Various forms of social media (SM) appear to be very popular among young people because they provide information and entertainment, including a wide range of web technologies such as blogs, wikis, online social networks, and virtual networks. SM plays a huge role in the lives of children and teenagers, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the computer becomes not only a means of entertainment or leisure, but also a necessary and everyday means of education and communication with other people. Thus, COVID-19 has brought a radical change, not only in the daily schedule and leisure time of pupils and students, but also in the perception of the procedures used by this specific group in the online space. Through our own research, using structured interviews and a questionnaire, we examine the use of SM as a tool to promote sustainable well-being in a group of high school students from various schools in central Slovak Republic (formerly Czechoslovakia). The research confirms that during the pandemic, the use of SM by the young respondents contributes significantly to well-being. This is the case when SM is used by high school students as a tool in promoting: (1) personal interests; (2) motivation; (3) communication and interpersonal connectivity; (4) preferred forms of online education; and (5) online games. The article presents a set of recommendations regarding the use of SM as a tool for sustaining the well-being of young people during the pandemic.

In the context of considerations on the potential attenuation of the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic with the use of credible social media in online education during a pandemic, the subject of our own research was the fulfillment of two goals. The main research goals were to identify, categorize, and evaluate the possibilities of using social media in online education during the pandemic from the perspective of selected teachers and students from secondary schools in Slovakia. The research methods of the first phase (qualitative) of the research involved brainstorming among nine secondary school teachers. The second research phase (quantitative) used a questionnaire, which was completed by 102 high school students from all over Slovakia. The collection of both quantitative and qualitative data was used in this research. The research results revealed the most representative opinions of teachers on the current and real possibilities of engaging credible social media in online education and the views of high school students on their desired use and involvement of social media in online education. The intersection of the two findings presents a picture of the possibilities of using credible social media in online education, which can help maintain students’ interest in online education during a pandemic. Based on these findings, it can be stated that the opinions identified in the research group of teachers correspond to a large extent with the desired use of social media in education from the perspective of students. In addition, however, students would welcome more opportunities to use and engage social media in today’s online education. The result of this research is an analysis of social media patterns applied to online education, which are of greater interest to students and could act as elements for reducing the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., six forms of online education and 24 educational activities that could contribute, inter alia, to mitigating the different negative effects of the pandemic among youth generation. The findings also benefit from the presentation of many specific options and recommendations for the use of social media in online education during a pandemic.

Many toxic substances in the workplace can modify human health and quality of life and there is still insufficient data on respiratory outcomes in adults exposed to phthalates. The aim of this work was to assess in waste management workers from the Nitra region of Slovakia (n = 30) the extent of exposure to phthalates and health-related outcomes. Four urinary phthalate metabolites mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP), monobutyl phthalate (MnBP), monoethyl phthalate (MEP) and monoisononyl phthalate (MiNP) were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). Urinary concentration of MEHP was positively associated with ratio of forced expiratory volume in 1 s to forced vital capacity % (FEV₁/FVC) (r = 0.431; p = 0.018) and MiNP with fat free mass index (FFMI) (r = 0.439; p = 0.015). The strongest predictor of pulmonary function was the pack/year index as smoking history that predicted a decrease of pulmonary parameters, the FEV₁/FVC, % of predicted values of peak expiratory flow (PEF % of PV) and FEV₁ % of PV. Unexpectedly, urinary MEHP and MINP were positively associated with pulmonary function expressed as PEF % of PV and FEV₁/FVC. We hypothesize that occupational exposure to phthalates estimated from urinary metabolites (MEHP, MiNP) can modify pulmonary function on top of lifestyle factors.

Emphasis on the balance between human needs and the carrying capacity of these needs in the context of sustainable development (SD) is present in interdisciplinary study programs and the content of higher education in Slovakia. In the theoretical part of this paper, we present the media as a tool that expands the possibilities of schools in the field of education about SD. It is proven to help school activities draw attention to the situation and problems of SD and to spread the reported problems outside the school space. We examine the practical dimension of the issue of individual responsibility for the world and SD through our own research. The aim is to analyze the individual tasks of sustainable human behavior from the perspective of university students. The research findings provide the current view of young respondents on the roles and individual responsibilities that exist for SD. They also answered in which of the four dimensions defined by the “National strategy for SD of the Slovak republic” the researched students see the greatest need for individual responsibility.

The Environmental education navigates students towards environmentally friendly life style and securing a quality of life. The implementation of cross-section topics, including the Environmental education, into science classes, is possible through a variety of techniques. One of the least used methods is a real school experiment. The following paper presents the experiment, by which we simulate the combustion of PVC and observe the impact of combustion products on plants via UV-Vis spectrophotometry optical method. This method is suitable for qualification and analysis of vegetable pigments, i.e. chlorophylls, carotenoids, and anthocyanins. The experiment is integrated into the Techniques and Didactics of School Chemistry Experiments as a part of master degree course, which prepares students for the Chemistry teaching profession. The introduced experiment enables pedagogues to integrate the environmental education into teaching process and develop mathematical and science literacy of students in the Chemistry education.

Misconceptions, i.e. students' erroneous ideas, represent a long-term problem in the teaching of science. Their existence has a negative impact on the process of acquiring scientific knowledge and prevents the creation of a correct conceptual framework. Students' alternative ideas prevent proper learning and understanding of phenomena. Students find concepts and phenomena in chemistry particularly difficult because they are hard to imagine and therefore understand abstract concepts. This study investigates misconceptions related to physical and chemical changes among students in grades 7 to 9 attending elementary schools where the language of instruction is either Slovak or Hungarian. Specifically, it aims to compare the occurrence and nature of these misconceptions between Slovak-speaking and Hungarian-speaking students, and to determine whether the language of instruction influences students' understanding of scientific concepts. The data collection instrument as a diagnostic test consisting of tasks of varying difficulty. The validity and reliability of the test were verified using Cronbach's alpha (average α = 0.915), which confirmed its reliability. Our research confirmed that students have certain misconceptions regardless of the educational language in a given school system. The results showed that students often do not recognize the difference between the concepts of characteristic and process, have problems with interpretation at the macroscopic and submicroscopic levels. These findings underscore the importance of targeted intervention, innovative teaching methods, and an emphasis on linking theoretical knowledge with practical examples. This study contributes to clarifying students' misconceptions and supports the improvement of chemistry instruction on the topic of physical and chemical change.