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Research Topics & Ideas: Education

170+ Research Ideas To Fast-Track Your Project

Topic Kickstarter: Research topics in education

If you’re just starting out exploring education-related topics for your dissertation, thesis or research project, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we’ll help kickstart your research topic ideation process by providing a hearty list of research topics and ideas , including examples from actual dissertations and theses..

PS – This is just the start…

We know it’s exciting to run through a list of research topics, but please keep in mind that this list is just a starting point . To develop a suitable education-related research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , and a viable plan of action to fill that gap.

If this sounds foreign to you, check out our free research topic webinar that explores how to find and refine a high-quality research topic, from scratch. Alternatively, if you’d like hands-on help, consider our 1-on-1 coaching service .

Overview: Education Research Topics

  • How to find a research topic (video)
  • List of 50+ education-related research topics/ideas
  • List of 120+ level-specific research topics 
  • Examples of actual dissertation topics in education
  • Tips to fast-track your topic ideation (video)
  • Free Webinar : Topic Ideation 101
  • Where to get extra help

Education-Related Research Topics & Ideas

Below you’ll find a list of education-related research topics and idea kickstarters. These are fairly broad and flexible to various contexts, so keep in mind that you will need to refine them a little. Nevertheless, they should inspire some ideas for your project.

  • The impact of school funding on student achievement
  • The effects of social and emotional learning on student well-being
  • The effects of parental involvement on student behaviour
  • The impact of teacher training on student learning
  • The impact of classroom design on student learning
  • The impact of poverty on education
  • The use of student data to inform instruction
  • The role of parental involvement in education
  • The effects of mindfulness practices in the classroom
  • The use of technology in the classroom
  • The role of critical thinking in education
  • The use of formative and summative assessments in the classroom
  • The use of differentiated instruction in the classroom
  • The use of gamification in education
  • The effects of teacher burnout on student learning
  • The impact of school leadership on student achievement
  • The effects of teacher diversity on student outcomes
  • The role of teacher collaboration in improving student outcomes
  • The implementation of blended and online learning
  • The effects of teacher accountability on student achievement
  • The effects of standardized testing on student learning
  • The effects of classroom management on student behaviour
  • The effects of school culture on student achievement
  • The use of student-centred learning in the classroom
  • The impact of teacher-student relationships on student outcomes
  • The achievement gap in minority and low-income students
  • The use of culturally responsive teaching in the classroom
  • The impact of teacher professional development on student learning
  • The use of project-based learning in the classroom
  • The effects of teacher expectations on student achievement
  • The use of adaptive learning technology in the classroom
  • The impact of teacher turnover on student learning
  • The effects of teacher recruitment and retention on student learning
  • The impact of early childhood education on later academic success
  • The impact of parental involvement on student engagement
  • The use of positive reinforcement in education
  • The impact of school climate on student engagement
  • The role of STEM education in preparing students for the workforce
  • The effects of school choice on student achievement
  • The use of technology in the form of online tutoring

Level-Specific Research Topics

Looking for research topics for a specific level of education? We’ve got you covered. Below you can find research topic ideas for primary, secondary and tertiary-level education contexts. Click the relevant level to view the respective list.

Research Topics: Pick An Education Level

Primary education.

  • Investigating the effects of peer tutoring on academic achievement in primary school
  • Exploring the benefits of mindfulness practices in primary school classrooms
  • Examining the effects of different teaching strategies on primary school students’ problem-solving skills
  • The use of storytelling as a teaching strategy in primary school literacy instruction
  • The role of cultural diversity in promoting tolerance and understanding in primary schools
  • The impact of character education programs on moral development in primary school students
  • Investigating the use of technology in enhancing primary school mathematics education
  • The impact of inclusive curriculum on promoting equity and diversity in primary schools
  • The impact of outdoor education programs on environmental awareness in primary school students
  • The influence of school climate on student motivation and engagement in primary schools
  • Investigating the effects of early literacy interventions on reading comprehension in primary school students
  • The impact of parental involvement in school decision-making processes on student achievement in primary schools
  • Exploring the benefits of inclusive education for students with special needs in primary schools
  • Investigating the effects of teacher-student feedback on academic motivation in primary schools
  • The role of technology in developing digital literacy skills in primary school students
  • Effective strategies for fostering a growth mindset in primary school students
  • Investigating the role of parental support in reducing academic stress in primary school children
  • The role of arts education in fostering creativity and self-expression in primary school students
  • Examining the effects of early childhood education programs on primary school readiness
  • Examining the effects of homework on primary school students’ academic performance
  • The role of formative assessment in improving learning outcomes in primary school classrooms
  • The impact of teacher-student relationships on academic outcomes in primary school
  • Investigating the effects of classroom environment on student behavior and learning outcomes in primary schools
  • Investigating the role of creativity and imagination in primary school curriculum
  • The impact of nutrition and healthy eating programs on academic performance in primary schools
  • The impact of social-emotional learning programs on primary school students’ well-being and academic performance
  • The role of parental involvement in academic achievement of primary school children
  • Examining the effects of classroom management strategies on student behavior in primary school
  • The role of school leadership in creating a positive school climate Exploring the benefits of bilingual education in primary schools
  • The effectiveness of project-based learning in developing critical thinking skills in primary school students
  • The role of inquiry-based learning in fostering curiosity and critical thinking in primary school students
  • The effects of class size on student engagement and achievement in primary schools
  • Investigating the effects of recess and physical activity breaks on attention and learning in primary school
  • Exploring the benefits of outdoor play in developing gross motor skills in primary school children
  • The effects of educational field trips on knowledge retention in primary school students
  • Examining the effects of inclusive classroom practices on students’ attitudes towards diversity in primary schools
  • The impact of parental involvement in homework on primary school students’ academic achievement
  • Investigating the effectiveness of different assessment methods in primary school classrooms
  • The influence of physical activity and exercise on cognitive development in primary school children
  • Exploring the benefits of cooperative learning in promoting social skills in primary school students

Secondary Education

  • Investigating the effects of school discipline policies on student behavior and academic success in secondary education
  • The role of social media in enhancing communication and collaboration among secondary school students
  • The impact of school leadership on teacher effectiveness and student outcomes in secondary schools
  • Investigating the effects of technology integration on teaching and learning in secondary education
  • Exploring the benefits of interdisciplinary instruction in promoting critical thinking skills in secondary schools
  • The impact of arts education on creativity and self-expression in secondary school students
  • The effectiveness of flipped classrooms in promoting student learning in secondary education
  • The role of career guidance programs in preparing secondary school students for future employment
  • Investigating the effects of student-centered learning approaches on student autonomy and academic success in secondary schools
  • The impact of socio-economic factors on educational attainment in secondary education
  • Investigating the impact of project-based learning on student engagement and academic achievement in secondary schools
  • Investigating the effects of multicultural education on cultural understanding and tolerance in secondary schools
  • The influence of standardized testing on teaching practices and student learning in secondary education
  • Investigating the effects of classroom management strategies on student behavior and academic engagement in secondary education
  • The influence of teacher professional development on instructional practices and student outcomes in secondary schools
  • The role of extracurricular activities in promoting holistic development and well-roundedness in secondary school students
  • Investigating the effects of blended learning models on student engagement and achievement in secondary education
  • The role of physical education in promoting physical health and well-being among secondary school students
  • Investigating the effects of gender on academic achievement and career aspirations in secondary education
  • Exploring the benefits of multicultural literature in promoting cultural awareness and empathy among secondary school students
  • The impact of school counseling services on student mental health and well-being in secondary schools
  • Exploring the benefits of vocational education and training in preparing secondary school students for the workforce
  • The role of digital literacy in preparing secondary school students for the digital age
  • The influence of parental involvement on academic success and well-being of secondary school students
  • The impact of social-emotional learning programs on secondary school students’ well-being and academic success
  • The role of character education in fostering ethical and responsible behavior in secondary school students
  • Examining the effects of digital citizenship education on responsible and ethical technology use among secondary school students
  • The impact of parental involvement in school decision-making processes on student outcomes in secondary schools
  • The role of educational technology in promoting personalized learning experiences in secondary schools
  • The impact of inclusive education on the social and academic outcomes of students with disabilities in secondary schools
  • The influence of parental support on academic motivation and achievement in secondary education
  • The role of school climate in promoting positive behavior and well-being among secondary school students
  • Examining the effects of peer mentoring programs on academic achievement and social-emotional development in secondary schools
  • Examining the effects of teacher-student relationships on student motivation and achievement in secondary schools
  • Exploring the benefits of service-learning programs in promoting civic engagement among secondary school students
  • The impact of educational policies on educational equity and access in secondary education
  • Examining the effects of homework on academic achievement and student well-being in secondary education
  • Investigating the effects of different assessment methods on student performance in secondary schools
  • Examining the effects of single-sex education on academic performance and gender stereotypes in secondary schools
  • The role of mentoring programs in supporting the transition from secondary to post-secondary education

Tertiary Education

  • The role of student support services in promoting academic success and well-being in higher education
  • The impact of internationalization initiatives on students’ intercultural competence and global perspectives in tertiary education
  • Investigating the effects of active learning classrooms and learning spaces on student engagement and learning outcomes in tertiary education
  • Exploring the benefits of service-learning experiences in fostering civic engagement and social responsibility in higher education
  • The influence of learning communities and collaborative learning environments on student academic and social integration in higher education
  • Exploring the benefits of undergraduate research experiences in fostering critical thinking and scientific inquiry skills
  • Investigating the effects of academic advising and mentoring on student retention and degree completion in higher education
  • The role of student engagement and involvement in co-curricular activities on holistic student development in higher education
  • The impact of multicultural education on fostering cultural competence and diversity appreciation in higher education
  • The role of internships and work-integrated learning experiences in enhancing students’ employability and career outcomes
  • Examining the effects of assessment and feedback practices on student learning and academic achievement in tertiary education
  • The influence of faculty professional development on instructional practices and student outcomes in tertiary education
  • The influence of faculty-student relationships on student success and well-being in tertiary education
  • The impact of college transition programs on students’ academic and social adjustment to higher education
  • The impact of online learning platforms on student learning outcomes in higher education
  • The impact of financial aid and scholarships on access and persistence in higher education
  • The influence of student leadership and involvement in extracurricular activities on personal development and campus engagement
  • Exploring the benefits of competency-based education in developing job-specific skills in tertiary students
  • Examining the effects of flipped classroom models on student learning and retention in higher education
  • Exploring the benefits of online collaboration and virtual team projects in developing teamwork skills in tertiary students
  • Investigating the effects of diversity and inclusion initiatives on campus climate and student experiences in tertiary education
  • The influence of study abroad programs on intercultural competence and global perspectives of college students
  • Investigating the effects of peer mentoring and tutoring programs on student retention and academic performance in tertiary education
  • Investigating the effectiveness of active learning strategies in promoting student engagement and achievement in tertiary education
  • Investigating the effects of blended learning models and hybrid courses on student learning and satisfaction in higher education
  • The role of digital literacy and information literacy skills in supporting student success in the digital age
  • Investigating the effects of experiential learning opportunities on career readiness and employability of college students
  • The impact of e-portfolios on student reflection, self-assessment, and showcasing of learning in higher education
  • The role of technology in enhancing collaborative learning experiences in tertiary classrooms
  • The impact of research opportunities on undergraduate student engagement and pursuit of advanced degrees
  • Examining the effects of competency-based assessment on measuring student learning and achievement in tertiary education
  • Examining the effects of interdisciplinary programs and courses on critical thinking and problem-solving skills in college students
  • The role of inclusive education and accessibility in promoting equitable learning experiences for diverse student populations
  • The role of career counseling and guidance in supporting students’ career decision-making in tertiary education
  • The influence of faculty diversity and representation on student success and inclusive learning environments in higher education

Research topic idea mega list

Education-Related Dissertations & Theses

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding a research topic in education, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual dissertations and theses in the education space to see how this all comes together in practice.

Below, we’ve included a selection of education-related research projects to help refine your thinking. These are actual dissertations and theses, written as part of Master’s and PhD-level programs, so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

  • From Rural to Urban: Education Conditions of Migrant Children in China (Wang, 2019)
  • Energy Renovation While Learning English: A Guidebook for Elementary ESL Teachers (Yang, 2019)
  • A Reanalyses of Intercorrelational Matrices of Visual and Verbal Learners’ Abilities, Cognitive Styles, and Learning Preferences (Fox, 2020)
  • A study of the elementary math program utilized by a mid-Missouri school district (Barabas, 2020)
  • Instructor formative assessment practices in virtual learning environments : a posthumanist sociomaterial perspective (Burcks, 2019)
  • Higher education students services: a qualitative study of two mid-size universities’ direct exchange programs (Kinde, 2020)
  • Exploring editorial leadership : a qualitative study of scholastic journalism advisers teaching leadership in Missouri secondary schools (Lewis, 2020)
  • Selling the virtual university: a multimodal discourse analysis of marketing for online learning (Ludwig, 2020)
  • Advocacy and accountability in school counselling: assessing the use of data as related to professional self-efficacy (Matthews, 2020)
  • The use of an application screening assessment as a predictor of teaching retention at a midwestern, K-12, public school district (Scarbrough, 2020)
  • Core values driving sustained elite performance cultures (Beiner, 2020)
  • Educative features of upper elementary Eureka math curriculum (Dwiggins, 2020)
  • How female principals nurture adult learning opportunities in successful high schools with challenging student demographics (Woodward, 2020)
  • The disproportionality of Black Males in Special Education: A Case Study Analysis of Educator Perceptions in a Southeastern Urban High School (McCrae, 2021)

As you can see, these research topics are a lot more focused than the generic topic ideas we presented earlier. So, in order for you to develop a high-quality research topic, you’ll need to get specific and laser-focused on a specific context with specific variables of interest.  In the video below, we explore some other important things you’ll need to consider when crafting your research topic.

Get 1-On-1 Help

If you’re still unsure about how to find a quality research topic within education, check out our Research Topic Kickstarter service, which is the perfect starting point for developing a unique, well-justified research topic.

Research Topic Kickstarter - Need Help Finding A Research Topic?

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54 Comments

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Research title related to students

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You can find our list of nursing-related research topic ideas here: https://gradcoach.com/research-topics-nursing/

FOSU DORIS

Write on action research topic, using guidance and counseling to address unwanted teenage pregnancy in school

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Rhod Tuyan

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Mercedes Bunsie

parental involvement and students academic performance

Abshir Mustafe Cali

Science education topics?

Karen Joy Andrade

How about School management and supervision pls.?

JOHANNES SERAME MONYATSI

Hi i am an Deputy Principal in a primary school. My wish is to srudy foe Master’s degree in Education.Please advice me on which topic can be relevant for me. Thanks.

NKWAIN Chia Charles

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Nkwain Chia Charles

Kindly help me with the research questions on the topic” Effects of workplace conflict on the employees’ job performance”. The effects can be applicable in every institution,enterprise or organisation.

Kelvin Kells Grant

Greetings, I am a student majoring in Sociology and minoring in Public Administration. I’m considering any recommended research topic in the field of Sociology.

Sulemana Alhassan

I’m a student pursuing Mphil in Basic education and I’m considering any recommended research proposal topic in my field of study

Kupoluyi Regina

Kindly help me with a research topic in educational psychology. Ph.D level. Thank you.

Project-based learning is a teaching/learning type,if well applied in a classroom setting will yield serious positive impact. What can a teacher do to implement this in a disadvantaged zone like “North West Region of Cameroon ( hinterland) where war has brought about prolonged and untold sufferings on the indegins?

Damaris Nzoka

I wish to get help on topics of research on educational administration

I wish to get help on topics of research on educational administration PhD level

Sadaf

I am also looking for such type of title

Afriyie Saviour

I am a student of undergraduate, doing research on how to use guidance and counseling to address unwanted teenage pregnancy in school

wysax

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William AU Mill

Can i request your suggestion topic for my Thesis about Teachers as an OFW. thanx you

ChRISTINE

Would like to request for suggestions on a topic in Economics of education,PhD level

Would like to request for suggestions on a topic in Economics of education

George

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Sarah Moyambo

l would like to request suggestions on a topic in managing teaching and learning, PhD level (educational leadership and management)

request suggestions on a topic in managing teaching and learning, PhD level (educational leadership and management)

Ernest Gyabaah

I would to inquire on research topics on Educational psychology, Masters degree

Aron kirui

I am PhD student, I am searching my Research topic, It should be innovative,my area of interest is online education,use of technology in education

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request suggestion on topic in masters in medical education .

D.Newlands PhD.

Look at British Library as they keep a copy of all PhDs in the UK Core.ac.uk to access Open University and 6 other university e-archives, pdf downloads mostly available, all free.

Monica

May I also ask for a topic based on mathematics education for college teaching, please?

Aman

Please I am a masters student of the department of Teacher Education, Faculty of Education Please I am in need of proposed project topics to help with my final year thesis

Ellyjoy

Am a PhD student in Educational Foundations would like a sociological topic. Thank

muhammad sani

please i need a proposed thesis project regardging computer science

also916

Greetings and Regards I am a doctoral student in the field of philosophy of education. I am looking for a new topic for my thesis. Because of my work in the elementary school, I am looking for a topic that is from the field of elementary education and is related to the philosophy of education.

shantel orox

Masters student in the field of curriculum, any ideas of a research topic on low achiever students

Rey

In the field of curriculum any ideas of a research topic on deconalization in contextualization of digital teaching and learning through in higher education

Omada Victoria Enyojo

Amazing guidelines

JAMES MALUKI MUTIA

I am a graduate with two masters. 1) Master of arts in religious studies and 2) Master in education in foundations of education. I intend to do a Ph.D. on my second master’s, however, I need to bring both masters together through my Ph.D. research. can I do something like, ” The contribution of Philosophy of education for a quality religion education in Kenya”? kindly, assist and be free to suggest a similar topic that will bring together the two masters. thanks in advance

betiel

Hi, I am an Early childhood trainer as well as a researcher, I need more support on this topic: The impact of early childhood education on later academic success.

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  • Open access
  • Published: 10 March 2020

Research and trends in STEM education: a systematic review of journal publications

  • Yeping Li 1 ,
  • Ke Wang 2 ,
  • Yu Xiao 1 &
  • Jeffrey E. Froyd 3  

International Journal of STEM Education volume  7 , Article number:  11 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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With the rapid increase in the number of scholarly publications on STEM education in recent years, reviews of the status and trends in STEM education research internationally support the development of the field. For this review, we conducted a systematic analysis of 798 articles in STEM education published between 2000 and the end of 2018 in 36 journals to get an overview about developments in STEM education scholarship. We examined those selected journal publications both quantitatively and qualitatively, including the number of articles published, journals in which the articles were published, authorship nationality, and research topic and methods over the years. The results show that research in STEM education is increasing in importance internationally and that the identity of STEM education journals is becoming clearer over time.

Introduction

A recent review of 144 publications in the International Journal of STEM Education ( IJ - STEM ) showed how scholarship in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education developed between August 2014 and the end of 2018 through the lens of one journal (Li, Froyd, & Wang, 2019 ). The review of articles published in only one journal over a short period of time prompted the need to review the status and trends in STEM education research internationally by analyzing articles published in a wider range of journals over a longer period of time.

With global recognition of the growing importance of STEM education, we have witnessed the urgent need to support research and scholarship in STEM education (Li, 2014 , 2018a ). Researchers and educators have responded to this on-going call and published their scholarly work through many different publication outlets including journals, books, and conference proceedings. A simple Google search with the term “STEM,” “STEM education,” or “STEM education research” all returned more than 450,000,000 items. Such voluminous information shows the rapidly evolving and vibrant field of STEM education and sheds light on the volume of STEM education research. In any field, it is important to know and understand the status and trends in scholarship for the field to develop and be appropriately supported. This applies to STEM education.

