The purpose of this study was to learn about the underlying factors that might help to explain differences in performance and engagement among middle school girls in mathematics. The study employed a qualitative approach to observe and listen directly to the voices of middle school girls and their parents and math teacher as they reflected on their experiences and thoughts about the girls‟ performance in and long-term goals related to mathematics. My goal was to hear what forces were working in and around the girls that might lead them to engagement or disengagement with mathematics. Through the use of journals, interviews, and classroom observations, I collected data on six adolescent girls attending a middle school in a small New England city. The data collected were viewed through several lenses including the triads created by parent-student-teacher and the triads of “high-performing” and “low-performing” girls. Six themes emerged: factoring in the algebra class; finding seats; relating to the teacher; social networking and engagement; untangling performance and engagement; and structuring class. These themes helped to explain some of the differences between the girls‟ performance in and engagement with mathematics. In addition, they suggested that the concept of engagement was contextual and somewhat elusive. The study raised questions about where engagement was taking place (in school or out, in math or another class), whether it was a solitary endeavor or a social creation, and the complex relationship between engagement and performance. Further longitudinal work with girls and young women as they progress through school will be important to the understanding of how, why and when girls engage or disengage from the study of mathematics.

Research in the digital game-based learning domain has so far shown mixed results as to the use of narrative in educational games. The aim of this thesis is to help to answer the question of whether and to which extent it is reasonable to employ the narrative feature in educational games for young children. In addition to a literature review, the thesis presents an experimental study comparing two versions of a maths game that are the same except for for the richness of the game's story (a value-added study). The participating children (N = 67) from school year 2 and 3 (mean = 8.67 years, SD = 0.4 years) were given the opportunity to play a game for two weeks on touch devices: a game version with a simple narrative frame, or a game version with a rich story narrated through an interactive voiced comic, or a "placebo" game (control group). No significant effect of the rich narrative on the children's engagement, as reported by parents, was found (d = 0.45, p = .245). Furthermore, the two narrative condition groups did not differ in terms of in-game progress (Cliff's δ = 0.01), and the difference was neither significant for the number of solved game tasks (d = 0.08, p = .857), nor the learning gains (d = -0.25, p = .691) measured using a near-transfer maths skill test (pre-post design). Both narrative...