This study explored the role of educational leaders in integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into rural K-12 STEM education. The research focused on the perceptions, strategies, and barriers that educational leaders face in navigating AI integration, particularly in the unique context of rural schools. Drawing on survey and focus group data from rural school leaders, this study examined how rural educational administrators perceive AI's potential and the challenges associated with its adoption. It provided insights into leadership strategies for addressing infrastructural limitations, fostering professional development, and ensuring equitable AI adoption. Ultimately, this research aimed to empower rural educational leaders to harness AI technologies to enhance STEM education.

This study explores undergraduate chemistry students' epistemic frames for stoichiometry assessment items.We interviewed 40 introductory chemistry students to understand their experiences of a selection of items which were presented as pairs containing one traditional format item, typical of what is used in their undergraduate course, and a revised form, modified following principles of the Equitable Framework for Classroom Assessment (Siegel, 2007).Our analysis suggests that how the item is presented (i.e., as an exam or homework item) is very important to students' epistemic frame and goals.We found that students perceive efficiency (of time) as one key affordance of conceptual problems.Finally, students are cognizant of differences in problems that elicit understanding of concepts rather than mere mathematical manipulation and place substantial value on the former.Our study is a step towards forms of items that support learning aims and assessment aims as joint goals.

Abstract Introduction It has been established that sleep after learning something (“post-learning sleep”) actively consolidates what was learned. Yet, the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms are undergoing active investigation. The fear conditioning (FC) memory paradigm, in which an animal learns to associate an environmental cue to an aversive foot shock, has been widely used for memory investigation. While amygdala and hippocampus are two critical sites for processing and storing the FC memory, how the amygdala consolidate this memory during sleep, from both cellular and molecular perspectives, has been little understood, compared to the hippocampus. Moreover, one potential molecular substrate of memory, DNA methylation, has been studied in the hippocampus for its role in learning and memory. Yet it is little known for its memory role in the BLA. Methods Here, we used fiber photometry, miniscope calcium imaging, EEG recording, optogenetic manipulation, and whole genome bisulfite sequencing to study the neural mechanisms underlying memory consolidation in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) during sleep. Results (1) We found that the BLA neurons display increased activity during REM sleep, compared to that in non-REM (NREM) sleep. (2) Using closed-loop optogenetic strategy, our preliminary results showed that silencing BLA activity during REM sleep leads to memory impairment in contextual fear conditioning task. (3) We compared DNA methylation of BLA neurons at a whole genome level between mice with and without sleep after FC learning and identified differentially methylated regions between them. Conclusion Together, our data suggests that the BLA activity during REM sleep is required for consolidation of fear memory, and DNA methylation might mediate this process. Support (if any)