systems for food production. Aquponics allow cycle of nutrients as well as wastes and offers a sustainable option to the use of environmental resources. Aquaponics systems are also considered in education as a teaching tool which can be implemented into different grade levels. It's possible to talk about different science concepts around a real world problem with aquaponics and they present a good opportunity for STEM education. In addition, problem solving, systems thinking and science process skills can easily be adapted to aquaponics activities as they are considered effective teaching tools. With this in mind the aquaponics system activity was designed targeting the "Ecosystems Ecology and Contemporary Environmental Issues" unit of the 10th grade biology curricula using the STEM framework. The aquaponics systems activity was implemented as an afterschool activity with the participation of 10th grade students and as a workshop with science and biology teachers. This study explores; (a) how effectively aquaponics systems activity can be used in the classroom, (b) what is the impact on students' achievement and (c) what are students' and teachers' perception of it. Teachers identified aquaponics systems activity as interesting and motivational for student learning. They all were able to identify scientific concepts of the activity in relation to the biology curriculum however making the connection with STEM disciplines was found to be more difficult. Participating students' academic achievement scores were found to be statistically higher in post-test analysis. Students were able to practice science process skills, problem solving, and design processes in addition to learning scientific concepts. [Note: The page range (693-714) shown on the PDF is incorrect. The correct page range is 693-715. The publication year (2022) shown on the PDF is incorrect. The correct publication year is 2023.]

Experimentation is a contributing factor to the interest and meaningful learning of Science. In Geology and Earth Science, the effects of soil textures, settlements, and water-holding capacity are parameters for landslides in Barotac Viejo and other flooded areas. Landslides are triggered during heavy rainstorms, causing severe property damage and casualties. This experimental study aims to determine how these parameters are factors for landslides and give accurate information to Science teachers. The study uses two methods to provide ease and continuity of measurements and settings using the Fourier Transform Infrared(FTIR) spectroscopy in analyzing the soil textures. The Imhoff cone instrument is for the settling and water-holding capacity of the soil. FTIR Soil analysis reveals that contents of clay and organic matter directly affect soil water-holding ability due to the larger surface area. A landslide-prone zone has a lesser settling time except for the sand that settles fastest due to larger masses. This study is crucial for science teachers teaching geology and earth sciences besides forecasting and preventing geohydrological processes and developing better landslide warning strategies to mitigate risks and reduce socioeconomic damage.

This project seeks to foster students' critical thinking abilities through the incorporation of Design Thinking with STEAM-PjBL in a chemistry redox process. 41 grade 10 students from a high school in Rangkasbitung, Banten, Indonesia participated in this study. Learning was facilitated by using a variety of online platforms, including Edmodo, Google Jamboard, and Zoom Meetings. Interviews, observations, journal reflection procedures, and researcher notes were used to gather qualitative data. The five steps of Design Thinking: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test, were used to facilitate learning (Plattner, 2010). Critical thinking skills were assessed through the indicators of Framing The Problem, Solution Finding, Self-Regulation, and Reflection, developed by Ucson and Rizona (2018). Based on the categories of Information Search, Creative Interpretation and Reasoning, Reflection, and Self-Regulation, the results demonstrate the development of students' critical thinking abilities to the advanced level. Design Thinking provides a way to more easily and actively create project-based solutions in solving contextual problems related to redox reaction of water pollution in the Ciujung River due to the use of detergent waste. Understanding the relationship of chemical concepts to daily life challenges the application of this approach. To challenge students' learning and help them acquire 21st-century abilities, STEAM-PjBL may be integrated with Design Thinking.

The construction of prediction models reflecting players' learning performance in serious games currently faces various challenges for learning analytics. In this study, we design, implement, and field test a learning analytics system for a serious game, advancing the field by explicitly showing which in-game features correspond to differences in learner performance. We then deploy and test a system that provides instructors with clear signals regarding student learning and progress in the game, which instructors could depend upon for interventions. Within the study, we examined, coded, and filtered a substantial gameplay corpus, determining expertise in the game. Mission HydroSci (MHS) is a serious game that teaches middle-school students water science. Using our logging system, designed and implemented along with game design and development, we captured around 60 in-game features from the gameplay of 373 students who completed Unit 3 of MHS in its first field test. We tested eight hypotheses during the field test and presented this paper's results to participating teachers. Our findings reveal several features with statistical significance that will be critical for creating a validated prediction model. We discuss how this work will help future research establish a framework for designing analytics systems for serious games and advancing gaming design and analytics theory.

