A new article by collaborators Martyna Elerian, Garth Stahl, Tatiana Khavenson, Vanessa R. Sperduti, Simon Eten Angyagre, Carla Inguaggiato, and Yating Hu, and lab head Miri Yemini has been published in the Oxford Review of Education: “Between Screens and Classrooms: How Students Engage with Global Issues.”

Education is increasingly expected to prepare young people to engage with complex global challenges through Global Citizenship Education (GCE). Drawing on 128 discussion groups with students across Australia, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the study explores how students perceive global issues and what roles schools and social media play in shaping those perceptions. Students in all five contexts were aware of major global challenges, including climate change, poverty, inequality, gender rights, and geopolitical conflicts, suggesting a shared baseline of global awareness. However, the depth, nuance, and emotional significance they attached to these issues varied with national context and their proximity to or lived experience of them.

Social media emerged as students’ primary source of information, while schools were seen as offering fragmented and cautious engagement with controversial topics. Even so, students consistently expressed a desire for schools to address global issues more openly. The authors call for more coherent, dialogic GCE that bridges students’ digital experiences and critical classroom learning.