Data gaps in Education

Representative open questions

Showing 30 of 625 — one per source paper, highest-quality first.

• Sex Differences in Mathematics: A Meta-analytic Review Across Content, Grades, and Geographic Regions (2026) · doi

  The sample size of studies from Central Europe and Eastern Europe were limited to only 8 and 11 studies, respectively; larger samples would provide more reliable estimates.

• Power-Optimized AI-Enhanced Telepresence Robots: A Validated Multi-Modal Framework for Sustainable Remote Learning in Higher Education (2026) · doi

  The 315-participant sample provided cross-sectional engagement and usability data but lacks longitudinal assessment; sustained participation rates, learning outcome retention, and adaptive AI effectiveness over extended deployment periods (semester-long or academic-year-long studies) are unmeasured.

• A systematic review of generative artificial intelligence in education: Pedagogical impacts, ethical risks, and future directions (2026) · doi

  The paper describes predictive analytics applications for identifying at-risk students and preventing dropouts in large universities and online learning environments, but does not specify which student data features (attendance patterns, assignment submission timing, assessment score trajectories) are most predictive or how prediction accuracy varies across different institutional contexts and student demographics.

• Ethical challenges of artificial intelligence in education: A systematic literature review on bias, privacy, and academic integrity (2026) · doi

  Conversational AI chatbots used for student advising and mental health support can propagate prejudices and encourage overreliance on machine recommendations, but the paper does not identify what specific bias detection benchmarks or evaluation datasets should be created to test chatbots across different demographic groups and cultural contexts before educational deployment.

• Error Patterns and Predictors in Solving Algebraic Word Problems: Evidence from Secondary School Students (2026) · doi

  The research documents that rapid curriculum coverage and time pressure limit implementation of concrete materials and real-life applications in teaching linear equations, but provides no empirical data on the minimum instructional time allocation needed to sustain use of these strategies or their cost-benefit tradeoff against standardized test performance.

• ChatGPT in computer programming education: A review of current literature and applications (2026) · doi

  Research into ChatGPT adoption in programming education is concentrated in developed regions, with under-representation from Africa, the Middle East, and South America. Comparative studies examining regional differences in access, perception, and pedagogical integration are needed to reveal cross-cultural adoption patterns and inform localised AI system customisation.

• Coding Science: The Role of Block-Based Programming Activities in Enhancing Computational Thinking and Science Achievement (2026) · doi

  Targeted subgroup analyses are needed to examine how gender, prior science achievement, and previous technology exposure mediate the impact of block-based programming integration on computational thinking and science achievement, as aggregate group-level reporting may mask individual differences.

• When teachers learn by observation: Vicarious reinforcement and student response systems in teacher education (2026) · doi

  The paper identifies that English language barriers exist when students use written communication through SRS platforms (given Arabic is their first language), but does not investigate how language mode effects (verbal vs. written responses in student response systems) impact content understanding and vicarious learning outcomes in multilingual teacher education contexts.

• A(n) (re)awakening: preservice teachers connecting their culture to science teaching along the US–México border (2026) · doi

  Longitudinal studies are needed that follow preservice teachers from their teacher preparation programs through their induction years to investigate how they maintain culturally relevant science instruction practices when navigating institutional constraints and administrative pressure to comply with traditional curricula in K-12 settings.

• Digital Platforms and Relational Practice: A Netnographic Study of Educator-Family Communication (2026) · doi

  The study analyzed only 292 educator posts with a 7.2% family response rate (21 responses) across an unspecified number of families in a single netnographic setting. Research is needed to examine whether the identified linear communication patterns and low reciprocity rates (educators responding to 1.4 of every 10 family comments) persist across multiple ECEC digital platforms, different educator cohorts, and diverse family demographics to determine if these patterns are contextually bound or generalizable.