Healthy nutrition is essential in preventing possible diseases and treating existing diseases by controlling their course. Based on this importance, adolescence is one of the periods to be considered. Adolescence is a fundamental determinant of healthy life in adulthood and old age. Healthy nutrition awareness gained in this period will raise awareness of the adolescent individual herself/himself and the people around her/him. This research aimed to determine the nutrition awareness of middle school students in early adolescence. According to the phenomenology, the research was conducted with eight volunteer students in the 8th grade in a public middle school in the Central Anatolia region in Turkey. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with each student individually using the "Interview Form about Nutrition Awareness in Adolescence Period" prepared by the researchers. The data were analyzed by using content analysis. As a result of the research, it was determined that the nutrition awareness of middle school students in the early adolescence period was low. In this context, increasing middle school students' nutrition awareness was recommended.

Background: While there is now considerable evidence in support of a relationship between executive function (EF) and academic success, these findings almost uniformly derive from Western and high-income countries. Yet, recent findings from low- to -middle-income countries have suggested that patterns of EF and academic skills differ in these contexts, but there is little clarity on the extent, direction and nature of their association. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the contribution of EF to pre-academic skills in a sample of preschool children (N = 124; M[subscript age] = 50.91 months; 45% female). Setting: Two preschools were recruited from an urban setting in a community with both formal and informal housing, overcrowding, high levels of crime and violence, and poor service delivery. Three preschools were recruited from rural communities with household plots, a slow rate of infrastructure development, reliance on open fires for cooking, limited access to running water and rudimentary sanitation. Methods: Pre-academic skills were assessed using the Herbst Early Childhood Development Criteria test, and EF was assessed using the Early Years Toolbox. Results: Although EF scores appeared high and pre-academic skills were low (in norm comparisons), EF inhibition ([beta] = 0.23, p = 0.001) and working memory ([beta] = 0.25, p < 0.001) nevertheless showed strong prediction of pre-academic skills while shifting was not significant. Conclusion: While EF is an important predictor of pre-academic skills even in this low- and middle-income country context, factors in addition to EF may be equally important targets to foster school readiness in these settings. Contribution: The current study represents a first step towards an understanding of the current strengths that can be leveraged, and opportunities for additional development, in the service of preparing all children for the demands of school.

The incorporation of interdisciplinary education, a topic of significant global interest, is increasingly being recognized as a key aspect of educational innovation in Vietnam. This recognition extends to several fields, including STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education. This research aims to design and implement a STEM situation associated with the context of water protection in Vietnam for 10th-grade students in which students mobilize the knowledge of Physics (specific gravity, Archimedes' principle) and Mathematics (volume) to design a salinometer. This device measures the salinity of the water. The research methodology is based on the observed increase in saline levels in the coastal regions of Vietnam in recent years, which has had a substantial impact on agriculture and the livelihoods of millions of people. This methodology aims to provide realistic scenarios for students to address and resolve these problems. A total of forty students in the 10th grade were involved in a teaching situation that consisted of five distinct phases. Forty 10th-grade students participated in a teaching situation conducted in five phases. The results showed that the situation helped students strengthen and connect their physics and mathematics knowledge, create a vibrant learning atmosphere, enhance communication, and develop problem-solving competency. Furthermore, the teaching situation also needs to be revised regarding the measurement practices of Vietnamese students. The situation contributes to educating students' awareness of current events, protecting Vietnamese water resources, and the importance of sustainable development. In addition, we can use the same teaching process as in this research to develop other STEM teaching situations.

Frequently, global disasters occur due to human-induced activities, involving international society's role in attempting disaster risk reduction. This study aimed to examine the current state of Thai disaster education at the school level, which Japan supports, and analyze higher education's role in enhancing school-level disaster education through Bruno Latour's actor-network theory (ANT). A mixed-method approach was employed in this study. Quantitative data were gathered through questionnaire surveys involving 150 students aged 13 to 15 from mountainous regions. The surveys focused on their knowledge, attitude, and disaster self-appraisal practices (KAP) in rapid-onset circumstances, using percentages and numerical values. In contrast, the qualitative data were collected through in-depth interviews with five key informants and analyzed using content analysis. The students exhibited a high level of knowledge, while their attitude was assessed at the medium level, and their practical implementation was statistically low. This reflects a significant emphasis on Thai disaster education in rapid-onset situations. Nevertheless, slow-onset disasters, particularly drought and clean water supply issues, have the most profound and adverse impacts. ANT highlights the inseparable relations between human and non-human actants, encompassing government, higher education, schools, technology, and knowledge engagement in climate resilience building. The study findings provide guidance for all stakeholders, including government, higher education institutions, and schools, to transition their training or education programs from a rapid-onset to a slow-onset approach. This involves promoting the collaboration between higher education and its external partners to develop water management education initiatives that cultivate lifelong learning skills and contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goals 3 Good Health and Well-being.

