https://phys.org/science-news/education/ en-us Phys.org provides latest news on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education For decades, researchers have documented an achievement gap between children from higher- and lower-income families. On average, children with more resources perform better in school and on cognitive tests. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-child-environment-brain-problems.html Social Sciences Thu, 14 May 2026 12:14:38 EDT news697979641 The sci-fi film Project Hail Mary, currently in theaters, is capturing the attention of both audiences and the scientific community for its science-based content. It manages to engage viewers with complex, cutting-edge topics—from astrophysics to language—without sacrificing entertainment. Yet not all films strike this balance. Many have promoted inaccurate or even misleading scientific ideas, and, thanks to their wide reach, have contributed to shaping distorted public perceptions of science. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-cinema-effect-gateway-science.html Education Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:01 EDT news697727761 A new Columbia University School of Nursing AI-assisted audit reveals nearly 3,000 peer-reviewed medical papers have fake citations that do not exist in scientific databases. The results highlight an alarming trend in academic publishing as the use of AI grows. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-peer-medical-papers-fake-citations.html Education Fri, 08 May 2026 09:00:03 EDT news697447922 For decades, the common explanation for why children struggle to read has stayed remarkably consistent. Smart kids read well. Kids who don't simply aren't smart enough. And when children strain over a page, the assumption has often been that something about how they see the text is getting in the way. By this logic, reading comes down to intelligence and visual processing. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-years-struggles-obvious-massive-analysis.html Education Thu, 07 May 2026 19:00:08 EDT news697377932 You probably know that Einstein changed the face of physics with his theory of relativity in his twenties. What you may not know is that he spent his later career on a crusade against quantum mechanics, the model that would go on to drive the next century of advances in the field. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-nostalgia-effect-scientists-disruptive-age.html Education Thu, 07 May 2026 17:50:02 EDT news697391521 Millions of students worldwide have long relied on self-paced learning through pre-recorded video lectures, a model that forms the backbone of massive open online courses (MOOCs) and large-scale online education. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, dependence on video-based online learning has increased significantly, with learner participation rising sharply. However, this expansion has also been accompanied by a widespread decline in student engagement, undermining overall learning outcomes. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-ai-human-teachers-pre-chat.html Education Wed, 06 May 2026 13:00:04 EDT news697285561 Artificial intelligence can undoubtedly help scientists with their academic papers by summarizing research and helping to improve writing. However, one downside is that it has led to a wave of poorly written submissions and reviews, according to a new study published in Organization Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-journal-ai-academic-publishing-quality.html Other Fri, 01 May 2026 14:40:06 EDT news696849537 Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed college writing. As paper drafts are increasingly co-written with AI, professors are left wondering not whether students are using AI, but how. A 2025 AI in Education trend report found that 90% of college students use AI in their coursework, with nearly half using it during the drafting process. As AI becomes embedded in everyday writing, traditional tools like Grammarly or Turnitin for evaluating student learning fall short. If AI is to be expected in most student writing, then merely detecting its presence isn't enough. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-tool-ai-role-student-visible.html Education Sun, 26 Apr 2026 11:00:03 EDT news695918955 Every 25 minutes in the United States, a baby is diagnosed with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), a condition that occurs in newborns who have been exposed to opioids in the womb and develop withdrawal after birth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Historically, research has focused on the impact of NAS—also known as neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome—on the health and development of young children, which has found that prenatal opioid exposure is associated with increased risk for adverse developmental, cognitive and behavioral outcomes in early childhood. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-prenatal-opioid-exposure-babies-doesnt.html Education Sat, 18 Apr 2026 17:00:04 EDT news695313246 Learning a second language is becoming increasingly popular worldwide, with millions of people turning to digital tools and mobile applications to pick up a new language at their own pace. But what makes some more popular or effective than others? https://phys.org/news/2026-04-memory-language.html Education Wed, 15 Apr 2026 09:20:01 EDT news695463422 A new study finds teachers tend to provide assistance to similar subsets of students when using AI-powered educational tools, rather than touching base regularly with everyone in their classes. The findings could be used to develop tools that help teachers track their classroom interactions to ensure they are giving each student the attention they need. The paper is published on the arXiv preprint server. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-teachers-tend-kids-ai-powered.html Education Tue, 07 Apr 2026 14:10:01 EDT news694788175 Findings from the Systematizing Confidence in Open Research and Evidence (SCORE) program—a collaborative effort involving 865 researchers—have been published in Nature as a collection of three papers alongside a release of five additional preprints. The SCORE program offers new empirical evidence on the reproducibility, robustness, and replicability of research across the social and behavioral sciences, and the predictability of replicability. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-replicate.html Social Sciences Wed, 01 Apr 2026 11:00:16 EDT news694187761 Students across education levels have a blind spot for identifying situations that might bring their academic integrity into questionable territory, a study finds. When navigating questions on citation, collaboration, and data collection, students in higher education struggle to identify the gray zones in academic practice. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-college-students-struggle-problematic-gray.html Education Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:40:04 EDT news694179662 To date, the main role of AI in scientific research has been to assist with narrow tasks such as discovering chemical structures, analyzing data or predicting protein shapes. But now, the technology has broken new ground with a fully AI-generated paper passing peer review at a major machine-learning conference workshop. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ai-paper-peer.html Other Mon, 30 Mar 2026 13:40:06 EDT news694094745 A new study published in Nature Communications finds that worldwide, people with higher levels of education are more culturally similar to those in Canada, the U.S., U.K., and other Anglo, industrialized countries and countries in Western Europe. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-student-samples-higher-shift-values.html Social Sciences Fri, 27 Mar 2026 08:40:05 EDT news693819422 Analysis of two decades of student data at a large U.S. university suggests that grade inflation exists in graduate education. Researcher Vivien Lee and colleagues at the University of Minnesota, U.S., present these findings in the journal PLOS One. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-significant-grade-inflation-decades-worth.html Education Wed, 25 Mar 2026 14:00:03 EDT news693587581 When holidays or pandemics shut down schools, gender differences in children's reading habits widen; boys stop reading, while girls continue, according to a new study from the University of Copenhagen. The researchers say their findings suggest that boys are more dependent on school routines and expectations than girls. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-boys-ditch-schools-girls.html Social Sciences Tue, 24 Mar 2026 13:00:01 EDT news693570698 When we learn something new, that information does not exist in isolation. It integrates into the complex landscape of our knowledge, forging connections with existing ideas and opening up possibilities for new learning. In a study in Nature Communications, Dartmouth researchers report a mathematical technique for mapping the unique landscape of a student's conceptual knowledge from their performance on short multiple-choice quizzes. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-mathematical-framework-landscape-student-knowledge.html Mathematics Tue, 24 Mar 2026 06:00:02 EDT news693488653 To engage audiences and help keep their attention, many public speakers sprinkle their speeches with a little humor. It's a useful tool, but something that scientists rarely use, according to a report into humor at science conferences published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. And when jokes are told, they often fall flat, with most attempts earning only polite chuckles. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-scientists-humor-conferences.html Social Sciences Mon, 23 Mar 2026 10:20:03 EDT news693479327 Research by Cardiff University has found that playing with Barbie dolls can help reach key milestones in developing empathy and social understanding during childhood. Doll play was found to be beneficial for both boys and girls, and is particularly valuable for those experiencing problems with their peers. The work appears in PLOS One. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-dolls-tablets-social-week.html Social Sciences Wed, 18 Mar 2026 17:50:01 EDT news693071881 Employment can be a powerful gateway to independence, dignity, and belonging. Yet for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), that gateway remains limited. Although work supports better health, social connection, and a sense of purpose, only about 15% of individuals with IDD are employed in competitive, integrated work settings. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-augmented-reality-job-boosts-people.html Economics & Business Wed, 11 Mar 2026 13:40:01 EDT news692444443 David Cutler is in the spotlight for his work on a tasty-sounding mathematics problem. In January, the New York Times featured a research paper authored by Cutler and Neil Sloane, the founder of The On-line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. Titled "Cutting a Pancake with an Exotic Knife," the paper explores the "lazy caterer problem," or how to cut a pancake or other circular object into the most pieces with the fewest cuts. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-student-fresh-solutions-pancake-problem.html Mathematics Tue, 10 Mar 2026 14:20:01 EDT news692362537 A new study from researchers at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill finds that middle and high school students spend nearly one-third of the school day on their smartphones, checking them dozens of times, often for social media and entertainment, with frequent checking linked to weaker attention and impulse control. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-teens-school-day-smartphones-frequent.html Education Mon, 09 Mar 2026 11:00:05 EDT news692017561 When scientists employ generative AI tools like ChatGPT to help with tasks such as editing and translation for their academic writing, many journals now ask them to disclose this assistance. The rules are intended to maintain transparency in scientific publishing. But many researchers are failing to acknowledge their reliance on these programs, according to a new report published in the journal PNAS. Yongyuan He and Yi Bu at the Department of Information Management, Peking University, analyzed more than 5.2 million papers published in 5,114 journals between 2021 and 2025. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-scientists-ai-disclose.html Other Fri, 06 Mar 2026 14:00:01 EST news692010988 After years of research, teaching, and service, a faculty member's tenure and future in academia hinge on the evaluations of their peers—senior faculty who serve on promotion and tenure committees. These evaluations can make or break a career—deciding whether a faculty member continues to grow in their field or faces an abrupt halt in their career. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-decision-nudges-racial-equity-tenure.html Social Sciences Tue, 24 Feb 2026 15:40:02 EST news691159141 A new AI coach for scientists has been shown to significantly improve the quality of peer reviews, making them clearer and more helpful for authors. Peer review is essential to ensuring the integrity of scientific publications, but many researchers are dissatisfied with the quality of the feedback they receive. Common complaints include vague, short, and unhelpful reviews. For example, in a survey of 11,800 researchers, only 55.4% of respondents reported being satisfied with the quality of the feedback. The problem is exacerbated by the sheer volume of papers, which has left reviewers feeling overwhelmed. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-ai-quality-peer.html Education Tue, 24 Feb 2026 15:20:02 EST news691157291 Rapid technological and scientific advances have fueled a huge wave of innovation over the past decades. The speed of global innovation is known to be dependent on the exchange of knowledge and skills between different nations worldwide. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-language-barriers-international-diffusion-knowledge.html Social Sciences Sun, 22 Feb 2026 14:10:01 EST news690803397 How well we pay attention while learning is influenced not only by external distractions like background noise but also by internal factors such as how interesting we find the material, according to a study recently published by researchers at Bar-Ilan University. The research recorded brain activity (EEG) and physiological arousal (skin conductance) from 32 participants as they watched a 35-minute educational video lecture. Segments were presented either in quiet or with background construction sounds, either continuous drilling or intermittent air-hammers. Participants repeatedly rated how interesting they found the content and answered comprehension questions to assess their understanding. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-noisy-classroom-engagement-background-noise.html Education Thu, 12 Feb 2026 19:00:07 EST news690124108 Scientific findings are in the news. They're cited on food packages and beverage labels. They are discussed in podcasts and argued over by politicians and pundits. And each finding sits within a specific frame. If researchers discover an intervention that affects how people spend discretionary income, for example, they could describe it as a method that increases savings or decreases spending. A medication could be said to increase attention spans or, conversely, decrease attention lapses. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-results-bigger-important.html Social Sciences Tue, 10 Feb 2026 16:03:15 EST news689961781 If you are a woman working in biomedical and life sciences, you may have longer to wait for your academic paper to appear in print than a comparable paper authored by a man. According to research published in the journal PLOS Biology, female-authored biomedical and life science articles spend around 7.4% to 14.6% longer under review than male-authored articles. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-female-scientists-longer-papers-published.html Social Sciences Tue, 10 Feb 2026 11:40:07 EST news689942193