Intergenerational Digital Learning During Educational Gameplay: An Exploratory Observational Study of Grandparent–Grandchild Joint Media Engagement
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Joint media engagement (JME) offers a useful lens for understanding how family members support children’s learning with digital media. However, most research on children’s educational media use has focused on parent-child interaction within nuclear-family contexts, leaving grandparent-grandchild digital learning in multigenerational immigrant households underexamined. Drawing on neo-ecological theory, this exploratory, ecologically situated observational study examined verbal interaction during educational gameplay among six Chinese American grandmother-grandchild dyads living in multigenerational households. Dyads co-played a tablet-based STEM puzzle game at home for 20 minutes, producing 1,002 coded verbal comments. Descriptive analysis showed that grandmothers produced more comments overall, especially comments related to game process, game strategy, outcome goals, and performance evaluation. Grandchildren’s comments more often included affective expression, game strategy, game process, and moments of impasse or insight. Across dyads, educational gameplay appeared to create a shared digital learning activity in which children often controlled on-screen action while grandmothers provided guidance, encouragement, and goal-oriented support. This study contributes to educational technology research by documenting how educational gameplay can support intergenerational participation and family-based digital learning in multigenerational immigrant households.
DOI: 10.46328/ijte.8747
Authors: Xiaohan Y. Zhu, Alanna L. Peebles
Institutions: Texas A&M University, San Diego State University
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7218395285