Background Diversity in the specialties is essential to provide optimal health care. Future career specialties chosen by the students had great significance for balanced doctor's distribution in different specialties, as it determines the composition of the physician workforce. Therefore, there has been a deeper interest in the issues of career preference among medical students. We aimed to determine and assess the factors perceived to be significantly attractive when choosing a future specialty. Materials and methods A cross-sectional-based study was conducted among undergraduate medical students from all of the medical schools in Jordan from April to September 2021. The data was collected using a structured online questionnaire through social media platforms and completed by 1556 students. The questionnaire consisted of three sections. The first section included the sociodemographic data of the participants, while the other two sections included questions about future specialty and the factors that influence the student's choice. Informed consent was taken from the participants. Results Of the participants, (64%) were female. The mean age of the students was 20.9 years. Regarding the future specialty, 664 students (42.7%) preferred surgery as future specialty (females = 364, males = 300). While 505 students (32.5%) preferred specialty in medicine (females = 365, males = 140). Moreover, 349 students had no decision until now regarding their future specialty (females = 238, males = 111). Generally, the surgical specialty was the most preferred specialty, while the basic science specialty was the least preferred. Specialty in medicine and surgery was the most preferred specialty among females and males respectively. Conclusion Surgery in general was the most popular specialty among medical students. Other common choices were neurosurgery, internal medicine, and pediatrics. The more attractive factors were the appeal of being in the specialty, the influence on patient's lives, the potential for patient interactions and the high income. While the least attractive factor was having a long-term relationship with the patients.

This study investigated the ability of language teachers’ practices to predict self-efficacy in reading among Jordanian students participating in PISA 2018. The study adopted the secondary analysis method by analyzing the responses of 8,963 15-year-old males and females in 313 schools who participated in PISA 2018. Statistically significant differences in students’ perceptions were found in teacher-directed instruction, teacher support for students, teacher motivating students to engage in reading, and enjoyable reading. Additionally, female students exhibited more reading self-efficacy than male students. There were statistically significant differences in students’ perceptions of controlling the classroom environment, and feedback in favor of males. The multiple linear regression analysis indicated that five factors explained a statistically significant proportion of the variance in self-efficacy in reading (14.7%). Enjoyment of reading was the factor that contributed the most with a percentage of 10.2%, followed by teacher enthusiasm with 3.6%.   Keywords: reading self-efficacy; Jordanian students; PISA 2018

This study aimed to investigate the role of systemic intelligence factors in explaining cognitive flexibility and cognitive holding power among university students using measures of the aforementioned phenomena. A random sample of (519) students participated in this research, and it was found that factors relating to systemic intelligence could predict cognitive flexibility and cognitive holding power. The elements of systemic intelligence that were most adept at explaining cognitive flexibility were systemic action through positive engagement and active response, while systemic perception was the most explanatory factor in terms of cognitive holding power. The study concluded that systemic intelligence, which has perceptual, cognitive, social and behavioural facets, contributes to student performance in learning settings; consequently, it is recommended that the role of systemic intelligence should be analysed by linking elements of this form of intelligence with the different variables and integrating systemic thinking skills into different learning activities.   Keywords: systemic intelligence, cognitive flexibility, cognitive holding power.