• When faces trigger feelings: multi-stakeholder experiences, use, and expectations of facial-emotion learning technologies and materials for autistic people (2026) · doi

  The paper documents that some autistic children refuse to engage with emotions labeled as negative (anger, sadness) in facial-emotion apps because the emotional displays provoke anxiety or distress. Research is needed to determine which specific emotions and facial expressions trigger rejection versus acceptance in autistic populations, and how to design curricula that safely introduce challenging emotions.

• Segmental and suprasegmental pronunciation training via AI: An exploration of university students’ perceptions and attitudes (2026) · doi

  The paper examines university students' perceptions of AI-based pronunciation training tools, but does not compare effectiveness across different proficiency levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced) or investigate whether segmental and suprasegmental training outcomes differ by initial English proficiency of learners.

• On the development and potential influential aspects of prospective science teachers’ competencies for the use of explainer videos for learning in physics education (2026) · doi

  Content knowledge (CK) related to electrical circuits was not collected in this mixed-methods study despite empirically proven positive relationships between CK and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK); a follow-up study should include CK measures to explain variance in prospective teachers' professional vision of learning support features.

• Producing concept-motivated signs supports learning of STEM in American Sign Language (2026) · doi

  The external video validation study (Study 1) recruited only 30 participants after screening, with a demographic composition skewed toward hearing (67.7%) and White (73.3%) respondents. The generalizability of findings about whether naïve reviewers accurately describe differences between concept-motivated (CM) and engagement-motivated (EM) ASL signing styles needs validation with larger, more demographically representative samples of STEM teachers, ASL-English interpreters, ASL linguists, and ASL teachers across different geographic regions.

• Adequacy and Utilization of Physical Resources: Implications for Effective Teaching and Learning (2026) · doi

  While the paper establishes a positive relationship between physical resources and learning outcomes, it lacks quantitative comparative analysis of resource utilization patterns across rural and urban schools. The study needs to measure specific utilization rates (e.g., classroom occupancy, facility usage schedules, equipment deployment frequency) to explain why utilization differs significantly between settings despite both being inadequate.

• Digital Disruption of Academic Integrity (2026) · doi

  The gap between plagiarism awareness and plagiarism practice among postgraduate students remains unexplained; research is needed to investigate whether this knowledge-ethics behavior reconciliation gap varies by discipline, institutional plagiarism policy stringency, or student demographic characteristics in digital scholarship environments.

• The Role of Artificial Intelligence in the Career Expectations of Ukrainian Students: Implications for Higher Education (2026) · doi

  The study employed only voluntary questionnaire responses from Ukrainian higher education institutions without probability-informed recruitment or broader institutional coverage across universities, colleges, and technical schools. Future studies must expand the sample across different types of educational institutions and academic disciplines (technical, humanities, social sciences, medicine) to enable cross-disciplinary comparisons of how academic background influences attitudes toward AI and career expectations.

• The Effects of Handwriting and Typing on Chinese Character Learning in the Digital Age: Evidence from Arab Adolescent Learners (2026) · doi

  The paper recommends integrating gamified typing activities and game-based learning apps for character instruction but provides no empirical data on the specific game design parameters (difficulty progression, feedback mechanisms, reward schedules) that maximize long-term retention versus perceptual memory in adolescent learners.

• No one-size-fits-all: a study of prompt techniques and large language models to enhance AI’s mathematics educational quality (2026) · doi

  The study uses only six problem-solving tasks focused on number and algebra domains. The transferability of findings regarding prompt techniques and model architecture effectiveness to geometry, data, and mathematical modelling domains remains unexplored and requires empirical validation.

• Pre-service Teachers' Self-Directed Learning in a Blended Learning Environment: A Study on Scale Development and Affecting Factors (2026) · doi

  While the TPACK model is recommended for technology integration across all subjects in blended learning, the paper provides no data on how effectively TPACK-guided frameworks actually enhance pre-service teachers' SDL in non-informatics disciplines; empirical comparison studies are needed between TPACK-integrated and traditional technology instruction.