Conducting systematic reviews to explore the status and trends in specific disciplines is common in educational research. For example, researchers surveyed the historical development of research in mathematics education (Kilpatrick, 1992 ) and studied patterns in technology usage in mathematics education (Bray & Tangney, 2017 ; Sokolowski, Li, & Willson, 2015 ). In science education, Tsai and his colleagues have conducted a sequence of reviews of journal articles to synthesize research trends in every 5 years since 1998 (i.e., 1998–2002, 2003–2007, 2008–2012, and 2013–2017), based on publications in three main science education journals including, Science Education , the International Journal of Science Education , and the Journal of Research in Science Teaching (e.g., Lin, Lin, Potvin, & Tsai, 2019 ; Tsai & Wen, 2005 ). Erduran, Ozdem, and Park ( 2015 ) reviewed argumentation in science education research from 1998 to 2014 and Minner, Levy, and Century ( 2010 ) reviewed inquiry-based science instruction between 1984 and 2002. There are also many literature reviews and syntheses in engineering and technology education (e.g., Borrego, Foster, & Froyd, 2015 ; Xu, Williams, Gu, & Zhang, 2019 ). All of these reviews have been well received in different fields of traditional disciplinary education as they critically appraise and summarize the state-of-art of relevant research in a field in general or with a specific focus. Both types of reviews have been conducted with different methods for identifying, collecting, and analyzing relevant publications, and they differ in terms of review aim and topic scope, time period, and ways of literature selection. In this review, we systematically analyze journal publications in STEM education research to overview STEM education scholarship development broadly and globally.

The complexity and ambiguity of examining the status and trends in STEM education research

A review of research development in a field is relatively straight forward, when the field is mature and its scope can be well defined. Unlike discipline-based education research (DBER, National Research Council, 2012 ), STEM education is not a well-defined field. Conducting a comprehensive literature review of STEM education research require careful thought and clearly specified scope to tackle the complexity naturally associated with STEM education. In the following sub-sections, we provide some further discussion.

Diverse perspectives about STEM and STEM education

STEM education as explicated by the term does not have a long history. The interest in helping students learn across STEM fields can be traced back to the 1990s when the US National Science Foundation (NSF) formally included engineering and technology with science and mathematics in undergraduate and K-12 school education (e.g., National Science Foundation, 1998 ). It coined the acronym SMET (science, mathematics, engineering, and technology) that was subsequently used by other agencies including the US Congress (e.g., United States Congress House Committee on Science, 1998 ). NSF also coined the acronym STEM to replace SMET (e.g., Christenson, 2011 ; Chute, 2009 ) and it has become the acronym of choice. However, a consensus has not been reached on the disciplines included within STEM.

To clarify its intent, NSF published a list of approved fields it considered under the umbrella of STEM (see http://bit.ly/2Bk1Yp5 ). The list not only includes disciplines widely considered under the STEM tent (called “core” disciplines, such as physics, chemistry, and materials research), but also includes disciplines in psychology and social sciences (e.g., political science, economics). However, NSF’s list of STEM fields is inconsistent with other federal agencies. Gonzalez and Kuenzi ( 2012 ) noted that at least two US agencies, the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, use a narrower definition that excludes social sciences. Researchers also view integration across different disciplines of STEM differently using various terms such as, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary (Vasquez, Sneider, & Comer, 2013 ). These are only two examples of the ambiguity and complexity in describing and specifying what constitutes STEM.

Multiple perspectives about the meaning of STEM education adds further complexity to determining the extent to which scholarly activity can be categorized as STEM education. For example, STEM education can be viewed with a broad and inclusive perspective to include education in the individual disciplines of STEM, i.e., science education, technology education, engineering education, and mathematics education, as well as interdisciplinary or cross-disciplinary combinations of the individual STEM disciplines (English, 2016 ; Li, 2014 ). On the other hand, STEM education can be viewed by others as referring only to interdisciplinary or cross-disciplinary combinations of the individual STEM disciplines (Honey, Pearson, & Schweingruber, 2014 ; Johnson, Peters-Burton, & Moore, 2015 ; Kelley & Knowles, 2016 ; Li, 2018a ). These multiple perspectives allow scholars to publish articles in a vast array and diverse journals, as long as journals are willing to take the position as connected with STEM education. At the same time, however, the situation presents considerable challenges for researchers intending to locate, identify, and classify publications as STEM education research. To tackle such challenges, we tried to find out what we can learn from prior reviews related to STEM education.

Guidance from prior reviews related to STEM education

A search for reviews of STEM education research found multiple reviews that could suggest approaches for identifying publications (e.g., Brown, 2012 ; Henderson, Beach, & Finkelstein, 2011 ; Kim, Sinatra, & Seyranian, 2018 ; Margot & Kettler, 2019 ; Minichiello, Hood, & Harkness, 2018 ; Mizell & Brown, 2016 ; Thibaut et al., 2018 ; Wu & Rau, 2019 ). The review conducted by Brown ( 2012 ) examined the research base of STEM education. He addressed the complexity and ambiguity by confining the review with publications in eight journals, two in each individual discipline, one academic research journal (e.g., the Journal of Research in Science Teaching ) and one practitioner journal (e.g., Science Teacher ). Journals were selected based on suggestions from some faculty members and K-12 teachers. Out of 1100 articles published in these eight journals from January 1, 2007, to October 1, 2010, Brown located 60 articles that authors self-identified as connected to STEM education. He found that the vast majority of these 60 articles focused on issues beyond an individual discipline and there was a research base forming for STEM education. In a follow-up study, Mizell and Brown ( 2016 ) reviewed articles published from January 2013 to October 2015 in the same eight journals plus two additional journals. Mizell and Brown used the same criteria to identify and include articles that authors self-identified as connected to STEM education, i.e., if the authors included STEM in the title or author-supplied keywords. In comparison to Brown’s findings, they found that many more STEM articles were published in a shorter time period and by scholars from many more different academic institutions. Taking together, both Brown ( 2012 ) and Mizell and Brown ( 2016 ) tended to suggest that STEM education mainly consists of interdisciplinary or cross-disciplinary combinations of the individual STEM disciplines, but their approach consisted of selecting a limited number of individual discipline-based journals and then selecting articles that authors self-identified as connected to STEM education.

In contrast to reviews on STEM education, in general, other reviews focused on specific issues in STEM education (e.g., Henderson et al., 2011 ; Kim et al., 2018 ; Margot & Kettler, 2019 ; Minichiello et al., 2018 ; Schreffler, Vasquez III, Chini, & James, 2019 ; Thibaut et al., 2018 ; Wu & Rau, 2019 ). For example, the review by Henderson et al. ( 2011 ) focused on instructional change in undergraduate STEM courses based on 191 conceptual and empirical journal articles published between 1995 and 2008. Margot and Kettler ( 2019 ) focused on what is known about teachers’ values, beliefs, perceived barriers, and needed support related to STEM education based on 25 empirical journal articles published between 2000 and 2016. The focus of these reviews allowed the researchers to limit the number of articles considered, and they typically used keyword searches of selected databases to identify articles on STEM education. Some researchers used this approach to identify publications from journals only (e.g., Henderson et al., 2011 ; Margot & Kettler, 2019 ; Schreffler et al., 2019 ), and others selected and reviewed publications beyond journals (e.g., Minichiello et al., 2018 ; Thibaut et al., 2018 ; Wu & Rau, 2019 ).

The discussion in this section suggests possible reasons contributing to the absence of a general literature review of STEM education research and development: (1) diverse perspectives in existence about STEM and STEM education that contribute to the difficulty of specifying a scope of literature review, (2) its short but rapid development history in comparison to other discipline-based education (e.g., science education), and (3) difficulties in deciding how to establish the scope of the literature review. With respect to the third reason, prior reviews have used one of two approaches to identify and select articles: (a) identifying specific journals first and then searching and selecting specific articles from these journals (e.g., Brown, 2012 ; Erduran et al., 2015 ; Mizell & Brown, 2016 ) and (b) conducting selected database searches with keywords based on a specific focus (e.g., Margot & Kettler, 2019 ; Thibaut et al., 2018 ). However, neither the first approach of selecting a limited number of individual discipline-based journals nor the second approach of selecting a specific focus for the review leads to an approach that provides a general overview of STEM education scholarship development based on existing journal publications.

Current review

Two issues were identified in setting the scope for this review.

What time period should be considered?

What publications will be selected for review?

Time period

We start with the easy one first. As discussed above, the acronym STEM did exist until the early 2000s. Although the existence of the acronym does not generate scholarship on student learning in STEM disciplines, it is symbolic and helps focus attention to efforts in STEM education. Since we want to examine the status and trends in STEM education, it is reasonable to start with the year 2000. Then, we can use the acronym of STEM as an identifier in locating specific research articles in a way as done by others (e.g., Brown, 2012 ; Mizell & Brown, 2016 ). We chose the end of 2018 as the end of the time period for our review that began during 2019.

Focusing on publications beyond individual discipline-based journals

As mentioned before, scholars responded to the call for scholarship development in STEM education with publications that appeared in various outlets and diverse languages, including journals, books, and conference proceedings. However, journal publications are typically credited and valued as one of the most important outlets for research exchange (e.g., Erduran et al., 2015 ; Henderson et al., 2011 ; Lin et al., 2019 ; Xu et al., 2019 ). Thus, in this review, we will also focus on articles published in journals in English.

The discourse above on the complexity and ambiguity regarding STEM education suggests that scholars may publish their research in a wide range of journals beyond individual discipline-based journals. To search and select articles from a wide range of journals, we thought about the approach of searching selected databases with keywords as other scholars used in reviewing STEM education with a specific focus. However, existing journals in STEM education do not have a long history. In fact, IJ-STEM is the first journal in STEM education that has just been accepted into the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) (Li, 2019a ). Publications in many STEM education journals are practically not available in several important and popular databases, such as the Web of Science and Scopus. Moreover, some journals in STEM education were not normalized due to a journal’s name change or irregular publication schedule. For example, the Journal of STEM Education was named as Journal of SMET Education when it started in 2000 in a print format, and the journal’s name was not changed until 2003, Vol 4 (3 and 4), and also went fully on-line starting 2004 (Raju & Sankar, 2003 ). A simple Google Scholar search with keywords will not be able to provide accurate information, unless you visit the journal’s website to check all publications over the years. Those added complexities prevented us from taking the database search as a viable approach. Thus, we decided to identify journals first and then search and select articles from these journals. Further details about the approach are provided in the “ Method ” section.

Research questions

Given a broader range of journals and a longer period of time to be covered in this review, we can examine some of the same questions as the IJ-STEM review (Li, Froyd, & Wang, 2019 ), but we do not have access to data on readership, articles accessed, or articles cited for the other journals selected for this review. Specifically, we are interested in addressing the following six research questions:

What were the status and trends in STEM education research from 2000 to the end of 2018 based on journal publications?

What were the patterns of publications in STEM education research across different journals?

Which countries or regions, based on the countries or regions in which authors were located, contributed to journal publications in STEM education?

What were the patterns of single-author and multiple-author publications in STEM education?

What main topics had emerged in STEM education research based on the journal publications?

What research methods did authors tend to use in conducting STEM education research?

Based on the above discussion, we developed the methods for this literature review to follow careful sequential steps to identify journals first and then identify and select STEM education research articles published in these journals from January 2000 to the end of 2018. The methods should allow us to obtain a comprehensive overview about the status and trends of STEM education research based on a systematic analysis of related publications from a broad range of journals and over a longer period of time.

Identifying journals

We used the following three steps to search and identify journals for inclusion:

We assumed articles on research in STEM education have been published in journals that involve more than one traditional discipline. Thus, we used Google to search and identify all education journals with their titles containing either two, three, or all four disciplines of STEM. For example, we did Google search of all the different combinations of three areas of science, mathematics, technology Footnote 1 , and engineering as contained in a journal’s title. In addition, we also searched possible journals containing the word STEAM in the title.

Since STEM education may be viewed as encompassing discipline-based education research, articles on STEM education research may have been published in traditional discipline-based education journals, such as the Journal of Research in Science Teaching . However, there are too many such journals. Yale’s Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning has listed 16 journals that publish articles spanning across undergraduate STEM education disciplines (see https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/FacultyResources/STEMjournals ). Thus, we selected from the list some individual discipline-based education research journals, and also added a few more common ones such as the Journal of Engineering Education .

Since articles on research in STEM education have appeared in some general education research journals, especially those well-established ones. Thus, we identified and selected a few of those journals that we noticed some publications in STEM education research.

Following the above three steps, we identified 45 journals (see Table  1 ).

Identifying articles

In this review, we will not discuss or define the meaning of STEM education. We used the acronym STEM (or STEAM, or written as the phrase of “science, technology, engineering, and mathematics”) as a term in our search of publication titles and/or abstracts. To identify and select articles for review, we searched all items published in those 45 journals and selected only those articles that author(s) self-identified with the acronym STEM (or STEAM, or written as the phrase of “science, technology, engineering, and mathematics”) in the title and/or abstract. We excluded publications in the sections of practices, letters to editors, corrections, and (guest) editorials. Our search found 798 publications that authors self-identified as in STEM education, identified from 36 journals. The remaining 9 journals either did not have publications that met our search terms or published in another language other than English (see the two separate lists in Table 1 ).

Data analysis

To address research question 3, we analyzed authorship to examine which countries/regions contributed to STEM education research over the years. Because each publication may have either one or multiple authors, we used two different methods to analyze authorship nationality that have been recognized as valuable from our review of IJ-STEM publications (Li, Froyd, & Wang, 2019 ). The first method considers only the corresponding author’s (or the first author, if no specific indication is given about the corresponding author) nationality and his/her first institution affiliation, if multiple institution affiliations are listed. Method 2 considers every author of a publication, using the following formula (Howard, Cole, & Maxwell, 1987 ) to quantitatively assign and estimate each author’s contribution to a publication (and thus associated institution’s productivity), when multiple authors are included in a publication. As an example, each publication is given one credit point. For the publication co-authored by two, the first author would be given 0.6 and the second author 0.4 credit point. For an article contributed jointly by three authors, the three authors would be credited with scores of 0.47, 0.32, and 0.21, respectively.

After calculating all the scores for each author of each paper, we added all the credit scores together in terms of each author’s country/region. For brevity, we present only the top 10 countries/regions in terms of their total credit scores calculated using these two different methods, respectively.

To address research question 5, we used the same seven topic categories identified and used in our review of IJ-STEM publications (Li, Froyd, & Wang, 2019 ). We tested coding 100 articles first to ensure the feasibility. Through test-coding and discussions, we found seven topic categories could be used to examine and classify all 798 items.

K-12 teaching, teacher, and teacher education in STEM (including both pre-service and in-service teacher education)

Post-secondary teacher and teaching in STEM (including faculty development, etc.)

K-12 STEM learner, learning, and learning environment

Post-secondary STEM learner, learning, and learning environments (excluding pre-service teacher education)

Policy, curriculum, evaluation, and assessment in STEM (including literature review about a field in general)

Culture and social and gender issues in STEM education

History, epistemology, and perspectives about STEM and STEM education

To address research question 6, we coded all 798 publications in terms of (1) qualitative methods, (2) quantitative methods, (3) mixed methods, and (4) non-empirical studies (including theoretical or conceptual papers, and literature reviews). We assigned each publication to only one research topic and one method, following the process used in the IJ-STEM review (Li, Froyd, & Wang, 2019 ). When there was more than one topic or method that could have been used for a publication, a decision was made in choosing and assigning a topic or a method. The agreement between two coders for all 798 publications was 89.5%. When topic and method coding discrepancies occurred, a final decision was reached after discussion.

Results and discussion

In the following sections, we report findings as corresponding to each of the six research questions.

The status and trends of journal publications in STEM education research from 2000 to 2018

Figure  1 shows the number of publications per year. As Fig.  1 shows, the number of publications increased each year beginning in 2010. There are noticeable jumps from 2015 to 2016 and from 2017 to 2018. The result shows that research in STEM education had grown significantly since 2010, and the most recent large number of STEM education publications also suggests that STEM education research gained its own recognition by many different journals for publication as a hot and important topic area.

figure 1

The distribution of STEM education publications over the years

Among the 798 articles, there were 549 articles with the word “STEM” (or STEAM, or written with the phrase of “science, technology, engineering, and mathematics”) included in the article’s title or both title and abstract and 249 articles without such identifiers included in the title but abstract only. The results suggest that many scholars tended to include STEM in the publications’ titles to highlight their research in or about STEM education. Figure  2 shows the number of publications per year where publications are distinguished depending on whether they used the term STEM in the title or only in the abstract. The number of publications in both categories had significant increases since 2010. Use of the acronym STEM in the title was growing at a faster rate than using the acronym only in the abstract.

figure 2

The trends of STEM education publications with vs. without STEM included in the title

Not all the publications that used the acronym STEM in the title and/or abstract reported on a study involving all four STEM areas. For each publication, we further examined the number of the four areas involved in the reported study.

Figure  3 presents the number of publications categorized by the number of the four areas involved in the study, breaking down the distribution of these 798 publications in terms of the content scope being focused on. Studies involving all four STEM areas are the most numerous with 488 (61.2%) publications, followed by involving one area (141, 17.7%), then studies involving both STEM and non-STEM (84, 10.5%), and finally studies involving two or three areas of STEM (72, 9%; 13, 1.6%; respectively). Publications that used the acronym STEAM in either the title or abstract were classified as involving both STEM and non-STEM. For example, both of the following publications were included in this category.

Dika and D’Amico ( 2016 ). “Early experiences and integration in the persistence of first-generation college students in STEM and non-STEM majors.” Journal of Research in Science Teaching , 53 (3), 368–383. (Note: this article focused on early experience in both STEM and Non-STEM majors.)

Sochacka, Guyotte, and Walther ( 2016 ). “Learning together: A collaborative autoethnographic exploration of STEAM (STEM+ the Arts) education.” Journal of Engineering Education , 105 (1), 15–42. (Note: this article focused on STEAM (both STEM and Arts).)

figure 3

Publication distribution in terms of content scope being focused on. (Note: 1=single subject of STEM, 2=two subjects of STEM, 3=three subjects of STEM, 4=four subjects of STEM, 5=topics related to both STEM and non-STEM)

Figure  4 presents the number of publications per year in each of the five categories described earlier (category 1, one area of STEM; category 2, two areas of STEM; category 3, three areas of STEM; category 4, four areas of STEM; category 5, STEM and non-STEM). The category that had grown most rapidly since 2010 is the one involving all four areas. Recent growth in the number of publications in category 1 likely reflected growing interest of traditional individual disciplinary based educators in developing and sharing multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary scholarship in STEM education, as what was noted recently by Li and Schoenfeld ( 2019 ) with publications in IJ-STEM.

figure 4

Publication distribution in terms of content scope being focused on over the years

Patterns of publications across different journals

Among the 36 journals that published STEM education articles, two are general education research journals (referred to as “subject-0”), 12 with their titles containing one discipline of STEM (“subject-1”), eight with journal’s titles covering two disciplines of STEM (“subject-2”), six covering three disciplines of STEM (“subject-3”), seven containing the word STEM (“subject-4”), and one in STEAM education (“subject-5”).

Table  2 shows that both subject-0 and subject-1 journals were usually mature journals with a long history, and they were all traditional subscription-based journals, except the Journal of Pre - College Engineering Education Research , a subject-1 journal established in 2011 that provided open access (OA). In comparison to subject-0 and subject-1 journals, subject-2 and subject-3 journals were relatively newer but still had quite many years of history on average. There are also some more journals in these two categories that provided OA. Subject-4 and subject-5 journals had a short history, and most provided OA. The results show that well-established journals had tended to focus on individual disciplines or education research in general. Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary education journals were started some years later, followed by the recent establishment of several STEM or STEAM journals.

