COVID-19 has officially been downgraded from the status of a global health emergency, but have COVID-19 safety practices become a new way of life for students? The authors collected survey data on COVID-19-related knowledge and behaviors of high-school students in Punjab, Pakistan and Santa Clara County, California, USA, so see where high-schoolers stand on pandemic safety today.

In this study, the authors explored whether students' test scores were significantly higher on online exams during the COVID-19 school lockdown when compared to those of the in-person exams before the lockdown.

With the COVID-19 pandemic necessitating the transition to remote learning, disruption to daily school routine has impacted educational experiences on a global scale. As a result, it has potentially worsened reading achievement gaps typically exacerbated by long summer months. To address literacy skill retention and pandemic-induced social isolation, the non-profit organization ByKids4Kids has created a reading program, “Kindles4Covid Virtual Reading Buddies Program,” to instill a structure for youth to read together and connect with the convenience of Amazon Kindle devices. In this article, the authors determine the efficacy of their invaluable program by assessing changes in reading frequency and self-reported connectedness among program participants.

Here, seeking to understand the effects of social media in relation to social media fatigue and/or overload in recent years, the authors used various linear models to assess the results of a survey of 27 respondents. Their results showed that increased duration of use of social media did not necessarily lead to fatigue, suggesting that quality may be more important than quantity. They also considered the purpose of an individual's social media usage as well as their engagement behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pandemics involve the high transmission of a disease that impacts global and local health and economic patterns. Epidemiological models help propose pandemic control strategies based on non-pharmaceutical interventions such as social distancing, curfews, and lockdowns, reducing the economic impact of these restrictions. In this research, we utilized an epidemiological Susceptible, Exposed, Infected, Recovered, Deceased (SEIRD) model – a compartmental model for virtually simulating a pandemic day by day.

Here, recognizing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on young peoples' mental health and wellbeing the authors used an online survey which included the short General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) to probe 102 young adults. Overall they found that young adults perceived the pandemic to be detrimental to many areas of their wellbeing, with females and those aged 18-19 and 22-23 reporting to be the most significantly impacted.

In this research, a novel bioplastic inclusive of bamboo tannins and chitosan is selected from more than 60 trial formula variations based on resulting strength, fatigue, and transparency attributes. The biodegradability of the finalized bioplastic is compared to that of conventional polyethylene, in addition to investigating its solubility and water absorbance. This research displays the potential of a legitimate, fully biodegradable plastic alternative to current marketplace bioplastics.

Fear of mathematics is a widespread phenomenon. Pandey and Pandey investigate what this fear has to do with the place of mathematics in a school curriculum, by developing a method for comparing mathematical problem complexity to the complexity of English literature coursework.

In this study, the authors investigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on South Korean international school students' anxiety, well being and their learning habits.

Recognizing a potential link between mental focus and physical endurance, here, the authors considered the effects of mental visualization on strength endurance. By comparing the number of repetitions completed in sets where the lifter was aware of the weight to be lifted against sets where the lifter was kept unaware, they found that the lifter was able to maintain strength endurance when unable to accurately visualize the weight they lifted in this exploratory study.