Gender differences and game-based learning in secondary education

In the Netherlands, differences in school motivation and performance between boys and girls are a major issue in political debates. In the first years of secondary education in the Netherlands, boys tend to underachieve and to be disengaged from school. Game-based learning might improve the school motivation and performance of both boys and girls. In two studies with game-based learning, gender differences were examined in students' school motivation and learning outcomes. Both boys and girls showed an increase in motivation and learning outcomes. Only in the second study about a digital role-play citizenship game, boys additionally showed a larger increase in media literacy than girls. This means that game-based learning showed potential to solve the so-called boys problem in Dutch secondary education.