Table 2 also shows that subject-1, subject-2, and subject-4 journals published approximately a quarter each of the publications. The number of publications in subject-1 journals is interested, because we selected a relatively limited number of journals in this category. There are many other journals in the subject-1 category (as well as subject-0 journals) that we did not select, and thus it is very likely that we did not include some STEM education articles published in subject-0 or subject-1 journals that we did not include in our study.

Figure  5 shows the number of publications per year in each of the five categories described earlier (subject-0 through subject-5). The number of publications per year in subject-5 and subject-0 journals did not change much over the time period of the study. On the other hand, the number of publications per year in subject-4 (all 4 areas), subject-1 (single area), and subject-2 journals were all over 40 by the end of the study period. The number of publications per year in subject-3 journals increased but remained less than 30. At first sight, it may be a bit surprising that the number of publications in STEM education per year in subject-1 journals increased much faster than those in subject-2 journals over the past few years. However, as Table 2 indicates these journals had long been established with great reputations, and scholars would like to publish their research in such journals. In contrast to the trend in subject-1 journals, the trend in subject-4 journals suggests that STEM education journals collectively started to gain its own identity for publishing and sharing STEM education research.

figure 5

STEM education publication distribution across different journal categories over the years. (Note: 0=subject-0; 1=subject-1; 2=subject-2; 3=subject-3; 4=subject-4; 5=subject-5)

Figure  6 shows the number of STEM education publications in each journal where the bars are color-coded (yellow, subject-0; light blue, subject-1; green, subject-2; purple, subject-3; dark blue, subject-4; and black, subject-5). There is no clear pattern shown in terms of the overall number of STEM education publications across categories or journals, but very much individual journal-based performance. The result indicates that the number of STEM education publications might heavily rely on the individual journal’s willingness and capability of attracting STEM education research work and thus suggests the potential value of examining individual journal’s performance.

figure 6

Publication distribution across all 36 individual journals across different categories with the same color-coded for journals in the same subject category

The top five journals in terms of the number of STEM education publications are Journal of Science Education and Technology (80 publications, journal number 25 in Fig.  6 ), Journal of STEM Education (65 publications, journal number 26), International Journal of STEM Education (64 publications, journal number 17), International Journal of Engineering Education (54 publications, journal number 12), and School Science and Mathematics (41 publications, journal number 31). Among these five journals, two journals are specifically on STEM education (J26, J17), two on two subjects of STEM (J25, J31), and one on one subject of STEM (J12).

Figure  7 shows the number of STEM education publications per year in each of these top five journals. As expected, based on earlier trends, the number of publications per year increased over the study period. The largest increase was in the International Journal of STEM Education (J17) that was established in 2014. As the other four journals were all established in or before 2000, J17’s short history further suggests its outstanding performance in attracting and publishing STEM education articles since 2014 (Li, 2018b ; Li, Froyd, & Wang, 2019 ). The increase was consistent with the journal’s recognition as the first STEM education journal for inclusion in SSCI starting in 2019 (Li, 2019a ).

figure 7

Publication distribution of selected five journals over the years. (Note: J12: International Journal of Engineering Education; J17: International Journal of STEM Education; J25: Journal of Science Education and Technology; J26: Journal of STEM Education; J31: School Science and Mathematics)

Top 10 countries/regions where scholars contributed journal publications in STEM education

Table  3 shows top countries/regions in terms of the number of publications, where the country/region was established by the authorship using the two different methods presented above. About 75% (depending on the method) of contributions were made by authors from the USA, followed by Australia, Canada, Taiwan, and UK. Only Africa as a continent was not represented among the top 10 countries/regions. The results are relatively consistent with patterns reported in the IJ-STEM study (Li, Froyd, & Wang, 2019 )

Further examination of Table 3 reveals that the two methods provide not only fairly consistent results but also yield some differences. For example, Israel and Germany had more publication credit if only the corresponding author was considered, but South Korea and Turkey had more publication credit when co-authors were considered. The results in Table 3 show that each method has value when analyzing and comparing publications by country/region or institution based on authorship.

Recognizing that, as shown in Fig. 1 , the number of publications per year increased rapidly since 2010, Table  4 shows the number of publications by country/region over a 10-year period (2009–2018) and Table 5 shows the number of publications by country/region over a 5-year period (2014–2018). The ranks in Tables  3 , 4 , and 5 are fairly consistent, but that would be expected since the larger numbers of publications in STEM education had occurred in recent years. At the same time, it is interesting to note in Table 5 some changes over the recent several years with Malaysia, but not Israel, entering the top 10 list when either method was used to calculate author's credit.

Patterns of single-author and multiple-author publications in STEM education

Since STEM education differs from traditional individual disciplinary education, we are interested in determining how common joint co-authorship with collaborations was in STEM education articles. Figure  8 shows that joint co-authorship was very common among these 798 STEM education publications, with 83.7% publications with two or more co-authors. Publications with two, three, or at least five co-authors were highest, with 204, 181, and 157 publications, respectively.

figure 8

Number of publications with single or different joint authorship. (Note: 1=single author; 2=two co-authors; 3=three co-authors; 4=four co-authors; 5=five or more co-authors)

Figure  9 shows the number of publications per year using the joint authorship categories in Fig.  8 . Each category shows an increase consistent with the increase shown in Fig. 1 for all 798 publications. By the end of the time period, the number of publications with two, three, or at least five co-authors was the largest, which might suggest an increase in collaborations in STEM education research.

figure 9

Publication distribution with single or different joint authorship over the years. (Note: 1=single author; 2=two co-authors; 3=three co-authors; 4=four co-authors; 5=five or more co-authors)

Co-authors can be from the same or different countries/regions. Figure  10 shows the number of publications per year by single authors (no collaboration), co-authors from the same country (collaboration in a country/region), and co-authors from different countries (collaboration across countries/regions). Each year the largest number of publications was by co-authors from the same country, and the number increased dramatically during the period of the study. Although the number of publications in the other two categories increased, the numbers of publications were noticeably fewer than the number of publications by co-authors from the same country.

figure 10

Publication distribution in authorship across different categories in terms of collaboration over the years

Published articles by research topics

Figure  11 shows the number of publications in each of the seven topic categories. The topic category of goals, policy, curriculum, evaluation, and assessment had almost half of publications (375, 47%). Literature reviews were included in this topic category, as providing an overview assessment of education and research development in a topic area or a field. Sample publications included in this category are listed as follows:

DeCoito ( 2016 ). “STEM education in Canada: A knowledge synthesis.” Canadian Journal of Science , Mathematics and Technology Education , 16 (2), 114–128. (Note: this article provides a national overview of STEM initiatives and programs, including success, criteria for effective programs and current research in STEM education.)

Ring-Whalen, Dare, Roehrig, Titu, and Crotty ( 2018 ). “From conception to curricula: The role of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in integrated STEM units.” International Journal of Education in Mathematics Science and Technology , 6 (4), 343–362. (Note: this article investigates the conceptions of integrated STEM education held by in-service science teachers through the use of photo-elicitation interviews and examines how those conceptions were reflected in teacher-created integrated STEM curricula.)

Schwab et al. ( 2018 ). “A summer STEM outreach program run by graduate students: Successes, challenges, and recommendations for implementation.” Journal of Research in STEM Education , 4 (2), 117–129. (Note: the article details the organization and scope of the Foundation in Science and Mathematics Program and evaluates this program.)

figure 11

Frequencies of publications’ research topic distributions. (Note: 1=K-12 teaching, teacher and teacher education; 2=Post-secondary teacher and teaching; 3=K-12 STEM learner, learning, and learning environment; 4=Post-secondary STEM learner, learning, and learning environments; 5=Goals and policy, curriculum, evaluation, and assessment (including literature review); 6=Culture, social, and gender issues; 7=History, philosophy, Epistemology, and nature of STEM and STEM education)

The topic with the second most publications was “K-12 teaching, teacher and teacher education” (103, 12.9%), followed closely by “K-12 learner, learning, and learning environment” (97, 12.2%). The results likely suggest the research community had a broad interest in both teaching and learning in K-12 STEM education. The top three topics were the same in the IJ-STEM review (Li, Froyd, & Wang, 2019 ).

Figure  11 also shows there was a virtual tie between two topics with the fourth most cumulative publications, “post-secondary STEM learner & learning” (76, 9.5%) and “culture, social, and gender issues in STEM” (78, 9.8%), such as STEM identity, students’ career choices in STEM, and inclusion. This result is different from the IJ-STEM review (Li, Froyd, & Wang, 2019 ), where “post-secondary STEM teacher & teaching” and “post-secondary STEM learner & learning” were tied as the fourth most common topics. This difference is likely due to the scope of journals and the length of the time period being reviewed.

Figure  12 shows the number of publications per year in each topic category. As expected from the results in Fig.  11 the number of publications in topic category 5 (goals, policy, curriculum, evaluation, and assessment) was the largest each year. The numbers of publications in topic category 3 (K-12 learner, learning, and learning environment), 1 (K-12 teaching, teacher, and teacher education), 6 (culture, social, and gender issues in STEM), and 4 (post-secondary STEM learner and learning) were also increasing. Although Fig.  11 shows the number of publications in topic category 1 was slightly more than the number of publications in topic category 3 (see Fig.  11 ), the number of publications in topic category 3 was increasing more rapidly in recent years than its counterpart in topic category 1. This may suggest a more rapidly growing interest in K-12 STEM learner, learning, and learning environment. The numbers of publications in topic categories 2 and 7 were not increasing, but the number of publications in IJ-STEM in topic category 2 was notable (Li, Froyd, & Wang, 2019 ). It will be interesting to follow trends in the seven topic categories in the future.

figure 12

Publication distributions in terms of research topics over the years

Published articles by research methods

Figure  13 shows the number of publications per year by research methods in empirical studies. Publications with non-empirical studies are shown in a separate category. Although the number of publications in each of the four categories increased during the study period, there were many more publications presenting empirical studies than those without. For those with empirical studies, the number of publications using quantitative methods increased most rapidly in recent years, followed by qualitative and then mixed methods. Although there were quite many publications with non-empirical studies (e.g., theoretical or conceptual papers, literature reviews) during the study period, the increase of the number of publications in this category was noticeably less than empirical studies.

figure 13

Publication distributions in terms of research methods over the years. (Note: 1=qualitative, 2=quantitative, 3=mixed, 4=Non-empirical)

Concluding remarks

The systematic analysis of publications that were considered to be in STEM education in 36 selected journals shows tremendous growth in scholarship in this field from 2000 to 2018, especially over the past 10 years. Our analysis indicates that STEM education research has been increasingly recognized as an important topic area and studies were being published across many different journals. Scholars still hold diverse perspectives about how research is designated as STEM education; however, authors have been increasingly distinguishing their articles with STEM, STEAM, or related words in the titles, abstracts, and lists of keywords during the past 10 years. Moreover, our systematic analysis shows a dramatic increase in the number of publications in STEM education journals in recent years, which indicates that these journals have been collectively developing their own professional identity. In addition, the International Journal of STEM Education has become the first STEM education journal to be accepted in SSCI in 2019 (Li, 2019a ). The achievement may mark an important milestone as STEM education journals develop their own identity for publishing and sharing STEM education research.

Consistent with our previous reviews (Li, Froyd, & Wang, 2019 ; Li, Wang, & Xiao, 2019 ), the vast majority of publications in STEM education research were contributed by authors from the USA, where STEM and STEAM education originated, followed by Australia, Canada, and Taiwan. At the same time, authors in some countries/regions in Asia were becoming very active in the field over the past several years. This trend is consistent with findings from the IJ-STEM review (Li, Froyd, & Wang, 2019 ). We certainly hope that STEM education scholarship continues its development across all five continents to support educational initiatives and programs in STEM worldwide.

Our analysis has shown that collaboration, as indicated by publications with multiple authors, has been very common among STEM education scholars, as that is often how STEM education distinguishes itself from the traditional individual disciplinary based education. Currently, most collaborations occurred among authors from the same country/region, although collaborations across cross-countries/regions were slowly increasing.

With the rapid changes in STEM education internationally (Li, 2019b ), it is often difficult for researchers to get an overall sense about possible hot topics in STEM education especially when STEM education publications appeared in a vast array of journals across different fields. Our systematic analysis of publications has shown that studies in the topic category of goals, policy, curriculum, evaluation, and assessment have been the most prevalent, by far. Our analysis also suggests that the research community had a broad interest in both teaching and learning in K-12 STEM education. These top three topic categories are the same as in the IJ-STEM review (Li, Froyd, & Wang, 2019 ). Work in STEM education will continue to evolve and it will be interesting to review the trends in another 5 years.

Encouraged by our recent IJ-STEM review, we began this review with an ambitious goal to provide an overview of the status and trends of STEM education research. In a way, this systematic review allowed us to achieve our initial goal with a larger scope of journal selection over a much longer period of publication time. At the same time, there are still limitations, such as the decision to limit the number of journals from which we would identify publications for analysis. We understand that there are many publications on STEM education research that were not included in our review. Also, we only identified publications in journals. Although this is one of the most important outlets for scholars to share their research work, future reviews could examine publications on STEM education research in other venues such as books, conference proceedings, and grant proposals.

Availability of data and materials

The data and materials used and analyzed for the report are publicly available at the various journal websites.

Journals containing the word "computers" or "ICT" appeared automatically when searching with the word "technology". Thus, the word of "computers" or "ICT" was taken as equivalent to "technology" if appeared in a journal's name.

Abbreviations

Information and Communications Technology

International Journal of STEM Education

Kindergarten–Grade 12

Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology

Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

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Global education: How to transform school systems?

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Emiliana vegas and emiliana vegas former co-director - center for universal education , former senior fellow - global economy and development @emivegasv rebecca winthrop rebecca winthrop director - center for universal education , senior fellow - global economy and development @rebeccawinthrop.

November 17, 2020

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This essay is part of “ Reimagining the global economy: Building back better in a post-COVID-19 world ,” a collection of 12 essays presenting new ideas to guide policies and shape debates in a post-COVID-19 world.

Reimagining the global economy

Even before COVID-19 left as many as 1.5 billion students out of school in early 2020, there was a global consensus that education systems in too many countries were not delivering the quality education needed to ensure that all have the skills necessary to thrive. 1 It is the poorest children across the globe who carry the heaviest burden, with pre-pandemic analysis estimating that 90 percent of children in low-income countries, 50 percent of children in middle-income countries, and 30 percent of children in high-income countries fail to master the basic secondary-level skills needed to thrive in work and life. 2  

Analysis in mid-April 2020—in the early throes of the pandemic—found that less than 25 percent of low-income countries were providing any type of remote learning, while close to 90 percent of high-income countries were. 3 On top of cross-country differences in access to remote learning, within-country differences are also staggering. For example, during the COVID-19 school closures, 1 in 10 of the poorest children in the U.S. had little or no access to technology for learning. 4

Yet, for a few young people in wealthy communities around the globe, schooling has never been better than during the pandemic. They are taught in their homes with a handful of their favorite friends by a teacher hired by their parents. 5  Some parents have connected via social media platforms to form learning pods that instruct only a few students at a time with agreed-upon teaching schedules and activities.

While the learning experiences for these particular children may be good in and of themselves, they represent a worrisome trend for the world: the massive acceleration of education inequality. 6

Emerging from this global pandemic with a stronger public education system is an ambitious vision, and one that will require both financial and human resources.

The silver lining is that COVID-19 has resulted in public recognition of schools’ essential caretaking role in society and parents’ gratitude for teachers, their skills, and their invaluable role in student well-being.

It is hard to imagine there will be another moment in history when the central role of schooling in the economic, social, and political prosperity and stability of nations is so obvious and well understood by the general population. The very fact that schools enable parents to work outside the home is hitting home to millions of families amid global school closures. Now is the time to chart a vision for how education can emerge stronger from this global crisis and help reduce education inequality.

Indeed, we believe that strong and inclusive public education systems are essential to the short- and long-term recovery of society and that there is an opportunity to leapfrog toward powered-up schools.

A powered-up school, one that well serves the educational needs of children and youth, is one that puts a strong public school at the center of the community and leverages the most effective partnerships to help learners grow and develop a broad range of competencies and skills. It would recognize and adapt to the learning that takes place beyond its walls, regularly assessing students’ skills and tailoring learning opportunities to meet students at their skill level. New allies in children’s learning would complement and assist teachers, and could support children’s healthy mental and physical development. It quite literally would be the school at the center of the community that powers student learning and development using every path possible (Figure 12.1).

12.1

While this vision is aspirational, it is by no means impractical. Schools at the center of a community ecosystem of learning and support are an idea whose time has come, and some of the emerging practices amid COVID-19, such as empowering parents to support their children’s education, should be sustained after the pandemic subsides.

It is hard to imagine there will be another moment in history when the central role of schooling in the economic, social, and political prosperity and stability of nations is so obvious and well understood by the general population.

The way forward

To achieve this vision, we propose five actions to seize the moment and transform education systems (focusing on pre-primary through secondary school) to better serve all children and youth, especially the most disadvantaged.

1. Leverage public schools and put them at the center of education systems given their essential role in equalizing opportunity across society

By having the mandate to serve all children and youth regardless of background, public schools in many countries can bring together individuals from diverse backgrounds and needs, providing the social benefit of allowing individuals to grow up with a set of common values and knowledge that can make communities more cohesive and unified. 7

Schools play a crucial role in fostering the skills individuals need to succeed in a rapidly changing labor market, 8 play a major role in equalizing opportunities for individuals of diverse backgrounds, and address a variety of social needs that serve communities, regions, and entire nations. While a few private schools can and do play these multiple roles, public education is the main conduit for doing so at scale and hence should be at the center of any effort to build back better.

2. Focus on the instructional core, the heart of the teaching and learning process

Using the instructional core—or focusing on the interactions among educators, learners, and educational materials to improve student learning 9 —can help identify what types of new strategies or innovations could become community-based supports in children’s learning journey. Indeed, even after only a few months of experimentation around the globe on keeping learning going amid a pandemic, some clear strategies have the potential, if continued, to contribute to a powered-up school, and many of them involve engaging learners, educators, and parents in new ways using some form of technology.

3. Deploy education technology to power up schools in a way that meets teaching and learning needs and prevent technology from becoming a costly distraction

After COVID-19, one thing is certain: School systems that are best prepared to use education technology effectively will be best positioned to continue offering quality education in the face of school closures.

Other recent research 10 by one of us finds that technology can help improve learning by supporting the crucial interactions in the instructional core through the following ways: (1) scaling up quality instruction (by, for example, prerecorded lessons of high-quality teaching); (2) facilitating differentiated instruction (through, for example, computer-adaptive learning or live one-on-one tutoring); (3) expanding opportunities for student practice; and (4) increasing student engagement (through, for example, videos and games).

4. Forge stronger, more trusting relationships between parents and teachers

When a respectful relationship among parents, teachers, families, and schools happens, children learn and thrive. This occurs by inviting families to be allies in children’s learning by using easy-to-understand information communicated through mechanisms that adapt to parents’ schedules and that provide parents with an active but feasible role. The nature of the invitation and the relationship is what is so essential to bringing parents on board.

COVID-19 is an opportunity for parents and families to gain insight into the skill that is involved in teaching and for teachers and schools to realize what powerful allies parents can be. Parents around the world are not interested in becoming their child’s teacher, but they are, based on several large-scale surveys, 11 asking to be engaged in a different, more active way in the future. One of the most important insights for supporting a powered-up school is challenging the mindset of those in the education sector who think that parents and families with the least opportunities are not capable or willing to help their children learn.