Water is vital for the survival of living things. It is water that sustains all living organisms, all biological life, and all human activity. Water constitutes 3/4 of the world, 60% of the human body. The need for water is increasing day by day due to the rapid increase in the population and the fact that the water resources remain constant. It is important for individuals to be conscious about water consumption, to be aware of how much they consume. In this context, in this research, students' estimates of the amount of water they consume, liquid-volume measurement estimates and their views on water conservation were examined. This study aims to examine the liquid-volume measurement estimation skills of gifted students and to examine their views on water conservation. This study was conducted as per the case study design, which is one of the qualitative research designs. The study group of the study consisted of 24 gifted students studying in the 6th grade in a Science and Art Center in a province located in the southern region of Turkey in the 2022-2023 academic year. As a result of the research, it was observed that the students had moderate liquid-volume estimation skills and the male students had more liquid-volume estimation skills than the female students. In addition, it was concluded that students had a low average score in liquid-volume estimation problems involving real-life situations, and that the most opinions about water conservation were in the theme of limitation and penalty application.

Climate change put most species' survival in danger because it substantially affects the climate in which the species live, the quality of the water they drink, as well as the temperature of the air or water. When climate change increases the temperature of the climate, excessive evaporation occurs in lands, lakes, seas, and oceans. Our purpose in this paper is to introduce a mathematical modelling activity embedded in Problem Based Learning (PBL) that allows students to investigate factors related to evaporation. Mathematical modelling is a popular technique of teaching mathematic concepts and skills and a method of inquiry about scientific phenomena that interests scientists. In the present activity, students use secondary data from trusted websites to test their hypotheses. Students are engaged in analyzing and interpreting data, generating and testing models, and discussing and presenting findings with their peers. The activity allows students the opportunity to examine the relationship between variables and predict one variable using the other. The activity has the potential to foster students' computational and higher-order thinking skills.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a high level of scientific illiteracy and mistrust that pervades the scientific and medical communities. This finding has proven the necessity of updating current methods used to expose undergraduates to research. The research in traditional course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) is limited by undergraduate time constraints, skill level, and course structure, and consequently it does not attain the learning objectives or the high-impact, relevant studies achieved in graduate-level laboratories using a cyclic trainee/trainer model. Although undergraduate independent study (ISY) research more closely matches the structure and learning objectives of graduate-level research, they are uncommon as professors and universities typically view them as a significant time and resource burden with limited return. Cyclic independent study-assisted CUREs (CIS-CUREs) combine many positive aspects of ISY graduate-level research, and CUREs by pre-training ISY research lead to facilitate CURE proposal and project semesters in a cyclic model. The CIS-CURE approach allowed undergraduate students at Stetson University to perform and disseminate more rigorous, involved, long-term, and challenging research projects, such as the surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. In doing so, all students would have the opportunity to participate in a high-impact research project and consequently gain a more comprehensive training, reach higher levels of research dissemination, and increase their competitiveness after graduating. Together, CIS-CUREs generate graduates with higher scientific literacy and thus combat scientific mistrust in communities.

This is an insight into teaching practice followed by reflections on unfolding multiple crises. On the journey from activism, through academia into deep adaptation, the author dives into the meanings of water to re-calibrate his teaching tools. Using auto-ethnography helps to identify water as a resource, research topic and a refuge. Meanings that were only partially readily available during teaching before the pandemic. As a result, the rediscovered awareness of the mental costs of learning and the need for psychological adaptation to deteriorating living conditions can be redirected back into teaching to lift difficult topics related to climate change again.