• Development of User Story and Design Thinking Integration Teaching Model for Software Engineering Education (2026) · doi

  The paper identifies that session time constraints negatively impacted PEOU but does not specify which subsections or DT framework phases (from the d.school framework) were most time-inefficient or which could be reduced without compromising learning outcomes. Future research should conduct detailed time-motion analysis of each US-DT teaching model component to identify specific optimization targets for session restructuring.

• Does “Maniplo-Spatial Arty” Really Work? A Study of the Effectiveness of “Maniplo-Spatial Arty” as a Teaching and Learning in Science Pedagogy (2026) · doi

  The study's evidence for Level 2 effectiveness relies on two weak sources: short-term knowledge reported within lessons or immediate post-lesson interviews, and retrospective learner annotations on previous maniplo-spatial tasks conducted in some cases a year prior. Systematic measurement of retention intervals (e.g., 1 week, 4 weeks, 8 weeks post-lesson) using consistent assessment instruments across multiple maniplo-spatial tasks is absent.

• Quality Evaluation of Indonesian Student-generated User Stories: Insight from Human and ChatGPT Evaluation (2026) · doi

  The study evaluated user stories exclusively in the Indonesian language context with a small number of human evaluators; future research must expand to multilingual and cross-cultural datasets with more diverse evaluator groups to establish whether the identified quality issues (Uniform, Conceptually Sound, Atomic, Ambiguity) generalize across different linguistic and educational contexts.

• Engagement in Exploratory Action Research to Improve Teaching Practice in EFL Writing (2026) · doi

  The writing study plan implementation showed promise but the paper does not disaggregate which components (pre-writing activities, increased writing practice frequency, or reading material integration) contributed most significantly to student writing improvements. Comparative action research examining each component's isolated effect within EFL writing instruction would clarify implementation priorities.

• Mind the gap: Learning the surface forms of movement dependencies (2026) · doi

  The paper examines filler-gap dependencies in infants and children, but the excerpt does not specify whether movement dependencies have been tested across typologically diverse languages beyond English, German, and Mandarin. Future work should investigate whether children learning languages with different word order patterns (SOV, VOS, or ergative-absolutive systems) show similar developmental trajectories in parsing surface forms of movement dependencies.

• Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine (2010) · doi

  The paper notes that the last major curriculum revision was in 1996-97, but does not provide longitudinal data comparing graduate competency outcomes, clinical performance, or career trajectories between cohorts trained under the pre-revision and post-revision curricula to assess the effectiveness of implemented changes.

• Research on the Teaching Model of AIGC-Empowered Interdisciplinary Competence Cultivation for Postgraduates in Biomedical Fields (2026) · doi

  Six students successfully presented at high-level academic conferences with AIGC assistance, but the paper provides no comparative data on presentation quality, acceptance rates, or expert feedback scores between AIGC-assisted versus non-assisted student presentations in the same biomedical postgraduate cohorts.

• Academic Medicine in a Transformational Time (2015) · doi

  The paper identifies that over 50,000 additional primary care physicians will be needed within 10 years due to 30 million newly insured Americans, but lacks empirical analysis of whether scope of practice expansion for nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and licensed pharmacists can quantitatively fill this workforce gap, or what specific metrics should measure their contribution to primary care delivery.

• The Effect of Videoscribe Media Assisted by the Guided Inquiry Learning Model on Students’ Physics Learning Outcomes (2026) · doi

  The study demonstrates that Videoscribe media assisted by Guided Inquiry produces a medium effect size (Cohen's d = 0.731) on physics learning outcomes, but does not investigate how this effect varies across different physics topics (mechanics, thermodynamics, electromagnetism, etc.) or student ability levels beyond the mention of 'relatively less independent' students.

• John McCutcheon (2020) · doi

  While Pauly's work emphasizes total fish and invertebrate catch as a crucial impact measure, the review does not detail specific protocols for estimating unintended bycatch and discards in small-scale subsistence fisheries where catch reporting is minimal or absent.