5. Embrace the principles of improvement science required to evaluate, course correct, document, and scale new approaches that can help power up schools over time

The speed and depth of change mean that it will be essential to take an iterative approach to learning what works, for whom, and under what enabling conditions. In other words, this is a moment to employ the principles of improvement science. 12 Traditional research methods will need to be complemented by real-time documentation, reflection, quick feedback loops, and course correction. Rapid sharing of early insights and testing of potential change ideas will need to come alongside the longer-term rigorous reviews.

Adapting the scaling strategy is especially challenging, requiring not only timely data, a thorough understanding of the context, and space for reflection, but also willingness and capacity to act on this learning and make changes accordingly.

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Emerging from this global pandemic with a stronger public education system is an ambitious vision, and one that will require both financial and human resources. But such a vision is essential, and that amid the myriad of decisions education leaders are making every day, it can guide the future. With the dire consequences of the pandemic hitting the most vulnerable young people the hardest, it is tempting to revert to a global education narrative that privileges access to school above all else. This, however, would be a mistake. A powered-up public school in every community is what the world’s children deserve, and indeed is possible if everyone can collectively work together to harness the opportunities presented by this crisis to truly leapfrog education forward.

  • This essay is based on a longer paper titled “Beyond reopening schools: How education can emerge stronger than before COVID-19” by the same authors, which can be found here: https://www.brookings.edu/research/beyond-reopening-schools-how-education-can-emerge-stronger-than-before-covid-19/ .
  • ”The Learning Generation: Investing in Education for a Changing World.” The International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity. https://report.educationcommission.org/report/ .
  • Vegas, Emiliana. “School Closures, Government Responses, and Learning Inequality around the World during COVID-19.” Brookings Institution, April 14, 2020. https://www.brookings.edu/research/school-closures-government-responses-and-learning-inequality-around-the-world-during-covid-19/.
  • “U.S. Census Bureau Releases Household Pulse Survey Results.” United States Census Bureau, 2020, https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2020/household-pulse-results.html .
  • Moyer, Melinda Wenner. “Pods, Microschools and Tutors: Can Parents Solve the Education Crisis on Their Own?” The New York Times. January 22, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/parenting/school-pods-coronavirus.html.
  • Samuels, Christina A., and Arianna Prothero. “Could the ‘Pandemic Pod’ Be a Lifeline for Parents or a Threat to Equity?” Education Week. August 18, 2020. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2020/07/29/could-the-pandemic-pod-be-a-lifeline.html.
  • Christakis, Erika. “Americans Have Given Up on Public Schools. That’s a Mistake.” The Atlantic. September 11, 2017. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/10/the-war-on-public-schools/537903/.
  • Levin, Henry M. “Education as a Public and Private Good.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 6, no. 4 (1987): 628-41.
  • David Cohen and Deborah Loewenberg Ball, who originated the idea of the instructional core, used the terms teachers, students, and content. The OECD’s initiative on “Innovative Learning Environments” later adapted the framework using the terms educators, learners, and resources to represent educational materials and added a new element of content to represent the choices around skills and competencies and how to assess them. Here we have pulled from elements that we like from both frameworks, using the term instructional core to describe the relationships between educators, learners, and content and added parents.
  • Alejandro J. Ganimian, Emiliana Vegas, and Frederick M. Hess, “Realizing the promise: How can education technology improve learning for all?” Brookings Institution, September 2020, https://www.brookings.edu/essay/realizing-the-promise-how-can-education-technology-improve-learning-for-all/.
  • “Parents 2020: COVID-19 Closures: A Redefining Moment for Students, Parents & Schools.” Heroes, Learning, 2020. https://r50gh2ss1ic2mww8s3uvjvq1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/LH_2020-Parent-Survey-Partner-1.pdf . 
  • “The Six Core Principles of Improvement.” The Six Core Principles of Improvement. Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. August 18, 2020. https://www.carnegiefoundation.org/our-ideas/six-core-principles-improvement/ . 

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Global Education

By Hannah Ritchie, Veronika Samborska, Natasha Ahuja, Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Max Roser

A good education offers individuals the opportunity to lead richer, more interesting lives. At a societal level, it creates opportunities for humanity to solve its pressing problems.

The world has gone through a dramatic transition over the last few centuries, from one where very few had any basic education to one where most people do. This is not only reflected in the inputs to education – enrollment and attendance – but also in outcomes, where literacy rates have greatly improved.

Getting children into school is also not enough. What they learn matters. There are large differences in educational outcomes : in low-income countries, most children cannot read by the end of primary school. These inequalities in education exacerbate poverty and existing inequalities in global incomes .

On this page, you can find all of our writing and data on global education.

Key insights on Global Education

The world has made substantial progress in increasing basic levels of education.

Access to education is now seen as a fundamental right – in many cases, it’s the government’s duty to provide it.

But formal education is a very recent phenomenon. In the chart, we see the share of the adult population – those older than 15 – that has received some basic education and those who haven’t.

In the early 1800s, fewer than 1 in 5 adults had some basic education. Education was a luxury; in all places, it was only available to a small elite.

But you can see that this share has grown dramatically, such that this ratio is now reversed. Less than 1 in 5 adults has not received any formal education.

This is reflected in literacy data , too: 200 years ago, very few could read and write. Now most adults have basic literacy skills.

What you should know about this data

  • Basic education is defined as receiving some kind of formal primary, secondary, or tertiary (post-secondary) education.
  • This indicator does not tell us how long a person received formal education. They could have received a full program of schooling, or may only have been in attendance for a short period. To account for such differences, researchers measure the mean years of schooling or the expected years of schooling .

Despite being in school, many children learn very little

International statistics often focus on attendance as the marker of educational progress.

However, being in school does not guarantee that a child receives high-quality education. In fact, in many countries, the data shows that children learn very little.

Just half – 48% – of the world’s children can read with comprehension by the end of primary school. It’s based on data collected over a 9-year period, with 2016 as the average year of collection.

This is shown in the chart, where we plot averages across countries with different income levels. 1

The situation in low-income countries is incredibly worrying, with 90% of children unable to read by that age.

This can be improved – even among high-income countries. The best-performing countries have rates as low as 2%. That’s more than four times lower than the average across high-income countries.

Making sure that every child gets to go to school is essential. But the world also needs to focus on what children learn once they’re in the classroom.

Featured image

Millions of children learn only very little. How can the world provide a better education to the next generation?

Research suggests that many children – especially in the world’s poorest countries – learn only very little in school. What can we do to improve this?

  • This data does not capture total literacy over someone’s lifetime. Many children will learn to read eventually, even if they cannot read by the end of primary school. However, this means they are in a constant state of “catching up” and will leave formal education far behind where they could be.

legacy-wordpress-upload

Children across the world receive very different amounts of quality learning

There are still significant inequalities in the amount of education children get across the world.

This can be measured as the total number of years that children spend in school. However, researchers can also adjust for the quality of education to estimate how many years of quality learning they receive. This is done using an indicator called “learning-adjusted years of schooling”.

On the map, you see vast differences across the world.

In many of the world’s poorest countries, children receive less than three years of learning-adjusted schooling. In most rich countries, this is more than 10 years.

Across most countries in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa – where the largest share of children live – the average years of quality schooling are less than 7.

  • Learning-adjusted years of schooling merge the quantity and quality of education into one metric, accounting for the fact that similar durations of schooling can yield different learning outcomes.
  • Learning-adjusted years is computed by adjusting the expected years of school based on the quality of learning, as measured by the harmonized test scores from various international student achievement testing programs. The adjustment involves multiplying the expected years of school by the ratio of the most recent harmonized test score to 625. Here, 625 signifies advanced attainment on the TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) test, with 300 representing minimal attainment. These scores are measured in TIMSS-equivalent units.

Hundreds of millions of children worldwide do not go to school

While most children worldwide get the opportunity to go to school, hundreds of millions still don’t.

In the chart, we see the number of children who aren’t in school across primary and secondary education.

This number was around 260 million in 2019.

Many children who attend primary school drop out and do not attend secondary school. That means many more children or adolescents are missing from secondary school than primary education.

Featured image

Access to basic education: almost 60 million children of primary school age are not in school

The world has made a lot of progress in recent generations, but millions of children are still not in school.

The gender gap in school attendance has closed across most of the world

Globally, until recently, boys were more likely to attend school than girls. The world has focused on closing this gap to ensure every child gets the opportunity to go to school.

Today, these gender gaps have largely disappeared. In the chart, we see the difference in the global enrollment rates for primary, secondary, and tertiary (post-secondary) education. The share of children who complete primary school is also shown.

We see these lines converging over time, and recently they met: rates between boys and girls are the same.

For tertiary education, young women are now more likely than young men to be enrolled.

While the differences are small globally, there are some countries where the differences are still large: girls in Afghanistan, for example, are much less likely to go to school than boys.

Research & Writing

Featured image

Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not. We are all losing out because of this.

Access to basic education: almost 60 million children of primary school age are not in school, interactive charts on global education.

This data comes from a paper by João Pedro Azevedo et al.

João Pedro Azevedo, Diana Goldemberg, Silvia Montoya, Reema Nayar, Halsey Rogers, Jaime Saavedra, Brian William Stacy (2021) – “ Will Every Child Be Able to Read by 2030? Why Eliminating Learning Poverty Will Be Harder Than You Think, and What to Do About It .” World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 9588, March 2021.

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Higher Education Research Paper Topics

Academic Writing Service

In this page on higher education research paper topics , we present a comprehensive guide to help students in the field of education with their research papers. The abstract provides a brief overview of the content covered in the page, including a keyphrase to emphasize the main focus. Throughout the page, you will find a diverse range of higher education research paper topics, expert advice on topic selection, tips for writing an effective research paper, and information about the custom writing services offered by iResearchNet. Whether you are a student in need of topic inspiration or seeking assistance with your research paper, this page will provide valuable insights and resources to support your academic journey in higher education.

100 Higher Education Research Paper Topics

In this section, we present a comprehensive list of higher education research paper topics. These topics are organized into 10 categories, each focusing on a different aspect of higher education. Within each category, you will find 10 research paper topics to spark your imagination and guide your exploration. These topics encompass a wide range of disciplines and subfields within higher education, allowing you to explore various dimensions of this dynamic field. Whether you are interested in policy issues, student experiences, teaching and learning methodologies, or institutional practices, there is something here for everyone. Let this list inspire you and serve as a starting point for your research endeavors.

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Higher Education Policy and Governance

  • The impact of government funding on higher education institutions
  • Evaluating the effectiveness of quality assurance mechanisms in higher education
  • The role of accreditation in ensuring educational standards in higher education
  • Examining the relationship between government policies and access to higher education
  • Exploring the influence of international rankings on university competitiveness
  • Analyzing the implications of privatization in higher education
  • Investigating the role of higher education in promoting sustainable development goals
  • The challenges of promoting diversity and inclusion in higher education institutions
  • Examining the role of community colleges in expanding access to higher education
  • The impact of globalization on higher education policies and practices

Student Experiences and Success

  • Understanding the factors influencing student retention and graduation rates
  • Examining the impact of financial aid policies on college access and affordability
  • Exploring the experiences of first-generation college students
  • Investigating the role of student support services in enhancing student success
  • Analyzing the effects of student engagement on academic achievement and personal development
  • Examining the influence of cultural and social capital on student experiences in higher education
  • The impact of student diversity on campus climate and intercultural learning
  • Exploring the experiences of international students in higher education
  • Investigating the effects of work-study programs on student outcomes
  • The role of technology in enhancing student learning experiences in higher education

Teaching and Learning Methodologies

  • Exploring innovative pedagogical approaches in higher education
  • Investigating the effectiveness of online learning in higher education
  • Analyzing the impact of active learning strategies on student engagement and learning outcomes
  • Examining the role of problem-based learning in promoting critical thinking skills
  • The use of educational technologies to enhance teaching and learning in higher education
  • Investigating the effectiveness of flipped classrooms in higher education settings
  • Analyzing the impact of inclusive teaching practices on student learning outcomes
  • The role of peer mentoring in supporting student learning and development
  • Examining the benefits and challenges of experiential learning in higher education
  • Investigating the role of assessment and feedback in promoting student learning and achievement

Higher Education and Society

  • Exploring the role of higher education in fostering social mobility
  • Analyzing the impact of college education on income inequality
  • Investigating the relationship between higher education and economic development
  • Examining the role of higher education in addressing societal challenges and promoting social justice
  • The impact of community engagement initiatives in higher education institutions
  • Analyzing the influence of higher education on democratic participation and civic engagement
  • Exploring the role of higher education in promoting sustainable development
  • The effects of globalization on higher education and its implications for society
  • Investigating the role of higher education in promoting cultural diversity and intercultural understanding
  • Examining the relationship between higher education and lifelong learning in a knowledge-based society

Institutional Practices and Management

  • Analyzing the challenges and opportunities of strategic planning in higher education institutions
  • Investigating the role of leadership in shaping organizational culture in higher education
  • Exploring the effects of performance-based funding on institutional practices and outcomes
  • Examining the impact of faculty development programs on teaching and research productivity
  • The role of shared governance in decision-making processes within higher education institutions
  • Analyzing the effects of resource allocation on institutional effectiveness and efficiency
  • Investigating the influence of organizational climate on faculty job satisfaction and retention
  • Exploring the role of technology in supporting administrative processes in higher education
  • The impact of internationalization strategies on institutional reputation and student recruitment
  • Examining the challenges and opportunities of managing diversity in higher education institutions

Higher Education and Technology

  • Investigating the impact of online learning platforms on student access and engagement
  • Analyzing the effectiveness of blended learning approaches in higher education
  • Exploring the use of learning analytics in enhancing student success in higher education
  • The impact of educational technologies on teaching practices and student learning outcomes
  • Investigating the role of virtual reality in experiential learning in higher education
  • Analyzing the implications of artificial intelligence in higher education settings
  • Exploring the use of gamification in higher education to promote student motivation and engagement
  • Investigating the challenges and opportunities of open educational resources in higher education
  • Examining the role of mobile learning in supporting anytime, anywhere access to education
  • The effects of social media on student engagement and communication in higher education

Access and Equity in Higher Education

  • Analyzing the barriers to access and participation in higher education for marginalized groups
  • Investigating the impact of affirmative action policies on diversity in higher education
  • Exploring the role of financial aid programs in promoting college access and equity
  • Examining the effects of merit-based scholarships on educational opportunities and social mobility
  • The impact of college preparatory programs on underrepresented students’ college readiness
  • Analyzing the influence of high-stakes testing on college admissions and access to higher education
  • Investigating the experiences of students with disabilities in higher education
  • Exploring the challenges and opportunities of supporting non-traditional students in higher education
  • The effects of community college transfer pathways on access to four-year institutions
  • Examining the role of mentoring programs in supporting underrepresented students in higher education

Higher Education and Globalization

  • Investigating the effects of international student mobility on higher education institutions
  • Analyzing the influence of global rankings on higher education policies and practices
  • Exploring the role of transnational education in higher education
  • Examining the impact of global partnerships and collaborations on higher education institutions
  • The effects of globalization on curriculum development and pedagogical approaches in higher education
  • Investigating the influence of internationalization strategies on institutional identity and mission
  • Analyzing the challenges and opportunities of recruiting and retaining international students
  • Exploring the role of cross-cultural competence in higher education settings
  • Investigating the impact of globalization on faculty recruitment and retention in higher education
  • Examining the implications of global competition for funding and resources in higher education

Higher Education Leadership and Administration

  • Analyzing the qualities and skills of effective higher education leaders
  • Investigating the challenges and opportunities of leadership succession in higher education
  • Exploring the role of shared governance in effective institutional leadership
  • Examining the impact of leadership development programs on leadership effectiveness in higher education
  • The effects of gender and diversity in leadership positions in higher education institutions
  • Investigating the role of emotional intelligence in higher education leadership
  • Analyzing the influence of political and institutional contexts on leadership decision-making in higher education
  • Exploring the challenges and opportunities of leading in times of crisis in higher education
  • Investigating the impact of ethical leadership on organizational culture and climate in higher education
  • Examining the role of transformational leadership in driving innovation and change in higher education

Higher Education Assessment and Evaluation

  • Analyzing the effectiveness of assessment practices in measuring student learning outcomes in higher education
  • Investigating the impact of standardized testing on higher education admissions and accountability
  • Exploring the role of program evaluation in improving the quality of higher education programs
  • Examining the influence of accreditation processes on institutional quality and improvement
  • The effects of learning outcomes assessment on instructional practices in higher education
  • Investigating the use of rubrics in evaluating student performance and providing feedback in higher education
  • Analyzing the challenges and opportunities of assessing student engagement in higher education
  • Exploring the role of learning analytics in informing decision-making and improving student success in higher education
  • Investigating the impact of outcomes-based funding on institutional assessment and accountability
  • Examining the challenges and opportunities of assessing and recognizing prior learning in higher education

This comprehensive list of higher education research paper topics offers a diverse range of ideas to inspire and guide your research endeavors. Whether you are interested in policy issues, student experiences, teaching and learning methodologies, institutional practices, or global perspectives, there is a wealth of topics to explore within the field of higher education. Remember that the key to selecting a research topic is to align it with your interests, expertise, and the requirements of your research paper. As you embark on your research journey, consider the significance of your chosen topic, its relevance to the field, and the potential contribution it can make to the existing body of knowledge. With careful consideration and thorough research, you can delve into the complexities of higher education and contribute to the ongoing discourse in the field.

Higher Education Research Guide

Welcome to the iResearchNet page on higher education research paper topics. As students embark on their journey in higher education, they encounter numerous opportunities to explore and analyze various aspects of this dynamic field. Research papers play a pivotal role in this process, allowing students to delve deeper into specific areas of interest and contribute to the ever-evolving discourse surrounding higher education. The purpose of this page is to provide students with a comprehensive guide to selecting and developing research paper topics that are not only academically rigorous but also relevant and impactful in the context of higher education.

In today’s fast-paced and interconnected world, higher education faces a multitude of challenges and opportunities. From exploring innovative teaching methods and educational technologies to examining issues of access, equity, and diversity, there are countless avenues for research within the field. This page aims to present a diverse range of higher education research paper topics, spanning various disciplines and subfields, to inspire and guide students in their exploration.

By engaging with the content on this page, students will gain valuable insights into the current trends, debates, and gaps in knowledge within higher education. They will also find practical advice and strategies for selecting research paper topics that align with their interests and academic goals. Whether you are interested in examining the impact of online learning, exploring student engagement strategies, or investigating the role of higher education in fostering social mobility, this page offers a wealth of ideas and resources to support your research endeavors.

We invite you to delve into the world of higher education research paper topics, to discover new ideas, expand your knowledge, and contribute to the ever-growing body of scholarship in the field. Let this page serve as a valuable tool to ignite your curiosity, fuel your intellectual growth, and empower you to make meaningful contributions to the field of higher education.

Choosing Higher Education Research Paper Topics

Selecting a suitable research topic is a crucial step in the process of writing a higher education research paper. With the vast array of issues and subfields within higher education, it can be overwhelming to decide on a specific topic that aligns with your interests and meets the requirements of your research assignment. In this section, we offer expert advice to help you navigate through the selection process and choose a compelling and relevant topic for your higher education research paper.