After the mushrooming growth of the institutions providing technical education in India, questions are being raised about the quality of education dispensed to technical graduates. The purpose of this study is to recognise the various factors, in order of their importance, that are responsible for declining quality of technical education in Punjab, India. A structured questionnaire was administered to a random sample of 465 students and 310 teachers from 31 engineering institutions of the Punjab region in India. Kendall's Coefficient of Concordance was used to analyse the data. The result of the analysis of factors leading to deteriorating quality of technical education in Punjab reveals that at aggregate level, students have assigned rank I to economic factors; the teachers has assigned rank I to ethical factors.

Dehydration is a typical problem among the elderly people who live in nursing homes. It is a condition that is costly in terms of health care costs and length of treatment due to the illnesses it causes. It is a condition that can be prevented, and elderly people can benefit from initiatives to increase their fluid intake. This study aimed to find out how the hydration status of elderly people is affected by hydration education. It was also an assessment of the participants' hydration status and water intake from sources. Forty-three elderly people from two nursing homes participated in this quasi-experimental study. There were 25 elderly in the intervention group (IG) and 18 in the control group (CG). For one month, 40-minute sessions per week (20 minutes of education and 20 minutes of activity) were devoted to teaching about fluid consumption. To evaluate the effectiveness of the education, the water balance questionnaire, urine USG and pH measurement, and the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly were assessed before, at the end of the intervention, and three months after. The results showed that the IG group's hydration improved, and their short-term water consumption increased. Education needs to be carefully implemented and the results followed up to ensure that elderly people develop a habit of drinking water.

We present an example of one of the modelling projects we assign to students in our differential equations classes. Students are asked to determine how to run a cost-efficient hot water heating system. We consider a cylindrical tank filled with water and heated by a heating element immersed in it. Together with students we discuss physical laws governing the process and make assumptions necessary to build a model. One of the goals of the modelling activity is to compute the time needed for water to reach the desired temperature given the power of the heating element and the size of the water tank. Several different scenarios can be discussed. Assuming the cost of heating the water is directly related to the time for which the power is ON, students can choose the most cost-efficient scenario. We provide the description of several modelling activities and obtained results.

Purpose: This study aims to identify and analyze research that promotes sustainable consumption among university students, understand what areas of consumption were addressed, how consumption was intended to become more sustainable and what results were reported. Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review was conducted using the Scopus and Web of Science databases and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses methodology. Main criteria for inclusion were focus on changing the consumption behavior of university students, not just diagnosing them, and that students were directly involved in the efforts. Findings: A total of 1,619 articles were extracted, and 34 were included in the study. These selected investigations conducted between 2012 and 2022 focused on areas of consumption such as food, plastic waste, fashion, energy and water. Sustainable consumption was promoted through training programs ranging from one-hour seminars to full-semester courses, marketing and communication campaigns and direct experimentation and interventions. Most articles reported positive results. Research limitations/implications: This study is limited to research carried out to reduce current consumption by university students; it does not include research aimed at improving students' professional skills for promoting sustainable consumption. Practical implications: This study compiles previous research on reducing consumption by university students in a structured manner according to the consumption area, applied strategy and the results obtained. Originality/value: This research is unique and will serve as a source of inspiration and consultation for academics and university managers concerned about human consumption. It presents successful projects and strategies that can be implemented in their own universities to make their students' consumption more sustainable.

Interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability (IES) programs are different from other fields because they focus on a complex integration of humanities, social, and natural sciences concepts centered on the interactions of coupled human and natural systems. The interdisciplinary nature of IES programs does not lend itself to traditional discipline-specific concept inventory frameworks for critically evaluating preconceptions and learning. We discuss the results of the first phase of a research project to develop a next generation concept inventory for evaluating interdisciplinary concepts important for introductory IES courses. Using the Food-Energy-Water (FEW) Nexus (the intersections/interdependencies of food, energy, and water sectors) as our focus, we conducted a content analysis of eight representative college-level introductory environmental course syllabi and course materials (e.g., textbooks, journal articles, print media) to identify common interdisciplinary FEW Nexus concepts taught in introductory IES courses. Results demonstrate that all IES introductory course materials reference the FEW Nexus. Food, energy, and/or water resources as individual elements of the FEW Nexus are frequently described, but connections between these resource systems are included less often. Biology, energy systems, waste and pollution in the natural environment, agriculture, earth sciences and geology, climate change, behavioral social sciences, and economics concepts are most associated with FEW concepts, hinting at commonalities across IES topics that anchor systems thinking. Despite differences in IES programs, there appears to be some alignment between core concepts being taught at the FEW Nexus in introductory courses.

