Digital wellness study

This study explored the representation of digital wellness within existing digital literacy and digital citizenship educational models or frameworks. Results revealed that fourteen of the twenty-four frameworks incorporated digital wellness constructs to varying degrees. The majority referred to digital wellness as a ‘subcomponent’ of digital literacy or digital competence, affirming their status as educational priorities globally. 

Laffier, J., Westley, M., & Rehman, A. (2025). How digital wellness is represented in school digital literacy and citizenship models: a qualitative comparative analysis. Academia Mental Health and Well-Being, 2(4). https://doi.org/10.20935/MHealthWellB8019

Teens and Media Literacy Survey

 A new report  reveals that 94% of teens believe media literacy should be a mandatory part of school curricula, yet only 39% have received such instruction. The report highlights the prevalence of conspiracy theories on social media, with 80% of teens encountering them and 81% inclined to believe at least one.

News literacy in America: A survey of teen information attitudes, habits and skills. (2024). News Literacy Project.

https://newslit.org/news-literacy-in-america/ 

Civic Education Study

 "A survey fielded to a nationally representative sample of U.S. public school teachers of all subjects in November 2021 was used to assess how civic and citizenship education is being provided in U.S. public schools, what U.S. public school teachers believe to be the most important aims of this education, and whether those aims match the ones identified by teachers several years ago in other countries.

Researchers found that elementary teachers were more likely than secondary (middle and high school) teachers to indicate civic and citizenship education is integrated into all subjects taught at school. Teachers most commonly chose the development of students' critical thinking and their skills in conflict resolution as the most important aims of civics and citizenship education, although teachers' beliefs about top aims depended somewhat on their school grade level and their gender. U.S. teachers did agree with their international peers on many of the top aims of civic and citizenship education, although the comparison was limited by a five-year gap between surveys.

This report is part of the Countering Truth Decay initiative, which is focused on restoring the role of facts, data, and analysis in U.S. political and civil discourse and the policymaking process."

Diliberti, M., & Kaufman, J. (2022). How are U.S. public school teachers approaching civid and citizenship education? Rand. 

https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA112-23.html?utm_source=AdaptiveMailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=7014N000000XKUjQAO&utm_term=00v4N00000ihBIIQA2&org=1674&lvl=100&ite=268963&lea=1530820&ctr=0&par=1&trk=a0w4N00000A11MwQAJ

Digital Literacy Curriculum and Learning Study

 A recent study found that high school students who received only six 50-minute lessons in digital literacy were twice as likely to spot questionable websites as they were before the instruction took place, using a Stanford-created curriculum. 

Wineburg, S., Breakstone, J., McGrew, S., Smith, M. D., & Ortega, T. (2022). Lateral reading on the open Internet: A district-wide field study in high school government classes. Journal of Educational Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000740

Survey of digital material use by teachers

This researh adds new insights from English language arts (ELA), math, and science teachers on their use of digital materials. Drawing on data from the spring 2019 American Instructional Resources Survey, researchers share the digital materials that ELA, math, and science teachers across the United States reported using regularly for instruction during the 2018–2019 school year. Researchers then examine how teachers' use of these materials compares with their use of comprehensive curriculum materials, as well as teacher-reported barriers to digital material use. Researchers also explore several hypotheses regarding factors that might influence digital material use.

Key Findings

• Most teachers use digital materials both for planning and classroom instruction. However, they use these materials to supplement other curriculum materials rather than as main materials.
• For all subjects, the top digital materials used during instructional time include a mix of general resources, such as YouTube, and content-specific resources, such as ReadWorks and Khan Academy.
• Teachers who used standards-aligned curricula, who had more low-income students, or who attended certain teacher preparation programs were more likely to use digital materials.
• Expense was the most commonly cited barrier to digital material use, even more so among teachers with more low-income students.

Tosh, K., et al. (2020). Digital instructional materials: What are teachers using and what barriers exist? Santa Monica, CA: Rand.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2575z17.html?utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=NPA:2435:6021:Apr%2016,%202020%207:40:01%20AM%20PDT&utm_campaign=NPA:2435:6021:Apr%2016,%202020%207:40:01%20AM%20PDT

Social-emotional competence

This research review found that SEL is important for healthy development, facilitates in the behavior change process, and predicts important adult life outcomes. SEL can be improved with feasible, cost-effective interventions. Researchers developed an intervention model that enhances SEL, starting in preschool. Curriculum should include interpersonal and interpersonal competence, risk reduction, resistance skills, and ways to improve school climate. 

Domitrovich, C. E., Durlak, J. A., Staley, K. C., & Weissberg, R. P. (2017). Social‐emotional competence: An essential factor for promoting positive adjustment and reducing risk in school children. Child Development, 88(2), 408-416.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/cdev.12739?casa_token=7LbNAkzYw7wAAAAA:ougjl7guWCWKf6MsDWiCJYkmmHHB5cGzhCvZ3_UNVTyxKudoxRJDO7yboRub3XDbgBTlq6c3vYY2bQ8

Migration and Education

The 2019 GEM Report continues its assessment of progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on education and its ten targets, as well as other related education targets in the SDG agenda. Its main focus is on the theme of migration and displacement. It presents evidence on the implications of different types of migration and displacement for education systems but also the impact that reforming education curricula and approaches to pedagogy and teacher preparation can have on addressing the challenges and opportunities posed by migration and displacement. This book will make the case for investing in education of good quality in rural areas suffering from depopulation and in slum areas suffering from large population inflows; in countries with high rates of emigration and those with high rates of immigration; in short-term refugee emergencies and in protracted crises. Its analysis, conclusions and recommendations advance the aims of SDG 4 and its call to leave no one behind.

UNESCO (2018). Global education monitoring report, 2019: Migration, displacement and education: building bridges, not walls. Paris, France: UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000265866

Digital Citizenship in Education

This article explores how social media use in formal and informal learning spaces can support the development of digital citizenship for secondary school students. The article provides a conceptual analysis of civic engagement as digital citizenship and considers how digital media applications can support citizenship education in middle- and high-school grades. Then, empirical research is provided that demonstrates how high school students develop digital citizenship practices through out-of-school practices. This article also suggests that both dimensions of digital citizenship (i.e., in-school, traditional citizenship education and out-of-school activities aimed at civic engagement) can be integrated through a social media-facilitated curriculum. Lastly, recommendations for teaching and learning through social media are offered to educators, community members, practitioners, parents, and others.

Gleason, B., & Gillern, S. (2018). Digital citizenship with social media: Participatory practices of teaching and learning in secondary education. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 21(1), 200-212. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26273880?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents