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Topic Review Peer Reviewed

Discipline-Sensitive Generative AI in Higher Education

Generative artificial intelligence in higher education refers here to the use of computational systems that produce text, code, explanations, feedback-like responses, images, and other outputs from user prompts in university learning, coursework, assessment, and student study practices. This entry focuses on how students use generative AI while studying, preparing assignments, seeking explanations, revising work, programming, brainstorming, or responding to assessment tasks. It defines such use as a situated educational practice shaped by disciplinary expectations, assessment design, AI literacy, study habits, and academic integrity norms. From this perspective, the same AI-supported action may be acceptable as learning support in one course, ambiguous in another, and inappropriate when it conceals authorship, fabricates evidence, or substitutes for independent academic performance.

11
03 Jun 2026

Topic Review Peer Reviewed

Democracy and the Pedagogy of the Possible in Schools

The terms democracy and the pedagogy of the possible name an approach imagining schools as sites where more just, inclusive and participatory collective life can be practised, particularly in early childhood. The entry brings three traditions into dialogue. (a) Critical pedagogy, particularly in its post-structuralist, Foucauldian, and post-Marxist readings, engages with Rancièrian critiques of pedagogical mastery and offers a vocabulary for examining how power, knowledge, subjectivity, and hegemony are produced and contested within educational life. (b) Freinet pedagogy, extended through Fernand Oury’s Institutional Pedagogy, contributes a politically grounded, practice-first repertoire of cooperative techniques, classroom institutions, and democratic forms of organisation. (c) Educational commons approaches frame knowledge, space, time, and pedagogical relations as shared goods, collectively produced, cared for, and democratically governed by a community of teachers, children, and families. In this perspective, the child is approached as a commoner and agent in the here and now. The educator, in turn, is understood as a fellow commoner and reflexive practitioner, capable of acting beyond the logics of both the state and the market. Together, they co-shape the everyday life of education. Eight shared dimensions, namely the relational, the political, praxis, agency, anti-enclosure, prefiguration, community, and the schoolized mind, traverse all three traditions, with care as their transversal thread. The framework is conceived as a hospitable theoretical and practical space, not as a self-contained doctrine. It is heuristic in orientation, bringing these traditions into conversation because each contributes a complementary layer to democratic educational life.

11
18 Jun 2026

Topic Review Peer Reviewed

Dimensions of Teacher Professional Identity: A Scoping Review

The rapid institutional and technological transformations of the 2020–2025 period have had a significant impact on teacher professional identity. Drawing on Rosa’s social acceleration thesis and Harvey’s concept of time–space compression, this scoping review examined the dimensions of professional identity emerging in the literature published between 2020 and 2025 among in-service pre-kindergarten through 12th grade (PK-12) teachers, the educational contexts in which these dimensions were addressed, and how they interrelate. Following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines, 45 peer-reviewed articles retrieved from the Scopus and Web of Science databases were analyzed through inductive thematic coding and a dimension–context interaction matrix. Six analytically distinct yet interrelated identity dimensions were identified: Biographical and Personal, Professional and Pedagogical, Emotional and Psychological, Social and Relational, Political and Agentic, and Prospective and Imagined. These dimensions were organized within a dialogical space model distinguishing internal/individual and external/structural domains. The Emotional and Psychological dimension achieved near-universal representation, while the Prospective and Imagined dimension remained the least studied. Six convergence, five divergence, and six gap patterns were identified across seven educational contexts. The findings reveal that, in this period, teacher professional identity is not a fixed attribute carried by the individual but rather a dynamic process continuously negotiated under structural pressures.