Objective: To determine differences in glucose control and cardiovascular disease risk factors following three weeks of added soda, 100% fruit juice, or water in apparently healthy, college-aged adults. Participants: Thirty-six adults (18 males; 18 females) between the ages of 18 and 30 years of age. Methods: A 3-arm randomized controlled parallel-arm trial; at baseline and after three weeks consuming the assigned beverage, participants completed glucose control and cardiovascular disease risk factor assessments. Results: There were no significant differences between beverage conditions for glucose control or cardiovascular disease risk factors (ps > 0.05). There were no significant changes in caloric intake or differences in caloric intake between conditions, p = 0.17. p Conclusions: In healthy, young adults, under free-living conditions, short-term consumption of two commercially packaged servings of SBs did not lead to significant glucose control or cardiovascular disease risk factor changes, indicating potential compensation and/or resilience to negative short-term effects.

In this paper, drawing on an extensive research project across three countries (VET Africa 4.0 Collective 2023), we produce an emerging argument that it is necessary to rethink and reframe VET logics and approaches in a warming future dominated by informality and mass unemployment. Currently, neither the formal VET college or workplace are adequately set up to provide the type(s) of VET that are in demand or needed for just transitioning and sustainable futures. We acknowledge the importance of political economy accounts in developing a richer understanding of VET, but suggest these are not sufficient for dealing with the existential and practical crisis of the climate emergency. We note that many scholars have sought to address this tension in the academic literature by adopting a political ecology account that reframes the theoretical and political challenge. This leads us to call for a political-economy-ecology account of VET. Although we acknowledge the limited nature of our approach here, we offer some thoughts for VET analysis with reflection on these theoretical issues applied to four cases studies from Uganda and South Africa of VET provisioning in oil, transport, water and food (which materially shape our cases).

Digital game-based and gamified technologies hold much promise to promote the development of learners' conceptual knowledge. This efficacy study used desktop virtual reality (dVR) to investigate how the place-based digital gameful learning experience (DGLE) "Watershed Explorers", implemented as a curriculum enhancement activity, impacted students' watershed literacy as well as their attitudes towards playing and learning during dVR gameplay. Thirty-five middle school students completed a pretest-posttest content assessment measuring watershed literacy, a motivation to play with a dVR game survey, and a perception of learning with dVR games survey. Results showed that using "Watershed Explorers" as a curriculum enhancement activity can positively impact learning, especially middle school students' ability to identify their own local watershed and its connections to the ocean. Most participants perceived this DGLE as a helpful and engaging type of learning technology that can promote stimulating ways of presenting content materials and make school learning more interesting. Implications for the design of future iterations of "Watershed Explorers" to enhance learning are also discussed.

My personal exploration of how digital technology can support my Montessori practice has been a 20+-year journey. This journey has taken me to many places-- some fascinating, some frustrating. One place I never imagined it would take me (because I didn't even know this place existed) was to a lake in Massachusetts.

Purpose: This paper aims to present insights on the governance of sustainability transitions in higher education in Africa. The authors interrogate the research literatures on the governance of socio-technical transitions in water, electricity, transport and waste management, and identify barriers and enabling factors that enhance transformative practices in universities. Design/methodology/approach: The analytical framework proposed in this paper combines the elements of governance network theory (GNT) and transition topology. The framework of this study is grounded in an actor-centric approach using GNT to understand networks conducive to sustainability transitions. Events and governance networks were mapped on a transition topology to visualise organisational and institutional changes over time. The study engaged students, management, academic and administrative staff in building a community of practice towards sustainability. This research is based on qualitative content analysis grounded in interview data, focus group discussions, workshops, webinars and secondary data analysis. Findings: The findings show that the university has consolidated a sustainability vision and targets, but several factors prevent the community from achieving these targets, including hierarchical decision-making processes, a multitude of disjointed committees and fragmentation in the campus community. Originality/value: This research adds to an emerging body of literature in the field of sustainability in higher education with two contributions. Firstly, the study presents a novel perspective(s) on the governance of sustainability transitions by combining the literatures on governance and sustainability transitions using a new methodological approach of transition topology to show organisational and institutional changes. Secondly, the study presents new empirical evidence for improving the governance of sustainability transitions in a diverse and highly unequal African university community in the process of (de)colonisation of knowledge and governance.