  • Identify your area of interest : Start by exploring your personal interests within the field of higher education. Reflect on the topics or issues that have caught your attention during your studies or experiences. Consider your career goals and the aspects of higher education that you are passionate about.
  • Review current literature : Conduct a thorough review of the existing literature in the field of higher education. Read academic journals, books, and research articles to familiarize yourself with the latest trends, debates, and gaps in knowledge. This will help you identify potential research areas that have not been extensively explored or require further investigation.
  • Narrow down your focus : Once you have identified your general area of interest, narrow down your focus to a specific research question or problem. A well-defined research question will provide a clear direction for your study and ensure that your research is focused and meaningful.
  • Consider the significance and relevance : Evaluate the significance and relevance of your chosen topic. Ask yourself why it is important to study this particular aspect of higher education. Consider its implications for policymakers, educators, students, or other stakeholders. Ensure that your research topic addresses a gap in knowledge or contributes to the existing body of research.
  • Assess feasibility : Assess the feasibility of your research topic in terms of data availability, resources, and time constraints. Consider the practicality of conducting research within your chosen topic, including access to relevant data sources, ethical considerations, and the scope of your research project.
  • Seek input from professors or experts : Consult with your professors or other experts in the field of higher education. They can provide valuable insights and guidance based on their expertise and experience. Discuss your research interests and potential topics with them to gain further clarity and suggestions for refinement.
  • Stay updated with current events : Keep yourself informed about current events and issues in higher education. Follow news, policy changes, and debates related to higher education to identify emerging topics or controversies that could be potential research areas.
  • Consider interdisciplinary approaches : Explore interdisciplinary approaches by incorporating perspectives from other fields such as sociology, psychology, economics, or public policy. This can provide a unique angle to your research and contribute to a broader understanding of higher education issues.
  • Brainstorm and generate ideas : Engage in brainstorming sessions to generate a list of potential research topics. Write down any ideas or concepts that come to mind, even if they seem unconventional or challenging. The goal is to encourage creativity and explore various possibilities.
  • Reflect on personal experiences : Reflect on your personal experiences within higher education. Consider any challenges, observations, or insights you have gained as a student or through other educational roles. These experiences can serve as a foundation for identifying research questions or topics that are personally meaningful to you.

Choosing a higher education research paper topic requires careful consideration and exploration of your interests, current literature, and the significance of the topic. By following the expert advice provided in this section, you can navigate through the selection process and choose a research topic that aligns with your passions, contributes to the field of higher education, and engages with important issues and debates. Remember to seek guidance from professors or experts and stay updated with current events to ensure the relevance and timeliness of your research.

How to Write a Higher Education Research Paper

Writing a higher education research paper requires a systematic and well-structured approach to effectively communicate your ideas, findings, and analysis. In this section, we provide a step-by-step guide on how to write a higher education research paper that meets academic standards and effectively addresses your research question.

  • Understand the assignment requirements : Carefully review the assignment guidelines provided by your instructor or institution. Pay attention to the research question or problem statement, formatting requirements, citation style, and any specific instructions or expectations.
  • Conduct thorough research : Start by conducting comprehensive research on your chosen topic. Gather relevant literature, data, and scholarly sources to build a strong foundation for your research paper. Use academic databases, library resources, and credible sources to ensure the reliability and validity of your information.
  • Develop a clear thesis statement : Craft a clear and concise thesis statement that captures the main argument or purpose of your research paper. The thesis statement should provide a roadmap for your paper and guide the reader in understanding the focus and significance of your study.
  • Organize your paper : Create a logical structure for your research paper. Divide it into sections such as introduction, literature review, methodology, findings, analysis, and conclusion. Each section should serve a specific purpose and contribute to the overall coherence and flow of your paper.
  • Write a compelling introduction : Begin your research paper with an engaging introduction that provides background information on your topic and presents the research question or problem. Clearly state the purpose of your study and its significance in the context of higher education.
  • Conduct a thorough literature review : In the literature review section, critically analyze existing research and scholarly works relevant to your topic. Summarize key findings, identify gaps in knowledge, and highlight debates or controversies in the field of higher education. Use proper citations and references to acknowledge the sources of your information.
  • Describe your methodology : Explain the research methodology employed in your study. Clearly outline the research design, data collection methods, and analysis techniques used to gather and interpret your data. Justify your choices and address any limitations or potential biases.
  • Present your findings and analysis : Present your research findings in a clear and organized manner. Use tables, graphs, or visual aids to enhance the clarity and comprehensibility of your data. Analyze your findings and provide interpretations that align with your research question and support your thesis statement.
  • Discuss implications and significance : Discuss the implications of your research findings for the field of higher education. Reflect on the broader implications, potential applications, or recommendations for future research or policy development. Highlight the significance of your study in advancing knowledge or addressing practical challenges in higher education.
  • Write a strong conclusion : End your research paper with a concise and impactful conclusion. Summarize your key findings, restate your thesis statement, and discuss the broader implications of your research. Avoid introducing new information or ideas in the conclusion.
  • Revise and proofread : Review and revise your research paper for clarity, coherence, and grammar. Ensure that your ideas are logically presented and supported by evidence. Proofread your paper for spelling and grammatical errors. Consider seeking feedback from peers, mentors, or writing centers to improve the quality of your paper.
  • Follow proper citation and formatting guidelines : Adhere to the specific citation style required by your institution or instructor (such as APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard). Ensure that in-text citations and the reference list are accurately formatted and follow the guidelines of the chosen citation style.

By following these steps, you can effectively structure and write a higher education research paper that contributes to the field and showcases your analytical skills, critical thinking, and understanding of key concepts in higher education. Remember to allow ample time for research, writing, and revision to produce a well-crafted and high-quality research paper.

Custom Research Paper Writing Services

At iResearchNet, we offer comprehensive writing services that enable students to order custom education research papers on any topic. Our team of expert degree-holding writers is committed to delivering high-quality research papers that meet the specific requirements of each student. When you choose our writing services, you can expect the following features:

  • Expert degree-holding writers : Our team consists of highly qualified writers who possess advanced degrees in education and related fields. They have the expertise and knowledge to handle complex research topics and provide insightful analysis in your research paper.
  • Custom written works : Every research paper we deliver is custom written from scratch according to your unique requirements. We understand the importance of originality and ensure that your paper is free from plagiarism. Our writers conduct in-depth research and use credible sources to support their arguments and findings.
  • In-depth research : Our writers are skilled researchers who know how to conduct thorough and comprehensive research on various education topics. They have access to reputable academic databases and libraries, allowing them to gather the most relevant and up-to-date information for your research paper.
  • Custom formatting : We offer custom formatting options to meet your specific formatting requirements. Whether you need your research paper formatted in APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian, Harvard, or any other style, our writers will ensure that your paper adheres to the prescribed guidelines.
  • Top quality : We strive for excellence in every research paper we deliver. Our writers pay attention to detail, ensuring that your paper is well-structured, coherent, and demonstrates a high level of critical thinking and analysis. We aim to exceed your expectations and deliver a research paper of exceptional quality.
  • Customized solutions : We understand that every student has unique needs and expectations for their research paper. Our writers take a customized approach, tailoring their writing to meet your specific requirements and academic goals. We ensure that your research paper aligns with your research question, objectives, and desired outcomes.
  • Flexible pricing : We offer competitive and flexible pricing options to accommodate the budgets of students. Our pricing is transparent, and there are no hidden fees. We strive to provide value for your money without compromising on the quality of the research paper.
  • Short deadlines : We understand that students may have urgent deadlines for their research papers. Our writing services offer short deadlines, allowing you to receive your completed paper within a timeframe as short as 3 hours. We prioritize timely delivery to ensure that you have sufficient time for review and submission.
  • 24/7 support : Our dedicated customer support team is available 24/7 to assist you with any queries or concerns you may have. We are here to provide guidance and support throughout the entire process, from placing your order to receiving your final research paper.
  • Absolute privacy : We prioritize the privacy and confidentiality of our clients. Your personal information and order details are kept strictly confidential, and we take stringent measures to ensure data security.
  • Easy order tracking : Our user-friendly platform allows you to easily track the progress of your order. You can stay informed about the status of your research paper and communicate with your assigned writer directly.
  • Money back guarantee : We are confident in the quality of our services and the expertise of our writers. If, for any reason, you are not satisfied with the research paper you receive, we offer a money back guarantee. Your satisfaction is our utmost priority.

By choosing iResearchNet for your custom education research paper, you are assured of receiving a well-written, thoroughly researched, and custom-crafted paper that meets your academic requirements. Place your order today and experience the convenience and quality of our writing services.

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  • Choose your writer : Our team of expert degree-holding writers is composed of specialists in the field of education. You have the option to choose the writer who best aligns with your research topic and requirements. Alternatively, our system will assign a writer to your order based on their expertise and availability.
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global education research paper topics

314 Education Research Paper Topics & Special Ideas

18 January 2024

last updated

Education research topics delve into a myriad of aspects within the learning sphere. They may explore pedagogical methods, technology integration, educational psychology, inclusive education, or policy analysis. Key topics include the effectiveness of different teaching strategies, the impacts of remote learning, the role of artificial intelligence in education, and techniques to enhance student engagement. Other areas scrutinize the disparities in educational attainment based on socioeconomic status, race, and gender. Education research focuses on developing more inclusive environments and individualized learning plans and strategies. Policy research can evaluate the impact of educational legislation, aiming to foster equitable learning opportunities. Thus, education research topics are crucial for educators, policymakers, and researchers alike to understand and improve the learning landscape.

Hot Research Paper Topics on Education

  • Digital Learning: Opportunities and Challenges
  • Educational Paradigms in Virtual Reality
  • Inclusive Strategies for Special Education
  • Technology Integration in Classrooms: Success and Setbacks
  • Artificial Intelligence Applications in Modern Education
  • Mental Health Promotion in Schools
  • Bilingualism: Advantages in Early Education
  • Value of Mindfulness Practices in the Academic Setting
  • Game-Based Learning: Effectiveness and Engagement
  • Assessing Ethical Education: Approaches and Outcomes
  • Holistic Education: A Path Towards Comprehensive Development
  • Exploring Informal Learning Environments: Homeschooling and Unschooling
  • Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence: Correlation with Classroom Atmosphere
  • Cybersecurity Education: Necessity in the Digital Age
  • Culturally Responsive Teaching: A Tool for Equity
  • Student Activism in Education Policy Reform
  • Examining Peer Tutoring: Pros and Cons
  • Climate Change Education: Initiatives and Implementation
  • Makerspaces: Harnessing Creativity in Education
  • Distance Education: Analysis of Student Persistence and Success

Simple Education Research Paper Topics

  • Experiential Learning: How Effective Is It?
  • Online vs. Traditional Education: A Comparative Study
  • Understanding Dyslexia: Strategies for Success
  • Creative Teaching Methods and Student Engagement
  • Motivational Theories in Educational Settings
  • Integration of Sports Into the Curriculum: Effects on Students
  • Social Media in Classroom: Distraction or Tool?
  • Exploring Gifted Education: Identification and Support
  • Digital Literacy: Importance in 21st Century Education
  • Flipped Classroom Model: An In-Depth Analysis
  • Multicultural Education: Achieving Cultural Sensitivity
  • Student-Centered Learning: Pros and Cons
  • Self-Directed Learning: Benefits and Challenges
  • Addressing Bullying in Schools: Effective Strategies
  • Innovation in Mathematics Education: Modern Approaches
  • Values Education: Inclusion in Curriculum
  • Parental Involvement in Homework: Effect on Academic Performance
  • Exploring STEM Education: Benefits and Drawbacks
  • Music Education: Its Significance in Cognitive Development

Education Research Paper Topics & Special Ideas

Interesting Education Research Paper Topics

  • Gamification in Education: Engagement and Learning Outcomes
  • Nature-Based Education: Benefits and Practical Applications
  • Augmented Reality: New Dimensions in Teaching and Learning
  • School Architecture: Influence on Student Performance
  • Exploring Differentiated Instruction: Effectiveness and Strategies
  • Unconventional School Hours: Comparative Study and Analysis
  • Second Language Acquisition: Pedagogical Implications
  • Plagiarism Detection Software: Advantages and Limitations
  • Mind Mapping Techniques: Enhancing Learning and Memory
  • Homeschooling Outcomes: Academic and Social Implications
  • Neuroeducation: Brain-Based Learning Strategies
  • Education in Post-Conflict Zones: Approaches and Challenges
  • Social Emotional Learning: Incorporating Into Classroom Practices
  • Outdoor Learning Activities: Effects on Student Well-Being
  • Use of EdTech Tools in Special Needs Education
  • Student Nutrition and Academic Achievement: Analyzing Correlations
  • Implementing Montessori Method in Public Schools: Feasibility and Benefits
  • Global Citizenship Education: Significance and Approaches
  • Teacher Retention: Strategies and Challenges
  • Student Debt Crisis: Causes and Potential Solutions

Education Research Topics for High School

  • Single-Gender Classrooms: Pros and Cons
  • Character Education: Importance and Implementation
  • School Uniforms: Influence on Student Behavior
  • Multimedia Tools in Learning: Advantages and Disadvantages
  • Sex Education: Approaches and Effectiveness
  • Peer Pressure: Understanding Its Influence on Academic Performance
  • Stress Management Techniques for High School Students
  • Career Guidance: Necessity in High Schools
  • The Advent of E-books: Effect on Reading Habits
  • Substance Abuse Prevention Education: Approaches and Outcomes
  • Competency-Based Learning: An Exploration in High School Education
  • Graphic Novels: Potential for Literacy Development
  • Teenage Entrepreneurship: Promoting in School Curriculum
  • Extracurricular Activities: Effects on Student Achievement
  • Cross-Cultural Exchange Programs: Benefits and Challenges
  • Comparing Traditional and Digital Note-Taking: Effect on Learning
  • Cyberbullying: Prevention Strategies in High School
  • Digital Citizenship: Promoting Responsible Online Behavior
  • Incorporating Life Skills Education in High School Curriculum
  • School Start Times: Influence on Student Performance and Well-Being

Captivating Education Research Topics for College Students

  • MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses): Effectiveness and Reach
  • Student Entrepreneurship: Incubation and Growth in College
  • Mental Health Services in Higher Education: Necessity and Availability
  • Study Abroad Programs: Academic and Cultural Benefits
  • Internships and Co-Operation Programs: Enhancing College Experience
  • Community Engagement in College: Influences on Learning Outcomes
  • Classroom Diversity in Higher Education: Approaches and Outcomes
  • College Athletic Programs: Benefits and Drawbacks
  • Faculty Development: Enhancing Teaching in Higher Education
  • Artificial Intelligence: Exploration of Use in College Education
  • Textbook Affordability: Examining Open Educational Resources
  • Sustainability Initiatives in College Campuses: Implementation and Outcomes
  • Comparative Study: Online vs. On-Campus Degrees
  • Learning Spaces in College: Effects on Student Engagement
  • Residential Colleges: Influence on Student Success
  • Technology-Enhanced Learning: Practices in College Education
  • College Access for Non-Traditional Students: Challenges and Strategies
  • Assessing Critical Thinking Skills in Higher Education
  • Academic Advising: Its Importance in College Success
  • Higher Education Funding: Examination of Sources and Allocation

Education Research Topics for University

  • University Rankings: Analysis and Implications
  • International Student Recruitment: Strategies and Challenges
  • Sustainability Practices: How Universities Lead by Example?
  • Digital Libraries: Benefits and Limitations for Research
  • Interdisciplinary Programs: Opportunities and Challenges in Universities
  • Mental Health: Services and Accessibility in Universities
  • Blockchain Technology: Potential Use in Degree Verification
  • University-Industry Collaboration: Potential for Innovation
  • Micro-credentials: Future of Higher Education?
  • Diversity and Inclusion: Policies in University Admissions
  • Social Responsibility of Universities: Engagement and Initiatives
  • Adjunct Faculty: Analyzing Their Role in University Education
  • Artificial Intelligence in University Research: An Examination
  • Open Access Journals: Effect on Scholarly Communication
  • Student Housing: Influence on Academic Success and Social Interaction
  • Teacher-Student Ratio: Impact on Learning Environment in Universities
  • Freedom of Speech on University Campuses: Balancing Rights and Responsibilities
  • Entrepreneurial Universities: Fostering Innovation and Creativity
  • Quality Assurance in Higher Education: Approaches and Effectiveness

Special Education Research Paper Topics

  • Inclusive Classrooms: Strategies for Special Education
  • Autism Spectrum Disorders: Innovative Teaching Methods
  • Assistive Technology: Enhancing Learning for Special Needs Students
  • Exploring Individualized Education Programs (IEPs)
  • Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: Management in Classroom
  • Universal Design for Learning: Accessibility for All Students
  • Speech Therapy in Schools: Benefits and Limitations
  • Physical Therapy: Its Significance in Special Education
  • Visual Impairments: Adapting Classroom for Inclusive Education
  • Special Education Teachers: Training and Retention Strategies
  • Dyscalculia: Approaches for Mathematics Instruction
  • Down Syndrome: Effective Educational Strategies
  • Sign Language in Classroom: Integration and Benefits
  • Transition Planning in Special Education: Preparing for Life After School
  • Hearing Impairments: Technological Advancements in Classroom Integration
  • ADHD: Classroom Management Techniques
  • Collaboration Between Parents and Teachers in Special Education
  • Dysgraphia: Strategies to Improve Writing Skills
  • Sensory Processing Disorder: Classroom Adaptations
  • Early Intervention: Importance in Special Education

Argumentative Research Paper Topics on Education

  • Standardized Testing: A Valid Assessment of Student Learning?
  • School Vouchers: Pros and Cons in Education Reform
  • Digital Devices: Distraction or Essential Learning Tool?
  • Physical Education: Should It Be Mandatory in Schools?
  • Sex Education: Abstinence-Only vs. Comprehensive Programs
  • Censorship in Schools: Protecting or Hindering Students?
  • Zero Tolerance Policies: Effectiveness in School Discipline
  • Homework: Necessity or Detriment to Learning?
  • Single-Sex Schools: Beneficial or Discriminatory?
  • Teacher Tenure: Protection of Rights or Hindrance to Accountability?
  • Bilingual Education: Asset or Liability in Schools?
  • Grading System: Fair Assessment or Outdated Practice?
  • Year-Round Schooling: More Learning or More Stress?
  • Tracking in Schools: Beneficial Differentiation or Educational Segregation?
  • Education Funding: Equality or Equity?
  • School Prayer: Freedom of Religion or Violation of Separation?
  • Education Privatization: Progress or Profit?
  • Class Size: Quality Over Quantity?
  • Charter Schools: Innovation or Segregation?

Persuasive Research Paper Topics on Education

  • Personal Finance: Inclusion in High School Curriculum
  • Fine Arts Education: A Necessary Component of Holistic Learning
  • School Dress Codes: Reinforcing Stereotypes or Ensuring Decency?
  • Free College Education: Economic Boon or Burden?
  • Cyberbullying: Implementing Strict Policies in Schools
  • Parental Involvement: Should It Extend to Classroom Decisions?
  • Healthy School Lunches: Mandate or Choice?
  • Racial Diversity: Active Promotion in School Admissions
  • Extended School Days: More Learning or Overwork?
  • Foreign Language Learning: Start Early or Focus on Core Subjects?
  • STEM vs. STEAM: The Importance of Adding ‘Arts’ to the Equation
  • Mobile Phones in Schools: Ban or Embrace?
  • Teacher Performance Pay: Motivation or Demoralization?
  • The Recess in Schools: Luxury or Necessity?
  • Incorporating Yoga and Mindfulness in Schools: Fad or Fundamental?
  • Religious Education: Integral or Optional in Schools?
  • Public vs. Private Schools: Where Lies the Superior Education?
  • Cursive Writing: Lost Art or Relevant Skill?
  • Standardized Uniforms: Unifying or Suppressing Individuality?
  • Parenting Classes: Should They Be Mandatory for New Parents?

