An open-ended serious game can engage students' scientific problem-solving processes. However, understanding how students learn higher-order thinking skills through solving a problem in an open-ended game system is a challenge. The complex game systems may make learning more difficult for students with different characteristics such as an at-risk…

Research on learning analytics (LA) has focused mostly at the university level. LA research in the K-12 setting is needed. This study aimed to understand 4,115 middle school students' learning paths based on their behavioural patterns and the relationship with performance levels when they used a digital learning game as their science curriculum.…

Orienteering is an increasingly popular sport activity. Because orienteering is believed to improve cognitive, affective, and behavioural skills, it is used in many classes such as social studies, geography, and physical education. It is, thus, of critical importance to know attitudes towards orienteering, especially among middle school students…

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine how skilled adolescent readers draw on their prior knowledge of multimodality and narrative text structure when navigating an intentionally designed digital narrative text. We know that skilled middle-school readers have been taught narrative text structure and that adolescents who use the…

A survey ("n" = 410) revealed statistically significant gender differences between middle school students' preference for playing particular types of games. Subsequent instrumental case studies theorised the "within-game" and "out-of-game" experiences of two middle school students as they played a digital hand-held…

The narrative around skateboarding is changing. Educational and cultural institutions are beginning to engage with skateboarding in new ways. At the same time, skaters still thrive -- and sometimes prefer to function -- on the margins of mainstream society. Despite growing visibility and popularity, negative misconceptions regarding skateboarding…

Entering middle school can cause apprehension for young adolescents who face many cognitive, physical, social, and emotional changes. A quantitative, descriptive study was designed to identify and explain the concerns of rising sixth graders (n = 225) regarding their transition to the middle grades. Survey data were analyzed with regard to gender,…

As the National Middle School Association wrote, "No other age level is of more enduring importance because the determinants of one's behavior as an adult, self concept, learning interests and skills, and values largely are formed in this period of life." During this influential time in the lives of gifted adolescents, it is important to…

Geocaching is an inquiry-based activity encouraging creativity, active learning, and real-world problem solving. As such, it is an educational opportunity for students in all grade levels. Educators benefit by observing students using higher-order thinking instead of rote learning offered by using traditional worksheets, tests, or quizzes. Also,…