The Learning Team at The Florida Aquarium in Tampa received funding in 2014 to create and conduct a long-term outdoor learning experience for Hillsborough County, Florida, fifth-grade students. The program was designed with four parts to optimize students' experiences in their local watershed, including both classroom and field activities. This study examined learning gains and trends in student attitudes related to watershed topics. Via pre- and post-assessment, data suggests that students increased their knowledge through this program, and their attitudes became more positive about being able to effect change regarding climate change but not as much when it came to their confidence that they could make an impact on their local waterways. This study provides a strong example of how an informal learning environment can improve knowledge and attitudes of elementary students through an outdoor experience.

Action researchers are empowered because they carry out research "with" rather than "on" participants. Likewise, the Tanzanian government has been attempting to devolve power to the people since independence. The latest efforts started in the 1980s and focused on the devolution of power from central government to the people through local governments. The uniqueness of the decentralization process and the associated reforms in the country have attracted some scholarly attention, with researchers asserting that the existing model of local government, famously known as Decentralization by Devolution (D-by-D), has considerable potential. However, past research on decentralization has generally been disempowering. Using Action Research (AR), this study aimed to explore strategies to empower local marginalized communities, as co-researchers, to identify key local challenges in accessing public resources, notably water, and enable them to take initial steps towards addressing them through existing local government structures. The application of AR suggests that Tanzania has strong local government structures that can accommodate the participation of marginalized communities in the management of water and other public resources. Nevertheless, local communities need to be empowered through participatory approaches to best interact with the local government structures and ensure accountability in the management of such resources.

This case study explores a collaboration between young people, researchers and artists which captured stories of how people in the Red River Catchment of Northern Vietnam are responding to climate change, and then used the local art of water puppetry to communicate those stories to a wider audience. The performance evoked the interdependence of the human and physical worlds, showing the impacts of climate change but also people's adaptiveness. In this way, the piece highlighted how communities along the Red River are practising how to 'live with hope', as Gallagher describes it (2022), and how others could do so, too.

As part of its STEM programming initiatives, Community Boating, Inc., the nation's oldest public sailing organization introduced an "Introduction to Microscopy" course merging principles of scientific investigation with analytical techniques using compound light microscopes. Boston's Charles River provided the environmental setting for five two-day sessions. In all, 49 students between the ages of 10 and 15 took part. Students developed an ability to analyze river water samples they had collected during field expeditions in kayaks. Once in the laboratory, following instruction in the use of the microscope, wet mount slides were prepared for microscopic investigation for cyanobacteria and photosynthetic phytoplankton, diatoms, and dinoflagellates crucial for a healthy aquatic ecosystem. With these new skills students were able to better appreciate the biodiversity of the microbial life within the river, and better understand the importance of environmental stewardship in a world threatened by global climate change and the effects of urban pollution. This program demonstrated the feasibility of developing sophisticated STEM programming founded upon principles of the scientific method for important environmental initiatives in the unique setting of a community sailing program.

This study examines factors affecting teachers' motivation at secondary schools in the Elliotdale Circuit. The research approach adopted was qualitative. The design used was a case study. The purposive sampling technique was used to select a sample size of twenty-two (22) respondents, which comprised principals, teachers, subject advisors and teacher union representatives. Face-to-face interviews were conducted while data collected were analysed thematically. Findings revealed inadequate teacher-learner support materials in schools, non-payment of temporary teachers' salaries, lack of access roads to and from schools, lack of secured accommodations for teachers, poverty and lack of electricity and running water in some schools were the factors affecting teachers' job satisfaction and motivation in the secondary schools. Some recommendations were: School Governing Body to work with the Department of Education to provide schools with adequate teacher-learner support materials, to ensure regular and competitive salaries for teachers, to implement rural allowances for teachers and to provide teachers with secured accommodations, electricity and running water.

The California Blackworm ("Lumbriculus variegatus") is a freshwater segmented worm species that has been used by biology instructors as a model system for inquiry-based student investigations. The blackworm dorsal blood vessel pulsation rate is easily quantified. Moreover, this species can facilitate the study of neuromuscular functioning via its photosensitive escape behavior which can be quantified as a segmental reflex rate. Both of these variables can be used to examine the physiological response of the "L. variegatus" circulatory and neuromuscular systems to environmental changes. Because knowledge about this species and its optimal environmental conditions is limited, we studied dorsal vessel pulsation and segmental reflexes of "L. variegatus" maintained at differing lighting, temperature and water cleaning frequency conditions. Our data strongly indicate that "L. variegatus" circulatory and motor functions are significantly affected by environmental conditions. We provide evidence-based recommendations for the careful control of environmental conditions that will allow instructors, students and researchers to collect robust data on "L. variegatus" and better utilize this model organism in their investigations.