11
19 May 2026

Topic Review Peer Reviewed

Science Festivals: Evolution, Structures, Impacts and Challenges

Science Festivals are public events focused on showcasing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in a celebratory and engaging setting similar in atmosphere to an arts or music event. Aimed at the general public, science festivals vary widely in form and duration, lasting from anywhere between a day and several weeks, and featuring interactive activities such as hands-on workshops, live demonstrations, lectures, and performances. Many include dedicated programming for schools, but they differ from school-based science fairs, which are aimed primarily at students and parents and are typically held on school premises. Their aims include sparking curiosity, promoting scientific literacy, enabling visitors to interact with working scientists, and making science fun and accessible. Festivals are distinct from other informal science engagement formats due to their temporary, joyful nature and diversity of offerings. The modern science festival concept originated in Edinburgh in 1989 and has since experienced rapid global spread. Hundreds of events now take place annually throughout Europe and North America, and to a lesser extent other parts of the world, supported by associations such as the UK Science Festivals Network, the European Science Engagement Association, and, in the USA and Canada, the Science Festival Alliance. Some of the largest festivals see attendance figures in the hundreds of thousands, and across the world, millions of people participate every year. An emerging body of research literature, situated within a variety of social science disciplines and lenses, suggests that festivals are greatly enjoyed by their attendees, and succeed in boosting science interest, increasing knowledge, and improving perceptions of science among visitors, making them a potential asset for societies that place a high value on scientific activity among the population. However, the events have also attracted criticism for their limited audience diversity, with visitors being disproportionately drawn from highly educated and affluent groups, prompting suggestions that they are ‘preaching to the converted’. In response, some festivals have introduced targeted initiatives such as community outreach and partnerships to attract audiences from underrepresented communities. Despite these ongoing challenges, science festivals continue to evolve and grow as platforms for inspiring curiosity and fostering meaningful public dialogue around key scientific topics.

11
22 Jun 2026

Topic Review Peer Reviewed

Doctoral Student Wellbeing: Conceptualization, Challenges and Pathways Forward

Doctoral student wellbeing refers to the perceived state of psychological, physical, and social health experienced by a person during the process of completing a doctoral thesis. From a eudaimonic and salutogenic perspective, this construct goes beyond the mere absence of distress and incorporates dimensions such as meaning and purpose in life, personal growth, autonomy, feelings of mattering, and the quality of academic and personal relationships. It is a multidimensional construct shaped by the interaction between personal variables, including prior psychological history, personality traits, and task motivation, among others, and contextual variables, such as funding conditions, quality of supervision, departmental culture, family and personal circumstances, and social and institutional support networks. Doctoral wellbeing is therefore dynamic: it evolves throughout the different phases of the doctoral process and is influenced by conditions specific to this population that distinguish it from other groups of students or workers. It has emerged as a critical concern in higher education research, driven by evidence of high rates of psychological difficulties among this population. This entry paper offers a narrative and conceptual review of the current state of knowledge on doctoral student wellbeing, identifying the main challenges facing this group, the factors that influence their wellbeing, and the pathways forward in terms of intervention and future research.

9
15 Jun 2026

Topic Review Peer Reviewed

Artificial Intelligence in Smart Classrooms: A Systematic Literature Review of Applications, Dimensions, and Teacher Roles

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into smart classrooms (SCs) has accelerated in recent years, fostering new forms of interaction, personalization, and data-driven educational decision-making. Despite this growing interest, the literature remains conceptually fragmented, particularly regarding how AI is integrated across the technological, pedagogical, and environmental dimensions of SCs. This systematic literature review aims to provide a structured synthesis of how AI is integrated into SC contexts, their main functions, their relation to these three dimensions, and the teacher’s role in the system. Following PRISMA guidelines, peer-reviewed studies published between 2021 and 2026 were selected from Web of Science and Scopus, yielding a final corpus of 29 studies. The findings showed that AI integration is mostly concentrated in the technological dimension. The pedagogical dimension is linked to personalization, active learning, formative assessment, and instructional adaptation, while the environmental dimension is less developed. Teachers remain central actors who integrate technological tools, interpret the generated data, and mediate pedagogical decisions. Overall, AI-supported SCs are not only defined by technology but also by pedagogical use and teacher mediation.

9
22 Jun 2026

Topic Review

Teaching Geology in Higher Education Institutions under COVID-19

Teaching geology under COVID-19 pandemic conditions led to teaching limitations for educators and learning difficulties for students. The lockdown obstructed face-to-face teaching, laboratory work, and fieldtrips. To minimize the impact of this situation, new distance learning teaching methods and tools were developed. The current study presents the results of an empirical study, where distance learning teaching tools were constructed and used to teach geology to university students. A mineralogical mobile phone application was used to replace laboratory mineral identification and a flow chart to replace laboratory rock identification. Additionally, exercises on faults and maps were developed to fill the gap that was created as field work was impossible. A university course on geology was designed on the basis of the constructed distance learning teaching tools, and more than 100 students from the Department of Civil Engineering attended the course. The results show that the proposed tools helped the students to considerably understand scientific information on geology and supported the learning outcomes. Thus, it is suggested that the teaching tools, constructed for the purposes of the study, could be used in conditions when distance learning is required, or even under typical learning conditions after laboratories, as well as before or after fieldtrips, for better learning outcomes.

8
12 Mar 2026

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