Higher Education Research Paper Topics

  • Academic Freedom: Importance and Threats in Higher Education
  • Plagiarism in Universities: Prevalence and Prevention
  • Faculty Diversity: Benefits and Challenges in Higher Education
  • Study Habits: Analyzing Effectiveness for College Students
  • Online Learning: Future of Higher Education?
  • University Tuition: Increasing Costs and Effects on Students
  • International Students: Enhancing Global Perspectives in Higher Education
  • Work-Study Programs: Benefits for Students and Universities
  • Academic Advising: Its Significance in Student Retention
  • Student Activism: Influence on University Policies
  • Graduate Employability: Preparing Students for the Job Market
  • Intercollegiate Athletics: Importance in University Culture
  • College Dropout Rates: Causes and Solutions
  • Mental Health Stigma: Addressing in University Campuses
  • Academic Stress: Coping Mechanisms for University Students
  • First-Generation College Students: Challenges and Support
  • University-Community Engagement: Mutual Benefits and Limitations
  • Rise of Online Course Platforms: Effect on Traditional Universities
  • Leadership Development Programs in Universities: Effectiveness and Outcomes
  • Curriculum Internationalization: Preparing Students for a Globalized World

Early Childhood Education Research Paper Topics

  • Play-Based Learning: Importance in Early Childhood Education
  • Pre-Kindergarten Programs: Long-Term Effects on Students
  • Nutrition Education Integrated Into Early Learning Settings
  • Early Literacy Development: Effective Strategies
  • Nature-Based Play: Influence on Child Development
  • Emotional Intelligence: Cultivating from Early Childhood
  • Montessori Method: Analysis and Effectiveness in Early Years
  • Reggio Emilia Approach: Fostering Creativity and Exploration
  • Parent-Teacher Communication: Significance in Early Childhood Education
  • Dual Language Learning: Pros and Cons in Early Education
  • STEM Education in Early Years: Implementation and Benefits
  • Kindergarten Readiness: Factors and Indicators
  • Early Intervention: Importance in Identifying Learning Disabilities
  • Social Skills Development: Promoting in Early Childhood Settings
  • Head Start Program: Examination of Effects and Challenges
  • Technology in Early Childhood Classrooms: Pros and Cons
  • Childhood Obesity: Role of Early Education in Prevention
  • Bullying in Early Childhood: Identification and Intervention
  • Early Childhood Teacher Training: Essential Components

Research Paper Topics on Education Systems

  • Comparing Eastern and Western Education Systems
  • Education Systems of Scandinavia: Why Are They Successful?
  • Examination-Based vs. Holistic Assessment Systems
  • American Education System: Challenges and Opportunities
  • Finland’s Education Model: What Can We Learn?
  • Asian Education Systems: High Performance and Its Costs
  • Influence of Socio-Cultural Factors on Education Systems
  • Exploring Education Systems in Post-Soviet Countries
  • Education Systems in Developing Countries: Barriers and Solutions
  • Bilingual Education Systems: Benefits and Challenges
  • Online Education Systems: Future of Learning or Temporary Solution?
  • Education Systems in Indigenous Communities
  • Globalization and Its Effects on Education Systems
  • African Education Systems: Challenges and Prospects
  • Comparative Analysis of Public vs. Private Education Systems
  • Vocational Education Systems: Relevance and Effectiveness
  • Critique of Standardized Testing in Education Systems
  • Education System in Australia: Strengths and Weaknesses
  • Home Education Systems: Pros, Cons, and Legal Aspects
  • Analysis of Co-Education vs. Single-Sex Education Systems

Education Policy Research Topics

  • Education Policy and Equality of Opportunity
  • Influence of Education Policies on Teacher Retention
  • School Choice Policies: A Comparative Analysis
  • Education Policies for Migrant Children: Implementation and Challenges
  • Affirmative Action in Educational Institutions: Justice or Discrimination?
  • Education Policies in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Bilingual Education Policies: Advantages and Disadvantages
  • Comparative Study of Global Education Policies
  • Education Policy Development: Stakeholders and Their Roles
  • Policy Responses to School Violence and Bullying
  • Charter School Policies and Their Effectiveness
  • Federal Education Policy: Influence on State Schools
  • Education Policy and its Effect on Dropout Rates
  • Inclusive Education Policies: Ensuring Accessibility for All
  • Assessing the Success of No Child Left Behind Policy
  • Gifted and Talented Education Policies: A Critical Review
  • Education Policies for Indigenous Populations
  • Assessment Policies in Education: Are They Fair?
  • Student Privacy Policies in the Digital Age

Elementary Education Research Topics

  • Exploring Project-Based Learning in Elementary Schools
  • Phonics Instruction: Effectiveness in Early Reading Skills
  • Elementary School Recess: Benefits and Challenges
  • Classroom Management Strategies for Elementary Teachers
  • Incorporating Environmental Education in Elementary Curriculum
  • STEAM Education: Implementation in Elementary Grades
  • Learning Disabilities: Early Identification in Elementary Schools
  • Social and Emotional Learning in Elementary Education
  • Mathematics Instruction: Innovative Methods for Elementary Students
  • Elementary School Homework: Necessity or Overburden?
  • Assessing the Use of Technology in Elementary Classrooms
  • Bullying Prevention Strategies in Elementary Schools
  • Multiage Classroom: Benefits and Drawbacks in Elementary Settings
  • Active Learning: Importance in Elementary Education
  • Diversity in Children’s Literature: Representation in Elementary Schools
  • Elementary School Teacher Certification: Requirements and Process
  • Student Motivation: Strategies for Elementary Educators
  • Physical Education: Implementing Healthy Habits in Elementary Schools
  • Parent Involvement: Importance in Elementary School Education
  • Dual Language Programs: Outcomes in Elementary Education

Research Topics for Education Majors

  • Career Prospects for Education Majors: A Comprehensive Overview
  • Critical Pedagogy: Understanding its Significance in Education Majors
  • Diversity and Inclusion Training for Future Teachers
  • Analysis of Alternative Certification Programs in Education
  • Education Majors and Emotional Intelligence: An Essential Connection
  • Adapting to Technological Change: Preparedness of Education Majors
  • Bilingual Education: Proficiency Requirements for Educators
  • Education Major Students: Perception Towards Online Learning
  • Comparative Study of Early Childhood and Elementary Education Majors
  • Teaching Ethics: Incorporation in Education Major Curriculum
  • Education Majors and Internship Experiences: Gaining Practical Skills
  • STEM Education: Training Needs for Future Educators
  • Cultivating Leadership Skills in Education Majors
  • Education Majors’ Attitudes Towards Inclusive Education
  • Training for Special Education: Adequacy and Necessity
  • Pedagogical Knowledge: Assessing Proficiency Among Education Majors
  • Incorporating Mental Health Education in Teacher Training Programs
  • Classroom Management Techniques: Preparedness of Education Majors
  • Teachers’ Unions: Perception Among Education Majors

Leadership Education Research Topics

  • Exploring the Influence of Emotional Intelligence on Leadership Education
  • Examining Ethical Standards in Leadership Development Programs
  • Cross-Cultural Perspectives in Leadership Education
  • Analyzing the Application of Transformational Leadership in Schools
  • Linking Leadership Styles to Organizational Performance: An Educational Perspective
  • Diversity and Inclusion Strategies in Leadership Training Programs
  • Leadership Education for Nonprofit Organizations: Best Practices
  • Integration of Technology in Leadership Education: Benefits and Challenges
  • How Does Leadership Education Shape Organizational Culture?
  • Analyzing Leadership Training Approaches for Millennials
  • Adaptive Leadership: An Underrated Skill in Education
  • Assessing Women’s Representation in Leadership Education
  • Leadership Education in Healthcare: A Focus on Nursing
  • Leadership Development in Military Education: Key Strategies
  • Leadership Training for Entrepreneurship: An Emerging Need
  • Behavioral Approaches to Leadership Education
  • How Are AI and Machine Learning Transforming Leadership Training?
  • Challenges and Solutions in Online Leadership Education
  • Unpacking Leadership Education: A Case Study of Business Schools
  • The Sustainability Paradigm in Leadership Education: A New Approach

To Learn More, Read Relevant Articles

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35 Global Issues Research Paper Topics for Students

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35 Global Issues Topics for an A+ Grade

  • The presidency of Trump and its impact on world politics
  • Kidnapping and human trafficking: will it increase afterthe legalization of prostitution worldwide?
  • The Doomsday Clock: its meaning and importance
  • The global warming: what are its advantages and disadvantages?
  • What the first piloted flight to Marswill change?
  • Does violence at the border between USA and Mexico have global consequences?
  • Holy wars: isthere any risk of them now?
  • The raise of China: what are the possibilities for the country in the next ten years?
  • Digital piracy as global phenomenon
  • The global hunger: what can be done to eliminate it?
  • The pollution problem: who or what contributes the most?
  • Social media and their global influence
  • Global flashmobs: what can they change?
  • The phenomenon of petitions
  • The overpopulation of the Earth: are there humane ways to prevent it?
  • Shall we fight extinction of every endangered specie, or let the nature decide?
  • Deforestation and its global impact
  • The global impact of the third world countries
  • The consequences of Brexit
  • Space missions as a global uniting factor
  • The secret societies: are they a real force?
  • The Third World War: is the danger real?
  • Mother Teresa and her influence on the world
  • Gender problems worldwide
  • Shall class segregation be eliminated completely?
  • Ethnic conflicts: is there a global solution?
  • Is the universal religion possible?
  • The global poverty: what can be done?
  • Recycling: what can we do on global scale?
  • Are caste systems a global or a local problem?
  • Does the power over the globe now belongs to corporations, not to the governments?
  • Civil wars: are they internal affairs or the symptoms of global events?
  • How do closed countries like People’s Republic of Korea influence the world?
  • Humanitarian aid: how to help without harm?
  • Is the world ready for global catastrophes?

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115 Global Issues Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best global issues topic ideas & essay examples, ✍️ global issues essay topics for college, 📌 good essay topics on global issues, 💡 interesting topics to write about global issues, ❓ global issues questions.

  • Water Scarcity as a Global Issue: Causes and Solutions Common causes of water scarcity include overpopulation e in regions that have limited water resources, global warming, destruction of water catchment areas by human activities, and pollution of water sources.
  • Gender Inequality as a Global Issue This essay will examine some of the causes that affect the gap in the treatment of men and women, and its ramifications, particularly regarding developing countries. We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
  • Illiteracy as a Global Issue The cost and access to opportunities to gain an education is also a major cause of illiteracy in the developed economies, where members of the lower class are subjected to high costs of living; thus, […]
  • Reflection on Global Issues: Globalization of the Environment The global conflicts, managing the post-pandemic world, and the need to navigate the social injustices to ensure equality for all are among the most pressing ones.
  • Tuberculosis as a Global Health Issue Over the years, the bacteria strain that causes tuberculosis has developed a lot of resistance mainly as a result of a lack of compliance to treatment on the part of the patient.
  • Anthropology in Solving Global Social Issues Artists were moving in the same direction, which excluded the possibility to understand and assess other examples of the art of other nations.
  • The Great Global Warming Swindle: Different Views on the Issue According to the film, the main aim of the scientific organizations is to get funding for the research of this problem and attract additional attention to global warming, while in reality, the climate is changing […]
  • Homelessness as a Global Social Issue In the US, homelessness is on the increase because of economic melt- down and foreclosures. Moreover, differences in perception of homelessness by liberal and conservative on homeless have increased homelessness in the US.
  • Global Issues: Addressing an Aging Population An important issue that is currently facing the world community is aging due to the increasing number of older people. Migration leaves the countries in which people are moving with a significant number of older […]
  • Global Health Issue of Malaria It can be explained due to the higher density of the population in those areas and the low socioeconomic status of most people.
  • Global Health Issues Affecting International Community The HIV and tuberculosis pandemics have caused and will continue to present considerable challenges to emerging nations’ public health care systems, especially in the hardest-hit nations.
  • Global Inequality Issues in Modern Society It was evident during the times of colonization when foreign entities tried to impose their sociopolitical and economic institutions on the developing nations.
  • Global Issues, Climate Justice, and Human Overpopulation On the one hand, globalization has many positive aspects: the mutual enrichment of the world community, the exchange of best practices, and the availability of goods.
  • Sustainability as an Urgent Global Issue Therefore, this shows the importance of integrating technology with other multidisciplinary teams to achieve quick and sustainable designs that can help in solving the urgent global issue.
  • Global Issues, Common Good, and Individualism In such a case, the cohesion and commitment of each individual to shared goals and interests seem to solve the mentioned problems.
  • Global Issues: Politics, Economics, and Culture by R.Payne The next chapter 14 reveals the issue of cultural homogenization and hybridization due to globalization. From the perspective of the biblical worldview, it largely determines the principles of the world.
  • Global Ecological Issues of Covid-19 Pandemic The reduction in carbon dioxide emissions is due to the removal of cars on the streets, which account for about 23% of total CO2 emissions.
  • Environmental and Global Health Issues: Measles Measles is among the most contagious disease in the world and is highly frequent and densely distributed in poor developing nations of Africa and Asia.
  • Solving Global Issues May Not Be as Easy as It Seems The main point of the essay is to demonstrate how the inaction of those with power and money in the face of human suffering is purely immoral.
  • Global Health Issue: The Coronavirus Disease Families have suffered unparalleled grief, anxiety, and distress from the increasing fatality, massive job losses, lockdowns, and movement restrictions to curb the spread of the virus.
  • WHO and Its Impact on Global Health Issues The issues which are the center of attention of the World Health Organization are: Women’s Health Health In Africa Eradication of communicable diseases Dr Margaret Chan, the Director-General of World Health Organization said;”I want my […]
  • Examination of a Global Population Issue of Russia The country is one of the richest in the world. The country also has the largest forest cover in the world, and the largest fresh water lake.
  • Global Health Concerns Overview Title Report 1. Japan nuke risks are minimal The World Health Organization has sent alerts to global health experts to travel to Japan to prevent health hazards caused by radiation. WHO reported the health risks arising from the incident is very low and the current radiation level has no great risk on public health. In […]
  • Global Issues Action Plan in the U.S. While drawbacks are the possibility of losing power that other states can use to influence the United States and the lack of protection from emerging military organizations and countries, such as China and Iran, that […]
  • Global Health Issue Analysis: HIV – A Relatively New Disease Rapid detection and treatment are crucial to limit the spread of HIV and limit the patient’s effects. As the frequency and intensity of symptoms vary from person to person, testing is the only clear way […]
  • Race as a Global Issue in the 1920s The main intention of prohibiting immigrants from entering the country was to block the Germans whom the Americans saw as a threat to their country.
  • Global Digital Divide as a Social Issue That is, if societies around the globe are able to bridge the gap between those who have and those who do not in relation to information technology, then the development problems would be minimized at […]
  • Global Issue: WWF on Bio-Refineries NGO’s and private communities provide most of the funds, along with the government, for the development of these integrated bio-refineries. Integrated bio-refineries come with the promise of a better lifestyle and enhanced working conditions for […]
  • Global Warming Issues Review and Environmental Sustainability Whether it is the melt down of Arctic ice, the damage of the Ozone layer, extra pollution in developing countries; all sums up to one thing in common and that is global warming.
  • Modern Global Issues: Drinking Water Shortage The situation is closely linked with the lack of water, and the offered technology to cope with this problem. This is the only way to use naturally filtered and sprang water.
  • How Has Globalization Impacted on Issues of Human Rights? William Adler closely examines the disrupted lives of the three women who occupy an assembly-line job as the job and its company moves from New Jersey to rural Mississippi and to Matamoros, Mexico, across the […]
  • Global Health Issue in the “Mother Teresa” Movie The movie is devoted to her immense donation to the universal HIV/AIDS struggle in India, but along with the help to HIV infected people, she made the greatest ever contribution to the matters of peace […]
  • Malnutrition in Children as a Global Health Issue The peculiarity of this initiative is not to support children and control their feeding processes but prevent pediatric malnutrition even before a child is born.
  • Adolescent Pregnancy as a Global Issue The wider the information system is, the more effective methods of solving problems related to the health of pregnant teens are.
  • The Doha Round Effectiveness in Solving Global Issues Except for the Dispute Settlement Understanding actions, the attendees of the conference agreed that the outcome of all negotiations was to be done as a single undertaking.
  • Cultural Competence in Action: Solutions to Global Health Issues In this paper, the analysis of several case studies about cultural competence will be discussed to clarify how to achieve positive results and reduce the wasting of resources. In the second case, certain attention is […]
  • Polar Transformations as a Global Warming Issue Changes in vegetation due to global warming will be varying as the regions are covered with three main vegetation types: polar desert, boreal forest, and the tundra.
  • Project Cost Management’s Global Issues and Challenges The results suggest the lack of identity for the profession on the global scale due to the lack of consensus regarding the common descriptor, the scarcity of common standards, terminology, and bodies of knowledge, and […]
  • Project Cost Management: Global Issues and Challenges The information revealed by the author is likely to be beneficial for those individuals who are occupied in various fields but provide cost management services in the framework of the global construction industry.
  • Natural Disasters and Global Social Issues The hurricane led to a major shift in the social arrangement of the populations in the worst affected areas. This led to a significant loss of jobs in the affected areas.
  • Childhood Obesity in Developing Countries – A Global Health Issue Childhood Obesity and the Globe As mentioned earlier, according to the data of WHO, the number of obese children in the world today is more than 42 million, and the vast majority of them are […]
  • Differing Views on Global Warming Issues It is crucial to bring on board the views of those who view global warming as a myth that need not to be addressed.
  • Ethics-Related Global Workplace Issues Child labor also exposes the children to activities that are illegal. Forced labor is a form of slavery and should not be practiced anywhere in the world.
  • Examination of a Global Population Issue Economic Issues The economy of South Africa is one of the fastest developing economies in the world. Being the only African country which is a member of the G-20, this country has been seen to […]
  • Global Population Issues and Population in the UAE The natural resources will face exhaustion due to the great pressure of the population. Consequently, the governments of these countries will be forced to take measures to drive the fertility rates up to cover up […]
  • Global Issues for Global Citizens: An Introduction to Key Development Challenges
  • Are Gender Rights and Gender Discrimination Global Issues
  • Global Issues Regarding the Container Shipping
  • Analysis of the Global Issues in Business
  • Global Issues, Local Solutions: Rethinking Wealth and Health
  • Climate Change and Pollution Are Serious Global Issues
  • Compounded Global Issues: Terrorism, Nuclear Proliferation, and Climate Change
  • Global Issues: Obesity, Inactivity, and Water-Crisis
  • Environment-Related Global Issues: Global and Regional Conventions
  • How Global Issues Are Resolved With the Scopes of Many Disciplines
  • Explaining the Global Issues of Environment and Health
  • Global Crimes Cause Global Issues That Affect the National
  • The Alarming and Troublesome Global Warming Issue
  • Analyzing How Global Issues Affect Tourism
  • The Link Between Global Issues and Change in Human Resource Management
  • The Relations Between the Global Issues and Institutions
  • Global Issues Surrounding the Millennium Development Goals
  • Analyzing Human Trafficking as a Global Issue
  • Global Warming: An Issue That Is Man-Made?
  • Immigration and Migration Described as the Global Issues
  • Analyzing Global Issues That Effect Everyone
  • Environmental Issues: Chevron’s Contribution to Global Warming
  • Global Issues We Are Facing Today
  • Cigarette Smoking Relation to Global Issues of the Future
  • Six Global Issues Associated With E-Commerce
  • Global Issues: The Link Between Water Shortage and Child Mortality
  • Analysis of the Innovation and Global Issues in Social Sciences
  • The Relationships Between Internet, Computers, and Global Issues
  • Global Issues Within the First Civilizations
  • Legal and Global Issues Focused On Treating Undocumented Immigrants
  • Analysis of the Poor News Coverage and Public Opinion on Global Issues
  • Depicting Social and Global Issues and Trends in Adult Education
  • The Global Issues Depicted in “Home”, a Documentary by Yann Arthus-Bertrand
  • Teaching for Sustainable Development Through Ethical Global Issues Pedagogy
  • Terrorism and the Military: Global Issues of Today
  • The Concept, Content, and Nature of Contemporary Global Issues
  • The Gay Marriage Debate: Contemporary Global Issues
  • The Analysis of the Global Issues and Threats of Nuclear Weapons
  • Overview of the Significant Global Issues of Nowadays
  • The Part of the U.S. and India in Global Issues On Women
  • Are Gender Rights and Gender Discrimination Global Issues?
  • What Are the Global Issues in Business?
  • Are Climate Change and Pollution Serious Global Issues?
  • Are Terrorism and Nuclear Proliferation Global Issues?
  • What Is the Role of Third World Countries in Global Environmental Issues?
  • How Are Global Issues Solved With the Help of Many Disciplines?
  • What Are the Social and Global Issues and Trends in Adult Education?
  • What Institutions Can Solve Global Issues?
  • What Are the Global Issues of Immigration and Migration?
  • Do Global Issues Have Local Solutions?
  • How Global Is the Issue of Obesity?
  • What Are the Global Issues Related to Container Transportation?
  • Is Child Mortality a Global Issue?
  • What Are the Global Issues Associated With the Millennium Development Goals?
  • What Were the Global Issues of the First Civilizations?
  • What Global Issues Is Humanity Currently Facing?
  • What Are the Global Issues Related to Human Resource Management?
  • What Does Smoking Have to Do With Global Issues of the Future?
  • How Do Global Issues Affect Individual States?
  • What Is Public Opinion About Global Issues?
  • What Are the Concepts, Meaning and Nature of Modern Global Issues?
  • Gay Marriage: Is It a Modern Global Issue?
  • What Are the US and India Global Issues Affecting Women?
  • Global Issues: How to Fight Addiction to Video Games?
  • What Are the Global Health Issues?
  • Is Organized Crime a Global Issue in the World?
  • How Can National Governments Solve the Global Issue of Climate Change?
  • What Are Starbucks Global Issues?
  • Why Is Global Cooperation Important to Address the Global Issues of Postharvest Losses?
  • Is It Possible to Solve the Global Issue of PTSD?
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Generative Artificial Intelligence in education: Think piece by Stefania Giannini

generative ai in education

Artificial Intelligence tools open new horizons for education, but we urgently need to take action to ensure we integrate them into learning systems on our terms. That is the core message of UNESCO’s new paper on generative AI and the future of education . In her think piece, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, Stefania Giannini expresses her concerns that the checks and balances applied to teaching materials are not being used to the implementation of generative AI. While highlighting that AI tools create new prospects for learning, she underscores that regulations can only be built once the proper research has been conducted.