Crowdsourcing is an important tool for collecting spatio-temporal data, which has various applications in education. The objectives of this study were to develop and test a laboratory exercise on soil erosion by water and field data crowdsourcing in an online introductory soil science course (FNR 2040: Soil Information Systems) at Clemson University. Students from different STEM disciplines (wildlife biology, forestry, and environmental and natural resources) participated in the study in the fall of 2021. They completed a sequence of self-contained digital teaching modules or reusable learning objects (RLOs), which are often used in online learning. The exercise included a field exercise and learning module to teach students about different types of water-based soil erosion as well as field data collection and crowdsourcing tools. As a result of this exercise, student familiarity with crowdsourcing was effectively increased, as shown by the post-assessment survey with a +31.2% increase in the "moderately familiar" category and a +28.3% increase in the "extremely familiar" category. The online quiz contained ten questions and was taken by 56 students with an average score of 9.5 (out of 10). A post-assessment survey found that most of the students indicated that the laboratory was an effective learning experience about field data crowdsourcing using a GPS-enabled cellphone application. Detailed students' comments indicated enjoyment of learning (e.g., data collection, learning about different technologies), the value of multimedia (e.g., ArcGIS Survey123, cellphone), the flexibility of learning (e.g., field work), the content applicability (e.g., actual field examples of erosion by water), and criticism (e.g., technical issues). A word cloud derived from students' comments about their laboratory exercise experience indicated the most frequent words used by students, such as "erosion", "enjoyed", and "different", among others. Incorporating a learning module and field exercise using modern data collection technology into an undergraduate soil science education course enabled students to understand the value and methods for leveraging cellphone-based field collection methods to crowdsource data for environmental assessment. Practical recommendations for planning and executing future crowdsourcing exercises were developed using the current study as an example.

In this article, we present kindergarten children's ideas about thermal phenomena before any educational intervention took place. In order to capture and account for the heterogeneity of the kindergarten group in this study, first teachers observed children's exploration behavior, task orientation, science interest, and language comprehension in everyday kindergarten life using a structured observation form. Then, 24 children aged between 3.8 and 6.0 years were interviewed individually about three situations focusing upon water temperature and its changes. The results show that interest in science and language comprehension are significantly related to children's understanding of thermal phenomena, while task orientation and exploratory behavior are not. In general, the kindergarten children did not yet use the word "heat" in their descriptions and explanations but were more or less able to describe the water temperature and its changes in a differentiated way.

The Council of the European Union recalls that higher education plays a fundamental role in shaping the future of Europe. Therefore, curricula are required to take into account the competences demanded by the job market so that future workers can effectively undertake their professional activities and form part of an active, responsible, ecological, sustainable, and resilient society. Ocean i3 is a cross-border project with the aim of achieving sustainability in the oceans by training students to become environmentally concerned and responsible professionals. This study explores the perception of students and teachers regarding their participation in Ocean i3 and their understanding of employability. A qualitative methodological approach has been used, based on a case study in which semi-structured interviews have been carried out and the Elevator Pitch presentation technique has been applied. Nine students and four teachers from the University of the Basque Country and the University of Bordeaux have been interviewed. The results highlight the importance of the participants' first contact with the project, the need to be explicit regarding competences that favour employability during the development of the experience, and the need to increase and reinforce internships at social entities located in the territory. It is concluded that the project should focus more explicitly on the concept of employability to raise students' awareness of the impact that their current participation in Ocean i3 can have on their professional future and insertion in the workplace.

We used an online survey to document challenges experienced by aquaponic hobbyists (n = 81), producers (n = 117), and educators (n = 75). Responses were distilled into the following categories: 1) operations and management; 2) facilities, location, and system design; 3) knowledge and educational resources; 4) funding; 5) economic viability; 6) plant culture; 7) marketing and distribution; 8) fish culture; 9) human factors; 10) regulations and certifications. Training and research in these areas are needed to advance the aquaponics industry