In a surprising turnaround, Mississippi, once ranked near the bottom of U.S. education standings, has dramatically improved its student literacy rates. As of 2023, the state ranks among the top 20 for fourth grade reading, a significant leap from its 49th-place ranking in 2013. This transformation was driven by evidence-based policy reforms focused on early literacy and teacher development. […] … learn more→

Artificial intelligence (AI) is gradually infiltrating the world of education, particularly in the teaching of reading. More and more digital tools are offering to help budding readers decipher their first texts. While official data shows large gaps in achievement between students and significant difficulties for some students entering sixth grade, what can we expect from […] … learn more→

Every day, users ask search engines millions of questions. The information we receive can shape our opinions and behaviour. We are often not aware of their influence, but internet search tools sort and rank web content when responding to our queries. This can certainly help us learn more things. But search tools can also return […] … learn more→

Title of course: Socially Engaged Design of Nuclear Energy Technologies What prompted the idea for the course? The two of us had some experience with participatory design coming into this course, and we had a shared interest in bringing virtual reality into a first-year design class at the University of Michigan. It seemed like a good fit […] … learn more→

There is a Fox News headline that goes like this: Transgender female runner who beat 14,000 women at London Marathon offers to give medal back Read about the event elsewhere and it turns out the athlete was also beaten by thousands of people and it was a participation medal. While the Fox News headline is true, it is […] … learn more→

Ironically, Mark Zuckerberg’s attempts to muzzle his former employee, Sarah Wynn-Williams, once director of global public policy at Meta, seem to have created a bestseller. While Meta’s legal action successfully prevented Wynn-Williams (who worked there from 2011–17) from promoting her memoir, Careless People, her publisher has continued to promote it without her. In the week of its release, the […] … learn more→

Google announced the launch of AI Overviews, its generative artificial intelligence-fuelled search feature, in May 2024. Initially named Search Generative Experience, AI Overviews offers Google users AI-generated answers by sourcing and summarizing information from different websites. These AI responses are positioned at the top of the page for immediate visibility. The aim is to improve […] … learn more→

Today’s young people are facing increasing levels of uncertainty. Faced with volatile job and housing markets, they must also contend with a future that will likely be heavily impacted by the climate crisis. Data also reveals a sharp decline in their mental health. Encouraging them to develop resilience is often touted as key. Resilience is generally defined as the […] … learn more→

When governments, policymakers or the news media discuss migration, the focus is almost exclusively on those who physically cross borders, seek asylum or arrive at ports of entry. But migration does not begin at at the moment of departure or upon arrival. It starts much earlier, as an aspiration. Recent surveys show a sharp rise in global […] … learn more→

Bullying is a serious problem that impacts hundreds of millions of young people across the world each year. Defined as the goal-directed, harmful abuse of a power imbalance, bullying can cause serious, long-term physical and mental health outcomes for victims. As a result, countries around the world have mobilized anti-bullying efforts. Unfortunately, these efforts have had relatively little impact on […] … learn more→