Readiness of schools to regulate the use of AI tools in education

In May, a UNESCO global survey of over 450 schools and universities found that fewer than 10% have developed institutional policies and/or formal guidance concerning the use of generative AI applications. The paper observes that in most countries, the time, steps and authorizations needed to validate a new textbook far surpass those required to move generative AI utilities into schools and classrooms. Textbooks are usually evaluated for accuracy of content, age-appropriateness, relevance of teaching and accuracy of content, cultural and social suitability which encompasses checks to protect against bias, before being used in the classroom.

Education systems must set own rules

The education sector cannot rely on the corporate creators of AI to regulate its own work. To vet and validate new and complex AI applications for formal use in school, UNESCO recommends that ministries of education build their capacities in coordination with other regulatory branches of government, in particular those regulating technologies.

Potential to undermine the status of teachers and the necessity of schools

The paper underscores that education should remain a deeply human act rooted in social interaction. It recalls that during the COVID-19 pandemic, when digital technology became the primary medium for education, students suffered both academically and socially. The paper warns us that generative AI in particular has the potential to both undermine the authority and status of teachers, and to strengthen calls for further automation of education: Teacher-less schools, and school-less education. It emphasizes that well-run schools, coupled with sufficient teacher numbers, training and salaries must be prioritized.

Education spending must focus on fundamental learning objectives

The paper argues that investment in schools and teachers, is the only way to solve the problem that today, at the dawn of the AI Era, 244 million children and youth are out of school and more than 770 million people are non-literate. Evidence shows that good schools and teachers can resolve this persistent educational challenge – yet the world continues to underfund them.

UNESCO’s response to generative AI in education

UNESCO is steering the global dialogue with policy-makers, EdTech partners, academia and civil society. The first global meeting of Ministers of Education took place in May 2023 and the Organization is developing policy guidelines on the use of generative AI in education and research, as well as frameworks of AI competencies for students and teachers for school education. These will be launched during the Digital Learning Week , which will take place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 4-7 September 2023. The UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2023 to be published on 26 July 2023 will focus on the use of technology in education.

UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

UNESCO produced the first-ever global standard on AI ethics – the ‘Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence’ in November 2021. This framework was adopted by all 193 Member States. The Recommendation stresses that governments must ensure that AI always adheres to the principles of safety, inclusion, diversity, transparency and quality.

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One of the hardest parts of writing a research paper can be just finding a good topic to write about. Fortunately we've done the hard work for you and have compiled a list of 113 interesting research paper topics. They've been organized into ten categories and cover a wide range of subjects so you can easily find the best topic for you.

In addition to the list of good research topics, we've included advice on what makes a good research paper topic and how you can use your topic to start writing a great paper.

What Makes a Good Research Paper Topic?

Not all research paper topics are created equal, and you want to make sure you choose a great topic before you start writing. Below are the three most important factors to consider to make sure you choose the best research paper topics.

#1: It's Something You're Interested In

A paper is always easier to write if you're interested in the topic, and you'll be more motivated to do in-depth research and write a paper that really covers the entire subject. Even if a certain research paper topic is getting a lot of buzz right now or other people seem interested in writing about it, don't feel tempted to make it your topic unless you genuinely have some sort of interest in it as well.

#2: There's Enough Information to Write a Paper

Even if you come up with the absolute best research paper topic and you're so excited to write about it, you won't be able to produce a good paper if there isn't enough research about the topic. This can happen for very specific or specialized topics, as well as topics that are too new to have enough research done on them at the moment. Easy research paper topics will always be topics with enough information to write a full-length paper.

Trying to write a research paper on a topic that doesn't have much research on it is incredibly hard, so before you decide on a topic, do a bit of preliminary searching and make sure you'll have all the information you need to write your paper.

#3: It Fits Your Teacher's Guidelines

Don't get so carried away looking at lists of research paper topics that you forget any requirements or restrictions your teacher may have put on research topic ideas. If you're writing a research paper on a health-related topic, deciding to write about the impact of rap on the music scene probably won't be allowed, but there may be some sort of leeway. For example, if you're really interested in current events but your teacher wants you to write a research paper on a history topic, you may be able to choose a topic that fits both categories, like exploring the relationship between the US and North Korea. No matter what, always get your research paper topic approved by your teacher first before you begin writing.

113 Good Research Paper Topics

Below are 113 good research topics to help you get you started on your paper. We've organized them into ten categories to make it easier to find the type of research paper topics you're looking for.

Arts/Culture

  • Discuss the main differences in art from the Italian Renaissance and the Northern Renaissance .
  • Analyze the impact a famous artist had on the world.
  • How is sexism portrayed in different types of media (music, film, video games, etc.)? Has the amount/type of sexism changed over the years?
  • How has the music of slaves brought over from Africa shaped modern American music?
  • How has rap music evolved in the past decade?
  • How has the portrayal of minorities in the media changed?

music-277279_640

Current Events

  • What have been the impacts of China's one child policy?
  • How have the goals of feminists changed over the decades?
  • How has the Trump presidency changed international relations?
  • Analyze the history of the relationship between the United States and North Korea.
  • What factors contributed to the current decline in the rate of unemployment?
  • What have been the impacts of states which have increased their minimum wage?
  • How do US immigration laws compare to immigration laws of other countries?
  • How have the US's immigration laws changed in the past few years/decades?
  • How has the Black Lives Matter movement affected discussions and view about racism in the US?
  • What impact has the Affordable Care Act had on healthcare in the US?
  • What factors contributed to the UK deciding to leave the EU (Brexit)?
  • What factors contributed to China becoming an economic power?
  • Discuss the history of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies  (some of which tokenize the S&P 500 Index on the blockchain) .
  • Do students in schools that eliminate grades do better in college and their careers?
  • Do students from wealthier backgrounds score higher on standardized tests?
  • Do students who receive free meals at school get higher grades compared to when they weren't receiving a free meal?
  • Do students who attend charter schools score higher on standardized tests than students in public schools?
  • Do students learn better in same-sex classrooms?
  • How does giving each student access to an iPad or laptop affect their studies?
  • What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Montessori Method ?
  • Do children who attend preschool do better in school later on?
  • What was the impact of the No Child Left Behind act?
  • How does the US education system compare to education systems in other countries?
  • What impact does mandatory physical education classes have on students' health?
  • Which methods are most effective at reducing bullying in schools?
  • Do homeschoolers who attend college do as well as students who attended traditional schools?
  • Does offering tenure increase or decrease quality of teaching?
  • How does college debt affect future life choices of students?
  • Should graduate students be able to form unions?

body_highschoolsc

  • What are different ways to lower gun-related deaths in the US?
  • How and why have divorce rates changed over time?
  • Is affirmative action still necessary in education and/or the workplace?
  • Should physician-assisted suicide be legal?
  • How has stem cell research impacted the medical field?
  • How can human trafficking be reduced in the United States/world?
  • Should people be able to donate organs in exchange for money?
  • Which types of juvenile punishment have proven most effective at preventing future crimes?
  • Has the increase in US airport security made passengers safer?
  • Analyze the immigration policies of certain countries and how they are similar and different from one another.
  • Several states have legalized recreational marijuana. What positive and negative impacts have they experienced as a result?
  • Do tariffs increase the number of domestic jobs?
  • Which prison reforms have proven most effective?
  • Should governments be able to censor certain information on the internet?
  • Which methods/programs have been most effective at reducing teen pregnancy?
  • What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Keto diet?
  • How effective are different exercise regimes for losing weight and maintaining weight loss?
  • How do the healthcare plans of various countries differ from each other?
  • What are the most effective ways to treat depression ?
  • What are the pros and cons of genetically modified foods?
  • Which methods are most effective for improving memory?
  • What can be done to lower healthcare costs in the US?
  • What factors contributed to the current opioid crisis?
  • Analyze the history and impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic .
  • Are low-carbohydrate or low-fat diets more effective for weight loss?
  • How much exercise should the average adult be getting each week?
  • Which methods are most effective to get parents to vaccinate their children?
  • What are the pros and cons of clean needle programs?
  • How does stress affect the body?
  • Discuss the history of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
  • What were the causes and effects of the Salem Witch Trials?
  • Who was responsible for the Iran-Contra situation?
  • How has New Orleans and the government's response to natural disasters changed since Hurricane Katrina?
  • What events led to the fall of the Roman Empire?
  • What were the impacts of British rule in India ?
  • Was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki necessary?
  • What were the successes and failures of the women's suffrage movement in the United States?
  • What were the causes of the Civil War?
  • How did Abraham Lincoln's assassination impact the country and reconstruction after the Civil War?
  • Which factors contributed to the colonies winning the American Revolution?
  • What caused Hitler's rise to power?
  • Discuss how a specific invention impacted history.
  • What led to Cleopatra's fall as ruler of Egypt?
  • How has Japan changed and evolved over the centuries?
  • What were the causes of the Rwandan genocide ?

main_lincoln

  • Why did Martin Luther decide to split with the Catholic Church?
  • Analyze the history and impact of a well-known cult (Jonestown, Manson family, etc.)
  • How did the sexual abuse scandal impact how people view the Catholic Church?
  • How has the Catholic church's power changed over the past decades/centuries?
  • What are the causes behind the rise in atheism/ agnosticism in the United States?
  • What were the influences in Siddhartha's life resulted in him becoming the Buddha?
  • How has media portrayal of Islam/Muslims changed since September 11th?

Science/Environment

  • How has the earth's climate changed in the past few decades?
  • How has the use and elimination of DDT affected bird populations in the US?
  • Analyze how the number and severity of natural disasters have increased in the past few decades.
  • Analyze deforestation rates in a certain area or globally over a period of time.
  • How have past oil spills changed regulations and cleanup methods?
  • How has the Flint water crisis changed water regulation safety?
  • What are the pros and cons of fracking?
  • What impact has the Paris Climate Agreement had so far?
  • What have NASA's biggest successes and failures been?
  • How can we improve access to clean water around the world?
  • Does ecotourism actually have a positive impact on the environment?
  • Should the US rely on nuclear energy more?
  • What can be done to save amphibian species currently at risk of extinction?
  • What impact has climate change had on coral reefs?
  • How are black holes created?
  • Are teens who spend more time on social media more likely to suffer anxiety and/or depression?
  • How will the loss of net neutrality affect internet users?
  • Analyze the history and progress of self-driving vehicles.
  • How has the use of drones changed surveillance and warfare methods?
  • Has social media made people more or less connected?
  • What progress has currently been made with artificial intelligence ?
  • Do smartphones increase or decrease workplace productivity?
  • What are the most effective ways to use technology in the classroom?
  • How is Google search affecting our intelligence?
  • When is the best age for a child to begin owning a smartphone?
  • Has frequent texting reduced teen literacy rates?

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How to Write a Great Research Paper

Even great research paper topics won't give you a great research paper if you don't hone your topic before and during the writing process. Follow these three tips to turn good research paper topics into great papers.

#1: Figure Out Your Thesis Early

Before you start writing a single word of your paper, you first need to know what your thesis will be. Your thesis is a statement that explains what you intend to prove/show in your paper. Every sentence in your research paper will relate back to your thesis, so you don't want to start writing without it!

As some examples, if you're writing a research paper on if students learn better in same-sex classrooms, your thesis might be "Research has shown that elementary-age students in same-sex classrooms score higher on standardized tests and report feeling more comfortable in the classroom."

If you're writing a paper on the causes of the Civil War, your thesis might be "While the dispute between the North and South over slavery is the most well-known cause of the Civil War, other key causes include differences in the economies of the North and South, states' rights, and territorial expansion."

#2: Back Every Statement Up With Research

Remember, this is a research paper you're writing, so you'll need to use lots of research to make your points. Every statement you give must be backed up with research, properly cited the way your teacher requested. You're allowed to include opinions of your own, but they must also be supported by the research you give.

#3: Do Your Research Before You Begin Writing

You don't want to start writing your research paper and then learn that there isn't enough research to back up the points you're making, or, even worse, that the research contradicts the points you're trying to make!

Get most of your research on your good research topics done before you begin writing. Then use the research you've collected to create a rough outline of what your paper will cover and the key points you're going to make. This will help keep your paper clear and organized, and it'll ensure you have enough research to produce a strong paper.

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Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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8 Global Issue Topics for Essays and Research Papers

8 Global Issue Topics for Essays and Research Papers

10 Global Issue Topics for Essays and Research

  • Water Contamination and Shortage:  2.1 billion people in countries undergoing urbanization have inaccessibility to clean drinking water as a result of pollution, poverty and poor management of resources. Water resources are depleted by agriculture and industry energy production. To put into perspective, agriculture accounts for 70 percent of the reduction of water around the world, with 75 percent of a given countries’ water used for this purpose and depleted by contamination . Fortunately, there has been a recent increase in efforts to develop technology to combat contamination and reduce the rate of water depletion.
  • The Relationship between Education and Child Labor:  Despite a surge in funding for some countries and increasing attention through social media, education continues to be a luxury around the globe. Reasons include gender preferences and poverty, and child labor — the use of children in industry. According to UNICEF, 150 million children participate in laborious activities dangerous to their health. As one can imagine, this work hinders a child’s ability to fully invest in education. Therefore it’s most challenging to bring education to sub-Saharan Africa, where the rates of children enrolled in primary education continue to stagger. In addition, fewer students successfully complete secondary education here.
  • Violence:  Violence is a global issue that exists in all shapes and sizes. Violence can be done towards a particular group like women or LGBTQ+ members, or it is an act that can be a result of a mentally disturbed mind. There is also violence in response to economic stress. All these varying forms of violence lead to attention on the safety and prevention of such acts. However, there isn’t much consideration on how an everyday person can help. In discussions about violence, the biggest questions to answer are: How is this violence used? How is it achieved/accessed? Does the media have a role? How much is the foundation for a particular act of violence is personal? What is the overall goal?
  • Poverty:  In 2015, the International Poverty Line was set to $1.90. This number means that a person is living in extreme poverty if they live below this line. According to this set line, more than 1.3 billion people are living in this extreme worldwide. This fact suggests that 1.3 billion people have difficulty obtaining food and shelter, regardless of the availability of homeless shelters and organizations . Current questions or topics to explore in an essay or research would be the cause of variation in wages on the international level, and the nature and initiatives that can be taken to solve this global issue at large.
  • Inequality:  On a global scale, the focus on inequality tends to be in terms of the distribution of wealth. According to a Global Wealth Report, 44 percent of global net worth is held by only 0.7 percent of adults. This suggests that there is a significant division between economic classes around the world. Recently, research has shown the effects that this economic divide has on communities particularly in health, social relationships, development and stability . For example, in a society where there’s a large gap between the rich and the poor, life expectancy tends to be shorter and mental illness and obesity rates are 2 to 4 times higher. In terms of social relationships, inequality on a larger level introduces more violence and crime.
  • Terrorism:  Terrorism like the bombing incidents of the last few years continue to claim the lives of innocents. It is a threat to the peace, security and stability of the world, so terrorism prevention methods have been implemented to illustrate what is wrong and should be/could be done to uphold justice . However, the basis of the threats, mindsets and the successes/failures of response efforts still need to be evaluated.
  • Child Marriages:  Child marriages are defined as the union between one or two individuals under the age of 18. One in five girls are married before the age of 18, and child marriages prevent children from becoming educated, can lead to severe health consequences and increased risk of violence. Legislation and programs were established in order to educate and employ children in these situations as child marriages do not have enough awareness on individual involvement or emphasis on the common causes for these marriages.
  • Food:  Poverty, economic inequality and water contamination mean inability to produce sufficient amounts of food to sustain a population. This can, in turn, lead to poorer health and decreased energy to carry out physical and mental functions, leading to more poverty. By 2050, the world would need to find food for approximately nine billion people as cost of production for food will rise in response to the increased amount of individuals. Thus, the United Nations established programs to ensure food security and technology companies make efforts to reduce food production costs.

The Role of Essays and Research

There has been increasing progress towards solving the global issues; however, for some, this progress is too slow due to lack of understanding of preventative methods, diffusion of responsibility and unanswered questions. These global issue topics for essays and research papers can be used as a starting point to give more insight to others into the issues and how to get involved.

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global education research paper topics

When it comes to global economic governance, less can be more if you want increased cooperation, stability, and equitable growth

HKS Professor Dani Rodrik says his new paper shows that a “light model” of international trade governance can reduce U.S.-China tensions and lead to more equitable prosperity worldwide.

In an era of great power rivalry and escalating tensions between the United States and China, how should global economic policymakers approach governance to foster greater cooperation, reduce conflict, and promote equity and shared prosperity? Tread lightly, says Harvard Kennedy School Professor Dani Rodrik . In a new paper in the Journal of Government and Economics titled " How to smooth U.S.-China economic relations for the benefit of the global economy: A light model of global economic governance ," Rodrik argues for a less-is-more approach that emphasizes transparency and restricts trade rules to those that are truly necessary. Recent history, he writes, has shown that heavy-handed, one-size-fits-all global economic governance has disadvantaged developing countries and empowered nativist, populist politicians in regions that suffered job losses due to globalization. Rodrik is the Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy and co-director of the Reimagining the Economy project at HKS 

Q: In your paper, you argue for a “light” model of global economic governance to smooth U.S.-China economic relations and benefit the global economy. What measures does a light economic governance model include and what does it exclude? 

