Video gaming and digital competence among elementary school students
Video gaming and digital competence among elementary school students
Laura Scholes, Luke Rowe, Kathy A. Mills, Amanda Gutierrez & Elizabeth Pink
Abstract
"Engagement with video games can potentially advance student digital competence however, there is a digital skills gap by the time young people progress into adolescence. This current research explores how elementary school students’ digital self-efficacy might relate to experiences in video game environments to influence perceptions of digital competence. We examine the differential impact of sex, selfefficacy, and socioeconomic status (SES) on 7–10-year-old students’ (N= 613) perceptions of video gaming and their digital skills. Analysis revealed the unexpected finding that SES was inversely related to enjoyment for gaming and digital technology, with students in the lower-SES category responding more positively compared to students in higher SES categories. As expected, boys self-reported digital skills higher than girls across all SES categories. We argue for the use of gaming pedagogies to support learning in classrooms that accounts for nuances in students’ digital self-efficacy moderated by gender and SES."
Reference
Scholes, L., Rowe, L., Mills, K. A., Gutierrez, A., & Pink, E. (2022). Video gaming and digital competence among elementary school students. Learning, Media and Technology, 1-16. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17439884.2022.2156537
Keywords
Video games, digital skills, gender