https://phys.org/science-news/education/ en-us Phys.org provides latest news on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education Water is one of the most essential components of life, and many of its unique properties arise from interactions between its molecules. Hydrogen bonds influence water's physical properties, contribute to the formation of ice crystals and are crucial for normal biological processes. Understanding these interactions is fundamental to chemistry, physics and biology. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-waterpuzzle-magnets-hydrogen-bonds-classroom.html Education Fri, 30 Oct 2026 09:20:04 EDT news712568618 In July 2026, the U.S. House passed legislation to make daylight saving time (DST) permanent. But a new analysis of the consequences of the Sunshine Protection Act, reported in the journal Current Biology on Oct. 29, finds that this legislation would have serious safety consequences for millions of schoolchildren across the U.S. They would have to leave for school before sunrise, when fatal crashes involving pedestrians are more likely, for much of the school year. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-brighter-evenings-darker-school-mornings.html Education Thu, 29 Oct 2026 11:00:02 EDT news712424120 Museums are regarded as places of inspiration and cultural experience—boredom is not the first thing that springs to mind. However, an international team of researchers led by Thomas Götz from the University of Vienna has now, for the first time, systematically investigated how frequently boredom occurs during museum visits. The team found that while visitors are, on average, only slightly bored, this boredom has a negative impact on knowledge acquisition and their assessment of the museum visit. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-museum-generally.html Social Sciences Tue, 27 Oct 2026 17:10:04 EDT news712334521 Science often advances in small steps, with researchers gradually building on previous discoveries. But every now and then, a breakthrough comes along that challenges conventional thinking and changes the direction of a field. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-scientists-disruptive-age-breakthroughs.html Education Mon, 26 Oct 2026 15:30:06 EDT news712244383 Months after a Columbia University School of Nursing–led audit published in the Lancet reported thousands of fabricated citations in medical papers, the same research team has found the same problem in the physical sciences, engineering and computing. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-reveals-fabricated-physics-chemistry-journals.html Education Mon, 26 Oct 2026 15:00:01 EDT news712232222 A new study provides perhaps the strongest evidence yet that education can help mitigate long-term dementia risk. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-britain-school-reform-lowered-dementia.html Social Sciences Mon, 26 Oct 2026 12:20:01 EDT news712229089 An online lesson takes an extra second to load. The wait may seem trivial, but in a study examining large learning platforms, these brief pauses were linked to unfinished assignments, lower scores and less time spent on the site. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-seconds-online-learners-track.html Social Sciences Sun, 25 Oct 2026 11:20:02 EDT news711641103 Punching a virtual response box or swinging a virtual lightsaber can dramatically improve learning on certain tasks, according to new research from Florida Atlantic University's College of Engineering and Computer Science, which challenges long-standing assumptions about how people learn. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-virtual-lightsabers-pattern-based-vr.html Education Sat, 24 Oct 2026 06:20:01 EDT news711983462 Every storybook opens a window for our imagination to be freed from the reality of the world around us and escape into the fictional world. While the author's words act as a guide, everyone experiences fiction in their own way, creating vivid mental pictures and even forming an emotional connection with the characters. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-worlds-readers.html Social Sciences Thu, 22 Oct 2026 12:00:33 EDT news711885746 A seven-minute virtual reality (VR) intervention can help students feel calmer, less anxious and better able to cope with academic pressure, according to new research from City St George's. The findings, published in Scientific Reports, come at a time when schools and universities across the U.K. seek new approaches to support student well-being amid growing concerns about stress, anxiety and overwhelm among young people. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-minute-virtual-reality-intervention-students.html Education Tue, 20 Oct 2026 15:20:07 EDT news711716344 Your phone vibrates, a notification pops up, or you just take a quick glance at the screen. Even minor interruptions can affect your concentration—not least when you're in class. Now, a large randomized trial involving more than 16,000 students in India shows that teaching without access to mobile phones can improve students' academic performance. The researchers also found that students who experience phone-free teaching firsthand become more supportive of the restrictions. The research is published in Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-college-lessons-grades-large-randomized.html Education Tue, 20 Oct 2026 12:00:01 EDT news711711183 The likely manipulation of citation numbers by research paper mills in high-impact cancer journals has been uncovered by an international team of academic researchers. Their findings point to an organized campaign to inflate citations on paper mill–produced journal articles published in established molecular oncology journals. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-fraudulent-paper-mills-scientific-citations.html Economics & Business Fri, 16 Oct 2026 10:00:05 EDT news711362048 People who are better at noticing fine details in sound—an ability known as auditory precision—can master the pronunciation of new languages faster and more accurately than other learners, a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology finds. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-people-good-ear-language-learners.html Education Tue, 13 Oct 2026 19:10:02 EDT news711016681 Why do some students dread math class while others look forward to it? New research offers a closer look at the thinking skills that may help explain differences in math ability. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-people-good-math-struggle.html Mathematics Wed, 07 Oct 2026 09:40:06 EDT news710579642 When it comes to mental health, it may not be how much time you have that matters, but rather how you feel about the time you have. That's one key takeaway of a new University of Colorado Boulder study examining the relationship between time and mental health. