The purpose of this intrinsic qualitative case study was to understand the meaning-making experiences and experienced-based decision making that occur among middle school girls while playing the tabletop role playing game Dungeons & Dragons through the online videoconferencing platform zoom. table-top games have been played in some form for…

Previous research has focused on various methods, strategies and concepts that impact the teaching of history in classrooms (Brush & Saye, 2002; Hicks, Doolittle & Ewing, 2004; Levstik & Barton, 2011; Shepherd, 2010). However, research that examines the practice of using the reenactment process in regard to teachers' beliefs and…

This paper is a description of a proposed action research study driven by a problem of practice. The problem for this action research is that the teacher-researcher's sixth-grade social studies students lack critical thinking skills. Critical thinkers are engaged and creative learners who analyze complex issues and challenges within society. The…

This dissertation investigates the following research question within an informal games-based learning environment: "How do students construct scientific ideas within a games-based learning environment?" In this study, middle school youth role-played as scientists recruited by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to stop the Raven Virus…

"Historical empathy" connotes "perspective taking-in-historical-context," or explaining the intentions that motivated behavior within a framework of beliefs, values, and institutions, among other factors, as they existed at some time and in some place, rather than through contemporary norms and perspectives. As a construct,…