This study focused on the digital design practices of Raul, a 15-year-old participant at a summer video game design camp for adolescents. As Raul developed his original game, "You Will Perish," I wondered what his design process might reveal about (a) the practice of affectively and procedurally literate video game design and (b) the…

Across courses in the social sciences, instructors confront the challenge of how to teach (theories of) culture, yet no consensus exists as to what helps students best comprehend and digest its full complexity. This article offers a metaphorical and heuristic approach to culture that is accessible, multifaceted, and reflective of a wide range of…

Outdoor recreation has many benefits for youth. Benefits may be more profound in youth with visual impairments as the involvement in outdoor recreation activities provides improved self-determination and socialization. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to comprehend each participant's lived outdoor recreation experiences,…

The prevalence of mental health issues among youth, with nearly half meeting diagnostic criteria for a mental health disorder and suicide being a leading cause of death, underscores the urgency for effective intervention (National Institute of Mental Health, 2023). Summer camps, hosting millions of children annually, are urged by the American Camp…

Organized out-of-school time (OST) activities can provide youth with developmentally enriching experiences. Summer camp is one such activity, offering opportunities for positive youth development and, in some cases, promoting socioemotional learning, character development, resilience, and academic and career-related outcomes (Garst et al., 2011;…

Digital safety involves protecting oneself, and one's personal information to mitigate the risks that are inherently associated with using digital technologies. This study employed a multi-method design to explore 26 inservice and preservice elementary teacher experiences from attending a professional development on digital safety and facilitating…

This research is an autoethnographic account of teaching and learning during outdoor education experiences in Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE). Through the process of writing as a method of inquiry, I use a framework of outdoor experiences that went wrong, to identify the symbiotic relationship between teaching and learning in outdoor…

What do we know about camps and COVID-19? About as much as we know about the virus itself, which is that it is universal, it is catastrophic, and it is forcing us to bend and shift in ways we never expected. We don't yet know the full impact of COVID-19 on camps, although preliminary findings from a series of studies conducted by the American Camp…

The purpose of this study was to investigate three research questions: (a) What are the ethical issues most pertinent to interscholastic sport today, as well as in the next 5 years? (b) How important are those ethical issues to interscholastic athletic administrators? (c) What are the potential implications of those pertinent ethical issues to…

This case study (Stake, 1995) investigated children's learning experiences in a media-inspired summer camp. The purpose of the study was to explore how educational media can be used to extend children's learning experiences "across" the screens (television, mobile, tablet) and "beyond" these screens through hands-on maker…

Several studies have focused on how in-person informal CS learning programs like summer camps and after-school programs impact Black girls' intent to persist in Computer Science; however, virtual informal CS learning programs remain to be studied. This mixed-methods study uses Intersectional Computing and Social Cognitive Career Theory to examine…

"Transition of care" is defined as the movement of an individual from one setting of care to another and involves communicating with appropriate out-of-camp stakeholders such as parents, teachers, and community health care providers to identify youth needs (before camp) and outcomes achieved (after camp) so desired health goals may be…

While civic participation is a crucial component of healthy and sustainable democracies, young adolescents may perceive or experience barriers that limit their civic action. This study draws from focus groups and surveys during a week-long summer civics camp to explore ways in which 47 young adolescents entering Grades 6-9 described barriers they…

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the online delivery of an affective curriculum for gifted and talented youth to gain further understanding of its effectiveness and perceived advantages and disadvantages of delivering affective curriculum online. Using convergent parallel mixed methods design, we evaluated data from 38 secondary…

In "Beyond the Invisible Barriers of the Classroom: iEngage and Civic Praxis," the authors reported on the experiences teachers encountered during a weeklong Youth Engage Civic Institute Camp and the degree to which what teachers learned in the camp was able to move their thinking and practice toward a more critical, justice-oriented…