Research about emerging best practices in the learning sciences points to the potential of deploying digital games as one possible solution to the twin challenges of weak student engagement and the need for more robust achievement in literacy, science, technology, and math. This chapter reviews key cross-cutting themes in this special volume,…

According to educational gaming advocates, the engaging nature of games encourages sustained game play and enhanced attention to learning outcomes among players. Because children's and adolescents' play time varies by game genre, engagement with a game likely reflects the match between the genre and the player's preferences and needs. Youth learn…

Current empirical findings show linkages between recreational video game play and enhanced cognitive skills, primarily among young adults. However, consideration of this linkage among children and adolescents is sparse. Thus, discussions about facilitating transfer of cognitive skills from video game play to academic tasks among children and…

We present a domain-general framework called "constrained attentional associative learning" to provide a developmental account for how and when infants form concepts for animates and inanimates that encapsulate not only their surface appearance but also their movement characteristics. Six simulations with the same general-purpose architecture…

Adolescence is often thought of as a period during which the quality of parent-child interactions can be relatively stressed and conflictual. There are individual differences in this regard, however, with only a modest percent of youths experiencing extremely conflictual relationships with their parents. Nonetheless, there is relatively little…

This study represents a quasi-experimental test of the role of early social-emotional experience and adult-child relationships in the development of typically developing children and those with disabilities birth to 4 years of age living in orphanages in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. The three orphanages in the current study were selected…

The problem is well known to every parent of a teenager, every high school teacher, every clinical practitioner, and every social policy maker: vulnerable adolescents risk becoming more deviant through association with deviant peers and peer groups. Deviant peer influences are among the most potent factors in the development of antisocial…

Over the past 30 years, the rate of childhood obesity has more than doubled for preschool children aged 2 to 5 years and adolescents aged 12 to 19 years, and it has more than tripled for children 6 to 11 years of age (Institute of Medicine, 2005). At present, approximately 9 million children over 6 years are considered obese (Institute of…

In this report, we review current scientific knowledge on the topic of youth mentoring, including what is known about relationships and programs, and their interface with organizations and institutions. Two primary conclusions can be drawn from this review. First, mentoring relationships are most likely to promote positive outcomes and avoid harm…

There is increasing awareness that how young people spend their time outside of school has consequences for their development. As part of this awareness, interest in organized activities--extracurricular activities, after-school programs, and youth organizations--has grown markedly. On balance, the bulk of research on organized activities has…

The author of this article examines two powerful metaphors that have shaped the way people have thought about young children over the past 75 years or so, and argues that these two models are off base. These metaphors are "The Wild Child" and "The Little Scientist." The earlier of these two metaphors is that of the Wild Child, which hearkens back…

Based on fieldwork material from Lao People's Democratic Republic, this paper introduces an analytical framework that transcends compartmentalized approaches towards migration involving young people. The notions of fluid and institutionalized forms of migration illuminate key differences and commonalities in the relational fabric underpinning…

This article analyzes the migration experiences of thirteen separated minors who arrived in Sweden between 1943 and 2008. Using the framework of "dislocation" and the "liberated self," this chapter shows that the experiences of separated minors are shaped in the intersection between contexts and conditions of transnational migration and the…

This concluding chapter draws together some of the key themes from the contributions and proposes some recommended areas for future research, policy, and programming. It highlights the artificiality of categorization processes related to both migration and childhood that independent child migrants encounter, and problematizes the…

Similar to refugees in general, independent child migrants are frequently constructed in academic and popular discourse as passive and powerless or as untrustworthy and potentially threatening. Such portrayals fail to capture how these youth actively navigate the complex experiences of forced migration. Drawing on interviews with independent child…