The basic distinction is between addressing the most egregious policy barriers at the border—especially beggar-thy-neighbor policies—versus a more ambitious agenda of trying to remove all obstacles to the flow of trade and finance even if these encompass domestic regulations. My colleague Robert Lawrence has called this the difference between “shallow integration” and “deep integration.” So countries might negotiate over import tariffs or export restrictions, but industrial policies or financial regulations, for example, would remain largely outside the remit of global rules or trade agreements.

Q: What evidence is there that more intensive global governance and trade rules—a “heavy” or “deep integration” model—have been unnecessary or counter-productive? 

The deep integration model had two undesirable side effects. First, it made it harder for developing countries to engage in industrial policies or other structural policies to diversify and upgrade their economies and to shelter themselves from the destabilizing effects of short-term capital flows, because of real (or self-imposed) constraints on their policy autonomy. It was countries such as China who disregarded such constraints and made full use of industrial policies and capital controls that performed the best. Others who followed the deep integration model and relied on trade agreements and openness to foreign capital as their sole growth strategy, such as Mexico, did quite poorly. 

Second, it prevented policy makers in advanced economies from taking seriously and addressing the adverse labor market effects of growing imports from China and elsewhere. During the 1970s and 1980s, before globalization got supercharged, it was common for countries to put up informal trade barriers—typically “voluntary” export restrictions administered by exporting countries—which limited the shock. These were safety valves for the trade system, and even though economists complained about “protectionism,” such measures did the job of regime maintenance (in the words of our late colleague John Ruggie). After the 1990s, policymakers’ response to these dislocations was to shrug their shoulders and tell the losers this is how globalization worked and there was nothing to be done. This was one of the key failings of mainstream politicians, which in turn empowered the populists. We have plenty of evidence now that regions that lost jobs to imports from China or Mexico became the breeding grounds for the nativist populists.

Dani Rodrik headshot.

“The future of the global economic order depends first and foremost on how the bilateral relationship between the U.S. and China will evolve.”

Dani rodrik.

Q: One of the main building blocks of the light governance model is what you call a “transparency-enhancing process for policymaking.” What is that process and why is increased transparency important? 

In an interdependent global economy, it is inevitable that many policies that target national economic well-being as well as domestic social and environmental priorities will have some undesirable side effects on other nations. This is the case, for example, when nations engage in policies to fix important market failures or address national security concerns. Often such policies are needed and legitimate, and trade partners have to be permissive and understanding. Such policies have to be distinguished from those that are explicitly beggar-thy-neighbor—that is, policies that generate benefits at home because of the harms they produce for other nations.  

If we are going to live in a world where national policymakers have greater autonomy to address domestic priorities, as I think we have to, it will be important for them to communicate their motivations both to their domestic audiences and to other governments. This is to build trust and mutual understanding. For example, when the United States imposes export controls on “sensitive technologies” or imposes restrictions on Chinese investments on U.S. soil on the basis of national security, we need much better explanation on (a) what the national security objective really is, and (b) how the export or investment in question undermines the objective. Otherwise, national security can turn into a blanket justification for all kinds of policies that either do not really address national security or (as in the case of the U.S.) take too expansive view of it.

Q: How would a light governance model smooth U.S.-China relations? And how would it work in the context of the current slowdown in what had been China’s robust growth over the last three decades? 

It would be a good first step if each side were to give up on hypocrisy and recognize the similarity of their approaches. The United States continues to criticize China for allegedly pursuing mercantilist and protectionist policies and violating the norms of a “liberal” international order. For their part, Chinese policymakers accuse the United States of turning its back on globalization and waging economic warfare on China. Neither side seems to be aware of the irony that the United States has taken a page from the Chinese playbook, while U.S. departures from the “liberal order” are readily recognizable to Chinese policy makers from their own practices.   

Q: How would a light economic governance model achieve an overall global economic benefit? 

The future of the global economic order depends first and foremost on how the bilateral relationship between the United States and China will evolve. So anything that smooths this critical relationship would be very good news for the world economy. Second, as these two powers build a certain degree of trust and understanding, this would also contribute to an environment where they play a positive role in providing critical global public goods (such as decarbonizing the world economy and global public health).    

Photograph by STR/AFP/Getty Images

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Long-term bird monitoring, ecological research and conservation projects that integrate community involvement, citizen science, capacity-building, outreach, environmental education and local job creation provide some of the best examples of biodiversity monitoring and conservation programs. The goal of this research topic is to provide a global overview and exemplary case studies of long-term (10+ years) bird monitoring, ecological research and conservation projects focused on the effects of global change on tropical bird communities. Long-term and locally based biodiversity monitoring programs are essential for understanding and mitigating the effects of global change on tropical biodiversity while providing capacity-building, environmental education and public outreach. However, these programs are lacking in most tropical countries that harbor most of the world’s biodiversity. Birds are the best-known major group of organisms, comprise excellent environmental indicators, are relatively easy to monitor, and, as charismatic flagship species, are met with enthusiasm and interest by people worldwide. Bird monitoring programs using mist nets and bird banding (ringing) are especially valuable, as these safe and well-established techniques enable the use of capture-mark-recapture (CMR) models to measure population change and other demographic parameters, while making it possible to obtain blood and feather samples for genetic and isotopic analyses, examine the birds for parasites and pathogens, and study home range size, habitat use and movement ecology of the birds by tracking them with geolocators, radio or satellite transmitters. Equally important for conservation, the ability to capture and release birds makes it possible to conduct hands-on ornithological training, environmental education, awareness raising and community outreach activities with students, conservationists, villagers, decision-makers, journalists, and other local people. Bird banding, tracking and nest monitoring programs provide local jobs for research assistants, who often go on to productive careers in conservation, education, research, or ecotourism. The costs involved are relatively modest and most of the money is spent locally on salaries, room, board, and services. Long-term bird banding and ornithological research stations often provide the nuclei, infrastructure, and staff for monitoring, education, and conservation programs focused on other taxa. Bird monitoring and ecological research programs that integrate conservation, ecological research, environmental education, capacity-building, and income generation are cost-effective tools to achieve the goals of community-based biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction in the developing world. Such locally based and long-term bird monitoring programs should be encouraged, established, and supported throughout the tropics. For this special issue, we will especially solicit long-term (10+ years) research papers that: • Take place in understudied regions and work with underserved communities, • Focus on the impacts of climate change, infectious diseases and other emerging threats, • Investigate particularly susceptible avian taxa and the reasons for their declines, • Address the ecological implications of these declines, including reductions in scavenging, seed dispersal, pollination, predation, nutrient deposition and ecosystem engineering, • Study bird populations with banding, nest monitoring or geolocator/radio/satellite-tracking, and • Provide examples of best practice in integrating avian conservation and ecology research with community-based conservation, citizen science, capacity-building, and environmental education.

Keywords : Biodiversity Monitoring, Birds, Capacity-building, Climate Change, CMR, Community Science, Conservation Biology, Environmental Education, LTER, Ornithology, Tropical Biology

Important Note : All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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75 Pop Culture Topics for Essays and Research Papers

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Are you searching for excellent pop culture topics for your academic work? If yes, then this blog will be helpful to you. Especially, for the convenience of students like you, here, we have presented an amazing list of 75 unique pop culture essay topics and research ideas. With subjects ranging from fashion and music to movies and social media, the topics we have recommended here will guarantee you to engage your readers. In addition to the list of pop culture ideas for discussion, we have also explained how to write an effective pop culture paper.

Continue reading this blog and get exclusive topic ideas on pop culture for academic writing.

What is Pop Culture?

Popular Culture or ‘Pop Culture’ refers to the material culture and tradition followed by a particular society. It is mainly transmitted to the younger generation via mass media. Mostly, pop culture focuses on cultural products like film, art, music, dance, literature, cyberculture, radio, and television that are consumed by a lot of society’s population. Essentially, popular culture is a set of values, beliefs, actions, objects, and practices that are popular during a specific time and space in society.

An Overview of Pop Culture Writing

If you are a student, then in your school or college, you may get a chance to deal with pop culture writing. In general, pop culture writing refers to the practice of studying, criticizing, and discussing many aspects of popular culture in written form. It covers a wide spectrum of current popular trends, such as movies, music, television shows, fashion, celebrities, internet phenomena, and more.

Steps for Writing a Pop Culture Paper

Are you unsure how to write an essay or a research paper on pop culture topics? If yes, then follow these pop culture paper writing steps.

  • Choose a relevant and intriguing pop culture topic that is interesting to you. It could be a certain film, television show, music genre, celebrity, or social media trend.
  • Develop a precise and short thesis statement that summarizes your major argument or point for your article. Your thesis should be targeted and present a specific viewpoint on the chosen topic.
  • Organize your ideas and create a neat outline for your essay.
  • Next, begin writing your academic paper with an engaging introduction that provides background information on your topic and states your thesis statement.
  • After the introduction, compose the body section. In the body paragraphs, present your analysis and back it up with evidence from your research. Furthermore, consider alternative perspectives and interpretations of your pop culture topic. Address the counterarguments as well. Make sure the ideas in your essay flow naturally from one paragraph to another. Add easy transitions between concepts and open each body paragraph with a clear topic sentence.
  • At the end of the paper, include a conclusion paragraph. The conclusion should summarize your important points and restate your thesis.
  • According to the given essay writing guidelines, format the citations, references, and overall structure of the paper.
  • Lastly, after you complete writing your academic paper, check your paper for grammar, spelling, and punctuation issues. Also, validate the clarity, coherence, and consistency of your ideas. If everything looks perfect, then you may go ahead and submit the paper.

List of Top Pop Culture Topics for Academic Writing

Pop Culture Topics

For writing an academic paper, a good topic is essential. If you have no idea what topic to choose for your pop culture paper, then without any hesitation, explore the list presented below. In the list, we have shared exciting popular culture topics for essays and research papers.

Also Read: 200+ Excellent Research Paper Topics of 2023

Simple Pop Culture Topics for Essays

  • Explain how technology affects pop culture.
  • Examine the impact of popular culture on consumer behavior.
  • Describe the role of fandom in pop culture.
  • Discuss the impact of K-pop culture on fashion.
  • Examine the correlation between mass media and pop culture in the U.S.
  • Discuss how globalization affects pop culture.
  • Compare folk culture and pop culture.
  • Is TikTok a part of modern pop culture?
  • Focus on the radio stations that contribute to pop culture in the past.
  • Discuss the types of pop culture topics that mass media ignore to broadcast.

Interesting Pop Culture Essay Ideas

  • Investigate how fandom culture varies around the world.
  • Discover the roots of the US pop culture.
  • Explain how politics influence pop culture.
  • Prepare an essay on a specific period of American pop culture.
  • Write about American fast food as a part of pop culture.
  • Explain how pop culture categorized social groups.
  • Examine how popular culture affects public health.
  • Analyze a pop culture artifact that you are interested in.
  • Examine the contribution of YouTube to the pop culture.
  • Explain how the 2020 pandemic influenced pop culture.
  • Talk about the lessons that pop culture teaches about gender.
  • Explain how pop culture portrays religion.
  • Explore the different popular culture issues.
  • Explain how memes influence public opinion.
  • Examine the impact of TV shows on self-realization among teenagers.

Also Read: 130 Excellent Agriculture Research Topics

Engaging Pop Culture Topics for Research

  • Analyze how pop culture unites American citizens.
  • Examine how cultural appropriation affects media.
  • Explain the impact of pop culture on gender imbalance.
  • Write about influential online news resources.
  • Examine the effect of pop culture on the morality of teenagers.
  • Investigate the influence of pop culture in eradicating terrorism.
  • Focus on the contribution of pop culture in promoting women’s rights.
  • Examine the ethical issues related to pop culture.
  • Prepare a research paper on the representation of pop culture superheroes in society.
  • Discuss the impact of pop culture on technology adoption.
  • Examine the challenges related to the trends in pop culture.
  • Discuss the effects of pop culture in promoting the fashion industry.
  • Analyze how pop culture changes with social events.
  • Examine the differences between men and women in pop culture.
  • Explain how music shapes a generation.

Captivating Pop Culture Essay Questions

  • Discuss the significance of pop culture in eradicating stereotypes.
  • Analyze the impact of pop culture on community practices.
  • Write about the importance of radio in modern popular culture.
  • Explain how pop culture trends affect intercultural relations around the US.
  • Examine the influence of nostalgia in pop culture.
  • Discuss the impact of travel on pop culture.
  • Explore the cultural appropriation debate in the fashion and music industries.
  • Analyze the rise of hip-hop music in popular culture.
  • Discuss the cultural significance of reality TV shows in modern society.
  • Explore the rise of streaming platforms and the decline of cable TV.
  • Examine the role of social media challenges in teenage peer pressure.
  • Discuss the impact of video game violence on aggressive behavior.
  • Explore the influence of social media on beauty standards.
  • Analyze how mental health is portrayed in popular media.
  • Examine the impact of streaming platforms on the music industry.

Trending Pop Culture Research Paper Topics

  • Examine how the American pop culture reflects its historical values.
  • Discuss the influence of skateboarding on pop culture.
  • Discuss the visions of cyberpunk culture.
  • Analyze modern interpretations of fairy tales in popular culture.
  • Examine the significance of contemporary tattoo culture.
  • Analyze the representation of subcultures in modern films.
  • Explore the influence of the British on American pop culture.
  • Analyze and write about cancel culture.
  • Discuss the cultural impact of mobile gaming trends.
  • Focus on the Anime’s influence on global pop culture.

Latest Pop Culture Topics for Academic Papers

  • Examine the influence of pop culture on modern advertising strategies.
  • Explain the influence of digital media on fashion trends in pop culture.
  • Analyze the influence of pop culture on language evolution.
  • Write about the sneaker culture within the music industry.
  • Examine the role of pop culture iconography in classrooms.
  • Analyze the influence of science fiction on popular culture.
  • Discuss the influence of Greek Mythology in contemporary pop culture.
  • Examine the correlation between sports and popular culture.
  • Analyze the portrayal of LGBTQ+ representation in films and TV shows.
  • Examine the influence of pop culture on modern education systems.

Wrapping Up

From the list suggested above, choose any topic of your choice and compose a brilliant pop culture paper. In case, you require any other pop culture ideas for your academic work or if you need help with writing your essay or research paper on popular culture topics, call us right away.

On our platform, we have plenty of talented academic writers from diverse fields to offer help with paper topic selection, writing, and editing. Particularly, by using their expertise, they will assist you in completing your pop culture assignments on time in the way you want. Moreover, getting our assignment help online will aid you in submitting plagiarism-free pop culture papers on time and scoring top grades.

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Doctors can do more to help prevent gun violence, USF paper says

  • Sam Ogozalek Times staff

Doctors can do more to help prevent gun violence and offer counseling on firearms safety, according to a review by University of South Florida researchers, including a medical student who survived the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

The review, published in February in the journal Advances in Pediatrics, noted that many doctors believe they should talk to patients about firearms, but often don’t because of time constraints, a lack of training and discomfort with the topic.

In Florida, a law passed in 2011 limited what questions doctors could ask patients about guns. But a federal appeals court found the restrictions to be unconstitutional and struck them down six years later.

The law “had a very chilling effect I think for a lot of providers,” said Cameron Nereim, one of the review’s authors and an assistant professor of pediatrics at USF who focuses on patients ages 12 to 25 in Tampa.

The review noted that the American Medical Association calls gun violence a public health crisis and firearm-related injuries were the leading cause of death for U.S. children in 2020, surpassing motor vehicle crashes.

Doctors can ask patients about whether guns are kept at home and if they are locked, unloaded and separated from ammunition, according to the review.

USF medical student Nikhita Nookala, who survived the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and covered it as a reporter at The Eagle Eye, the school’s student newspaper, contributed to the review.

The Tampa Bay Times spoke with Nereim and Nookala about their work, which was published with two other authors from North Carolina and Texas medical centers.

The interviews have been edited for clarity and length.

What are the major takeaways you hope physicians get from this paper?

Nookala: It’s important to assess patients’ risks and to see if you can do some harm reduction in terms of encouraging safe storage or just telling kids to be careful around guns.

It doesn’t have to be super political. It’s just about children’s safety at the end of the day.

The paper noted some of the major barriers to physicians counseling on firearms safety are the lack of formal training, lack of confidence that patients will follow their recommendations and low perceived self-efficacy. Are there any ways to address that?

Nereim: I think there are. ... One of the things is how do we do a better job of incorporating this into our training, whether that’s while you’re going through your residency program, while you’re going through your medical school, making sure these things are actually being plugged into our curricula.

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Is there a particular stage of education where you think this would be best emphasized?

Nereim: I think medical school, before students have even differentiated in terms of what specialty or subspecialty they’ll be choosing, that’s a great opportunity to make sure we’re relaying this information.

In school so far, have people talked about gun violence as a public health issue?

Nookala: Everyone acknowledges that it’s become a problem and it’s getting worse. I think a lot of people feel very helpless because it’s something that is hard to bring up.

You’re not accusing someone of “You don’t store your gun safely, you’re putting your child in danger.” ... You want to (tread) the line of “Oh, you have guns in the home, that’s fine, are you storing them safely, are (you) using gun locks?”

It’s just small things that you can remind people, nicely, without discouraging them from coming back.

During routine visits, do you ask patients or patients’ parents whether there are guns in the home, if they are locked, securely unloaded (and) separated from ammunition?

Nereim: Yes, we do.

With the ongoing mental health crisis that’s involving young people ... I think it becomes even more critical that we do our due diligence and we ask those questions about things like firearm ownership ... how ammunition is being stored, what level of training the family members or the kids themselves have in terms of actually using these objects.

How do those conversations normally go for you? Are they difficult?

Nereim: When you’re able to successfully create that nonjudgemental space ... the vast majority of patients and families are really receptive to the questions we’re asking.

Do you ask patients more often than not? Or do you ask their parents?

Nereim: I tend to do both.

Do you ask firearm-related questions in every visit with a patient, or do you only ask them with someone who would be considered high risk?

Nereim: I wouldn’t say we ask it at every visit. I think we’re getting better at making this more a universal thing that we’re screening for, in the same way that 15, 20 years ago we would make sure at every visit we’re asking “Are you wearing your safety helmet if you’re riding your bike? Are you buckling your seat belt if you’re riding in a car?” We’re moving in that direction.

It happens a lot more consistently in these higher-risk situations, so if you have a patient who’s experiencing mood symptoms, depression or maybe even anger, irritability, impulsive behaviors.

(The paper suggested) that physicians can link those at risk of gun violence to other programs that offer support in the community. Do you do that regularly? How common is that?

Nereim: It’s extremely common. ... In the space where I work, probably anywhere from 50 to 70% of patients may have some significant social need. ... A lot of young people confide in me that they’re fearful just to be outside and to be walking in the place where they live because there have been times where they’ve heard gunshots. Or they know there was a shooting that occurred in that same square, that same block.

As you can imagine, when you have these kinds of social needs that manifest over time, there can be pretty major health consequences.

Why is this research important to you?

Nookala: In the aftermath of the (Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School) shooting, the focus was on Parkland, and Parkland became this beacon of gun violence prevention. But the reality is that outside of that one incident, which was horrible, gun violence doesn’t really occur in cities like Parkland every day. It occurs in cities like Tampa every day in marginalized communities. … The focus needs to be shifted back to that.

Training to be a doctor, I wanted to know more about ways you could make changes on an interpersonal level with your patients without being involved in these really political movements that oftentimes (are) just kind of doing nothing or (do) a little something and it gets reversed a few years later. It’s frustrating to watch that.

Nereim: Violence leads to more violence. The only really, truly effective way for us to move forward as a society is we just have to realize that prevention is incredibly important. … I just don’t think we can ignore the role this is playing in the lives of our patients and their families.

Sam Ogozalek is a reporter covering the healthcare system and mental health. He can be reached at [email protected].

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