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-short-good.html Social Sciences Wed, 30 Sep 2026 17:30:01 EDT news710004901 When it came to religious education in ancient Babylonia, in what is now Iraq, students had a lot to learn, ranging from the names of gods to their divine characteristics. A new study published in the journal Iraq has taken a deep dive into ancient texts and surviving clay tablets to find out just how these traditions were taught in the classroom. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-clay-tablets-reveal-babylonian-students.html Archaeology Wed, 30 Sep 2026 16:40:14 EDT news709986974 A new study by an international research team provides the first systematic, cross-cultural comparison of how children help their peers. While previous research has mainly focused on how children help adults, often within the family, peer interactions play an equally important but far less studied role in children's social lives across many cultures. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-cultures-children-peers.html Social Sciences Tue, 29 Sep 2026 15:00:09 EDT news709912430 Since its launch in 1998, Google, the world's leading search engine, has transformed how people find information online. For years, search results appeared as ranked lists of sources: Google decided what to show, but users decided what to read and whom to trust. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-extensive-reveals-gaps-google-ai.html Economics & Business Tue, 29 Sep 2026 13:20:07 EDT news709903022 A research team at the University of Vienna, led by pharmaceutical chemist Johannes Kirchmair, has developed a statistical method to identify hidden anomalies in scientific datasets. The method can be applied automatically to large datasets, making it easier for researchers to pinpoint those that need closer scrutiny. The approach improves the quality of data-driven research and supports the development of reliable AI applications. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-statistical-method-flag-hidden-anomalies.html Mathematics Tue, 29 Sep 2026 11:00:08 EDT news709895821 A popular narrative across Instagram Reels, business podcasts and magazine covers is that people who are smart and serious about growth read nonfiction. Nonfiction directly provides factual information and real-world knowledge, whereas fiction, like novels and poetry, is treated as a less practical cousin. Now, a recent study has asked whether fiction really is just entertainment. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-nightstand-empathy-cognitive-health.html Social Sciences Tue, 29 Sep 2026 09:20:14 EDT news709890034 Bionic Reading is a method of bolding certain letters in words that is purported to facilitate reading speed and comprehension. The idea is that guiding the eyes to focus on highlighted initial letters lets the brain complete the word. But does steering someone's gaze actually help them read? https://phys.org/news/2026-09-bionic-faster-scientists.html Social Sciences Sun, 27 Sep 2026 13:40:01 EDT news709526919 When Fan Yang's children came home complaining about a crafting class, they had a particularly strong advocate. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-small-slightly-significant-affects.html Social Sciences Wed, 23 Sep 2026 14:20:10 EDT news709380421 As students return to school and cold and flu season begins, researchers are studying ways to improve indoor air quality and reduce the risk of airborne disease transmission. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-diy-filter-air-quality-classrooms.html Education Wed, 23 Sep 2026 12:00:04 EDT news709375927 Young people who grow up experiencing persistent poverty are more than three times as likely to be not in education, employment or training (NEET) at 17 or 23 (3.3 and 3.4 times, respectively), according to new analysis of the UK Millennium Cohort Study by the University of Liverpool and the University of Manchester, commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-poverty-triples-young-people-likelihood.html Economics & Business Wed, 16 Sep 2026 10:00:13 EDT news708762902 A new study finds that while most Americans are interested in science and believe it benefits society, the public's relationship with science is more complicated than those positive views suggest. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-americans-complicated-relationship-science.html Social Sciences Tue, 15 Sep 2026 12:20:07 EDT news708689761 Does the academic discipline of a scientist's doctorate accurately capture their disciplinary affiliation decades later? Consider a scientist who earned a doctorate in physics 25 years ago who now studies climate change, publishes primarily in interdisciplinary journals and considers herself a climate scientist. Does "physics" still accurately describe where she fits in science? https://phys.org/news/2026-09-captures-scientists-identities-shift-academic.html Social Sciences Fri, 11 Sep 2026 16:20:04 EDT news708347642 A study by Politecnico di Milano and the University of Insubria (Varese and Como) has been published in PLOS Digital Health. The study involved more than 700 children from primary and lower secondary school. The participants used the THInkPen (Tele-Health Ink Pen) while completing two BVSCO-3 tasks from the Battery for the Clinical Assessment of Writing and Orthographic Skills. This is the most widely used test in Italy for assessing writing difficulties, dysgraphia and dysorthography. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-smart-pen-pressure-movement-children.html Education Fri, 11 Sep 2026 14:40:02 EDT news708343381 The COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns forced people to find ways to get things done remotely. Companies developed systems that made working from home run smoothly. Educators also had to shift to mobile phones and group video calls to get their lessons across and make sure students didn't lose out on their progress. This exposed the need for education systems to be more resilient and adaptive to local and global disruptions. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-lessons-children-emergency-school-closures.html Education Fri, 11 Sep 2026 09:20:08 EDT news708335529 Parents often learn the hard way that to make it anywhere on time, they should calculate how much time they think they need to get ready—and double it. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-kids-brains-built-distraction-good.html Education Thu, 10 Sep 2026 15:40:12 EDT news708267002 The Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley School of Law has released a human rights assessment of the use of large language models (LLMs) in the fields of law, journalism and education. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-llm-threaten-freedom-thought-equality.html Social Sciences Wed, 09 Sep 2026 19:00:05 EDT news708186302