Chapter 4: Digital Gameplay: Effects on Young Adolescents’ Science Content Learning

The popularity of digital gameplay among young adolescents has prompted increased interest among educators and researchers in its potential to facilitate student science content learning and twenty-first century skills such as problem solving. Research has developed rapidly in the past decade, but often produced conflicting findings. This mixed methods study examined the impact of an online game, called Crystal Island: Unchartered Discovery, on 241 fifth graders’ science content knowledge learning and problem solving, with gender as an independent variable. Qualitative data focused on how students navigated the game and perceptions of their gameplay experience. Results revealed that students made significant learning gains in terms of science content but not problem solving. Gender was not a factor in terms of content learning; in the qualitative results, boys and girls used some of the same strategies to navigate the game. Future research should contribute to the emerging picture of how games can be used in middle level classrooms to foster academic engagement and achievement, with an emphasis on more robust learning assessments.