The COVID-19 pandemic prompted global crises and enforced strict measures like the Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia, significantly impacting societal norms, particularly affecting secondary school students. The current study employs a qualitative methodology to determine how COVID-19 affects the life stress experienced by secondary school students. Secondary school students were recruited in Sabah, Malaysia, from April to August 2022, after Malaysia entered the endemic phase on 1 April 2022. As part of a larger survey, students were asked to respond to an open-ended question about life stressors they face as a result of the pandemic COVID-19 or during home-based teaching and learning (PdPR). A total of 1069 secondary school students from various backgrounds were included in the study. However, only 714 students responded to the open-ended question. The pattern of meaning across the texts was determined using Birks and Mills’s method of multilevel coding. The students’ perspectives on life stressors were classified into five broad categories: restriction stress, emotional stress, online study stress, family-related stress, and others-related stress. Restriction stress, which refers to being confined at home, restricted movement, hampered family, friendship, and outdoor activities, and no freedom were rated as the most significant life stressors associated with the COVID-19 pandemic by students. This research provides valuable insights for policymakers, educators, and parents, emphasizing the profound effect of pandemic-induced restrictions on student life and the essential role of targeted interventions in fostering resilience among students.

This study aims to use dialectical thinking to explore the impacts and responses of Artificial Intelligence (AI) empowerment on students’ personalized learning. The effect of AI empowerment on student personalization is dissected through a literature review and empirical cases. The study finds that AI plays a significant role in promoting personalized learning by enhancing students’ learning effectiveness through intelligent recommendation, automated feedback, improving students’ independent learning ability, and optimizing learning paths, however, the wide application of AI also brings problems such as technological dependence, cheating in exams, weakening of critical thinking ability, educational fairness, and data privacy protection to students. The study proposes recommendations to strengthen technology regulation, enhance the synergy between teachers and AI, and optimize the personalized learning model. AI-enabled personalized learning is expected to play a greater role in improving learning efficiency and educational fairness.

STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) education has recently been encouraged and attracted much national attention. This qualitative study aimed to conduct a thematic analysis of college student STEAM open responses to provide an examination of college students’ perceptions of their STEAM experiences into the STEAM field. Based on transformative learning theory, a thematic analysis of 756 written responses to seven prompts by 108 college student participants revealed three primary themes: (1) exciting and challenging difficulties, and transdisciplinary learning in STEAM; (2) STEAM learning of gradual process, problem-oriented instruction, and creative problem solving; and (3) metacognition development in STEAM. The findings revealed that undergraduates’ STEAM perceptions provide strong support for STEAM implementation to enhance teaching effectiveness in higher education.

This study examined the impact of transition programs on the post-school outcomes of Saudi adolescents with special needs. The study examines the impact of vocational training, career counseling, and community participation on job outcomes, the pursuit of further education, and the acquisition of independent living skills. The research is conducted on a diverse sample of 500 students (260 girls and 240 boys). The data is analyzed using descriptive statistics, regression analysis, and ANOVA, revealing positive perceptions of transition services and identifying significant predictors of post-school performance. Post-hoc testing enhances understanding of nuanced differences between groups. The findings underscore the need for tailored transition programs that prioritize the extent of vocational training and apply culturally responsive approaches. Proposed approaches include enhancing vocational training programs, enhancing career counseling services, encouraging community involvement, and performing continuous research and evaluation. This study makes substantial additions to the current corpus of knowledge and provides crucial information to influence policy and practice in Saudi Arabia.

The presented article focusses on the analysis of perception of the university social responsibility through the eyes of Slovak university students. The aim is to compare how the values, efficiency of the organisation (university), and the educational process influence the perception of social responsibility among university students themselves. The research is based on the application of quantitative methodology towards the evaluation of differences and similarities in perceptions using two types of tests for statistical analysis, comparative (Mann-Whitney U test) and correlational (bivariate correlation matrix of Spearman’s rho).The results of the research provide a deeper understanding of how universities can shape students’ approach to social responsibility through their values and educational processes, which has important implications for the development of university policies and practices.

In the current context of multicultural collision, online information is impacting traditional gender values. To analyze the changes in gender role attitudes and gender awareness among Chinese Generation Z college students under the influence of various social factors, the study focuses on Generation Z college students and explores the impact of cultural, media, educational, and family factors on gender role attitudes and gender awareness among Chinese Generation Z college students through questionnaire surveys and quantitative analysis methods. The research results show that Generation Z college students exhibit extremely favorable gender perspectives, with the proportion of bisexual gender roles approaching 38%, surpassing the number of students with traditional understanding of single sex gender roles. At the same time, in school gender awareness education, research has found that the proportion of bisexual gender roles is the highest among students who accept open mindedness, at 46.6%. In family gender awareness education, students who receive parental gender awareness sharing education have the highest proportion of bisexual gender roles, accounting for 48.5%. Therefore, the current gender education for the new Generation of students in China needs to abandon traditional avoidance-based teaching methods and adopt an open and supportive attitude to guide students’ gender values.