Artificial intelligence (AI) drives new modes of learning and improves the workflow of instructors. Nevertheless, there are concerns about academic integrity, plagiarism, and the reduction of critical thinking in higher education. Therefore, it is important to record and analyze university social sciences students’ attitudes toward AI, which is a significant predictor of later use of AI technologies. A sample of 190 university students (82.45% female) from a Greek social sciences department was selected. Descriptive statistics revealed that students’ attitudes toward AI were mostly positive. A principal components analysis confirmed a three-component solution of attitudes toward AI, comprising cognitive, behavioral, and emotional dimensions. Comparative analysis of the three components indicated that the emotional dimension was the highest ranked, followed by the cognitive and behavioral dimensions. Pairwise correlation analyses revealed that the strongest correlate of cognitive, behavioral, and emotional components of attitudes toward AI was the future frequency of AI use, followed by general feelings of safety with technology. In conclusion, students display more emotional and cognitive favorable dispositions toward AI. The social background of the students and the prospective future use of AI play a key role in the formulation of attitudes toward AI. University educators need to provide more teaching and learning about AI to improve students’ attitudes toward AI and future AI use.

Despite the efforts to advance children’s rights’ protection, many children’s rights are still not respected in many places. This makes it more necessary than ever to raise the awareness of children’s rights and prepare new generations of students to protect children’s rights via empowering them to engage in activism. Drawing upon human rights education (HRE) models in conjunction with UNICEF’s methodologies, and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), the current conceptual article suggests that by designing theoretically based engaging and meaningful learning activities, teachers can address the goals of HRE by raising the awareness of children’s rights, fostering accountability, and encouraging students to engage in activism to protect children’s rights. First, this article outlines a conceptual framework for designing meaningful and engaging learning activities within an adapted HRE model, combining the elements of HRE and UNICEF. Next, the educational innovation of Skills Labs in Greek education is introduced, and the TPB’s foundation on designing learning activities is briefly explained. To clarify our proposal, three sample Skills Labs with example learning activities are presented, adhering to the three main HRE objectives of gaining knowledge–taking responsibility–taking action to protect and consolidate children’s rights. Finally, this article explains the mechanism of how the TPB can support the effectiveness of this proposition and concludes with some important implications for practice.

Artificial intelligence (AI) apps, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Siri, have taken society and higher education institutions by storm. Yet, there is a paucity of empirical studies recording and analysing university social sciences students’ attitudes toward AI. Hence, the present study draws upon a sample of 190 university students (82.45% female) from a Greek social sciences department to query what are the students’ attitudes toward AI in education and future employment and what factors correlated with these attitudes. Descriptive statistics revealed that students’ attitudes toward AI were mostly positive. A principal components analysis confirmed a three-component solution of attitudes toward AI, comprising cognitive, behavioural, and emotional dimensions. Comparative analysis of the three components indicated that the emotional dimension was the highest ranked, followed by the cognitive and behavioural dimensions. Pairwise correlation analyses revealed that the strongest correlate of cognitive, behavioural, and emotional components of attitudes toward AI was the future frequency of AI use, followed by general feelings of safety with technology. In conclusion, students display more emotional and cognitive favourable dispositions toward AI. The social background of the students and the prospective future use of AI play a key role in the formulation of attitudes toward AI. University educators need to provide more teaching and learning about AI to improve students’ attitudes toward AI and future AI use.

Internationally, there are several studies that examined the relationship between core executive functions (working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility) and mind wandering. These studies focused mostly on adult samples and there are fewer studies that examined this relationship with children and adolescent samples. Therefore, the current systematic review aims to identify and critically examine the existing peer-reviewed literature on the relationship between the core executive functions and mind wandering. Journal articles reporting quantitative results were identified through keyword searches in PsycINFO, Scopus, and PubMed. In total, 750 references were identified using the specified keywords. Among those, only ten studies were deemed to fit the inclusion criteria. The majority of the studies employed behavioural measures. The evidence on the relationship between the core executive functions and mind wandering was rather scarce and mixed. Most of the studies suggest that working memory capacity is critical for reduced mind wandering. The evidence regarding inhibitory control is rather mixed. Cognitive flexibility may underpin adaptive reallocation of attention between internal and external states, producing performance declines. The directional nature of the relationship between the three core executive functions and mind wandering is largely an unresolved matter, which requires further research.

Η αυτεπάρκεια αποτελεί σημαντικό παράγοντα που συμβάλλει στην ενίσχυση της επαγγελματικής ικανοποίησης και γενικότερα, της ψυχικής υγείας των εκπαιδευτικών. Επομένως, σκοπός της παρούσας έρευνας είναι να διαπιστώσει τη γενικευσιμότητα και το μέγεθος της σχέσης της αυτεπάρκειας με την επαγγελματική ικανοποίηση των εκπαιδευτικών. 49 συντελεστές συσχέτισης συλλέχθηκαν από 45 εμπειρικές μελέτες (δείγμα Ν=28573 εκπαιδευτικοί) και μετα-αναλύθηκαν. Τα αποτελέσματα της μετα-ανάλυσης τυχαίων επιδράσεων έδειξαν πως η μέση συσχέτιση μεταξύ αυτεπάρκειας και επαγγελματικής ικανοποίησης είναι μέτρια (μ=.37) και στατιστικώς σημαντική. Επιπλέον, η ανάλυση πολλαπλής μετα-παλινδρόμησης επεσήμανε πως το μέγεθος αυτής της συσχέτισης διαφέρει ανάλογα με την περιοχή προέλευσης του δείγματος, ανάλογα με το είδος δημοσίευσης της μελέτης και την εκπαιδευτική βαθμίδα, ενώ το πλήθος των ερωτημάτων, το έτος δημοσίευσης και το είδος του ερωτηματολογίου δεν διαφοροποιούν το μέγεθος της συσχέτισης. Συνοπτικά, τα ευρήματα της παρούσας μετα-αναλύσης μπορούν να φανούν ιδιαίτερα χρήσιμα...