The relationship between digital literacy and K-12 students' academic performance: mediation effects of problem-solving ability

In the digital age, digital literacy has become a necessary skill for contemporary citizens and has received attention from educational researchers. Digital literacy is an important influencing factor that affects students' learning, fuels the development of students' thinking, and improves students' performance. However, the mechanism of how digital literacy affects students' academic performance has yet to be explored in depth. On this basis, this study used a national large-scale questionnaire survey to construct a model mediated by problem-solving ability and moderated by grade for 8,916 K-12 students. The results show that digital literacy is a significant direct predictor of academic achievement; problem-solving ability has a significant mediating effect on digital literacy and students' academic achievement. Digital literacy can contribute to the development of K-12 students' problem-solving ability, thereby improving their academic performance.