Digital Native Students: Gender Differences in Mathematics and Gaming

The purpose of this study was to explore gender differences among digital native students in mathematicslearningandgaming.Aquantitativedominantmixedmethodsapproachwasemployed inwhichquantitativesurveys[174students]andqualitativeinterviews[eightstudents,eightparents and six teachers] were administered concurrently. Data collected has revealed that students are characterizedasdigitalnativesanddonotportrayasignificantgendergap in technologyusage. Nevertheless,malesandfemalestendtodemonstratetheirdigitalnativecharacteristicsdifferently. Males are more likely to play computer games and acknowledge the many benefits of gaming. Moreover,boyshavebetterspatialskillsandtheyaremoreconfidentinmathematics.Whilefemales still lag behind males in spatial abilities and mathematics confidence in the past, digital native femalesarenothelpingtoclosethegendergap.Essentially,girlscouldplaymorecomputergames tostrengthentheirspatialabilities. KEywoRDS Computer Games, Digital Native, Gaming, Gender, Mathematics, Multitasking, Spatial

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