How video games are educating

Are video games a good tool for educating students in the classroom or arent they? This

is an age old debate that everybody wants a straight answer to from educators to parents. You

have some parents on one side of the argument that feel video games are time wasting and kill

more brain cells than they develop while other feel like they are positive for the childs life.

Educators wonder, if they are helpful in accelerating the childrens cognitive learning ability, in

what ways can these video games be implemented in the classroom. Of course you do still have

some educators that do not like using new technologies and refuse to adapt with the world that

we live in today. Technology is steadily evolving every day and educators are using

unconventional ways to improve students cognitive abilities such as video games in the learning

environment. I feel like any educator that has not jumped on this technological bandwagon they

should immediately because any further delay would be denying your students from reaching

their full potential.

The first ever computer video game that was similar to the classic 1970s game Pong was

created by American physicist William Higinbotham in October of 1958 (Flatow, 1992).

However mainstream popularity of video games didnt catch on until the 1970s and 1980s with

the ever so popular Atari 2600 releasing in 1977 which stemmed from the 1972 popular upright

arcade video game pong (Cohen, 2016). The Atari 2600 was the first home video game system

that allowed you to play video games at home without having to go to the nearest arcade. The

console came with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and nine

different game cartridges. This came at a hefty price tag of $199, with adjusted inflation this is

about $800 in todays economy. So needless to say you didnt have one of these unless you were

in a certain tax bracket. This started a video war of different gaming companies trying to
compete with Atari to have the best gaming system since they saw how popular and profitable it

was becoming. Today there is a staggering amount of people that play video games in the world.

From the new PlayStation 4 and PC games all the way to games that you download to your

smartphone from the App store. According to a 2013 state of the industry report by Spil

Games more than 1.2 billion people play video games worldwide which is about 17% of the

world population. Of that 1.2 billion about 700 million people play online which is about 44% of

the worlds online population (Takahashi, 2013). In about five years I expect that 1.2 billion to

have a 25% increase since the worlds population is increasing and video games are becoming

more affordable for the average consumer to purchase. As educators we have to bridge the gap

between technological gaming and the classroom learning environment that allows us to find

new ways to keep our students engaged with the material while also making in entertaining. So

that means the old board games and teaching methods that our parents were exposed to isnt

going to get the job done anymore. Its funny how most kids can sit in front of a video game for

hours on in but cannot stay focused for 45 minute class without reaching for their phone or

something else to play with. This is why the fidget spinner toy was created and has had such a

huge success in American elementary, middle, and high schools. According to a Kaiser

Foundation Study done in 2010, kids from ages eight to eighteen spent 7 hours and 38 minutes

on digital media per day and more than 10.5 hours per day when more than one digital

technology was used. That means 4.5 hours were spent watching television, 2 hours and 45

minutes were spent on computer and video games, 2.5 hours were spent listening to music, and

the remaining hour was spent on other various media. Similar numbers were recorded in years

1999 and 2004 when Kaiser Foundation conducted this study with the average child spending 6

hours and 19 minutes with digital media per day. For the 2010 study ages eleven through
fourteen spent the most time on digital media with 11 hours and 53 minutes per day, followed

closely by teenagers age fifteen through eighteen with 11 hours and 23 minutes per day, while

the youngest kids age eight to ten spent an average of 7 hours and 51 minutes per day of total

media exposure (Kulman, 2015). This tells us that media technologies is becoming more of a

factor in our childrens life whether we like it or not. So instead of us going against the grain and

trying to stop our children and students from using these technologies, we should go with the

grain and embrace these technologies to make our jobs easier and the children lifes better. There

are seven ways video games help kids in school. The first one is that it helps children become

more social. For most gamers gaming is a highly social activity especially when youre playing

online. Being social comes in handy in the learning environment when children have to make

new friends at school or when the teacher assigns group work to be done. Developed social skills

usually correlate to children having high self-esteem and good peer relationships in school. The

second way video games in the classroom help students is that it improves their critical thinking

and reading comprehension skills. These are skills that are always needed whether you are in

academia or the workforce. Video games such as Rome: Total War and the Oregon Trail teach

you about the history or the Roman Empire and the long treacherous journey from Missouri to

Willamette Valley of Oregon respectively. These games are informative as well as entertaining.

Critical thinking comes into play in these games when you have to make important decisions

early on in the game and these decisions affects you later in the game so its best to weigh all

your options before making a decision. Sometimes these games have dense material that you

have to read and understand it in order to make the correct decision. Next, video games are well-

suited for individualized learning. Every student learns at a different pace and video game

designers cater to this. They allow games to adjust to the users performance and preferences.
For example if the user gets one wrong the game adjusts and gives the user an easier challenge

but if the user gets too many right the game will adjust to make the challenges more difficult.

Video games also teach new technical skillsets when the users play them. Skills such as coding

and debugging are being learned in these video games now. Games such as angry birds are

teaching kids how to code video games and on websites like code.org you can make your own

flappy bird games. Doing things like these can help improve children spatial thinking, reasoning,

memory, perception, and problem solving. Going back to individualized learning this next step

help facilitate that and gauge the childrens cognitive development. Video games are able to give

you real-time statistics that show you all of your strengths and weakness of your cognitive

ability. This is a lot more detailed than the usual quizzes and test that are administrated by most

educators. Seventy-eight percent of teachers in a national survey agreed that digital games

improved mastery of curricular content and skills of low-performing students and seventy-one

percent agreed that they improved mastery of extra-curricular skills. It also helps students to stay

engaged with the material because most low-performing students are usually disengaged with

whats going on in the classroom. Video games motivate low-performing students to attend

class, pay attention, and make stronger efforts to want to succeed. The last way video games in

the classroom help children is the fluid and literary-like engagement with ethically and morally

complicated situations. Certain simulation video games allow you to understand sensitive social

issues so that you are able to make the right decision in real life without pressure from your peers

or teachers. This is very important because empathy and compassion are cornerstones of a happy

life (Loo, 2014). For another perspective on how video games are used in the classroom I

decided to interview my nephew and niece who are in fifth and eighth grade respectively about

when they started using video games in school as well as which ones they use and how effective
they are. They were very enthused about using video games in the classroom as well and

preferred this teaching method over the archaic worksheet and lecture method. My nephew and

niece are both kinesthetic learners so being interactive in the classroom is a must for them. I was

told by my niece that games such as Kahoot and Edpuzzle keeps her engaged and from becoming

off task in the classroom. To her this is a lot better than the daily worksheets that she had to

complete in elementary. My nephew claims his math skills have improved drastically with games

from the websites prodigy.com and dreambox.com. I even sat with him and played the game on

the website prodigy.com and was impressed with what I saw. The game makes you feel like

youre on a real adventure and when you get a math questions wrong it sets you back from

getting to your destination just like in real life, definitely a game I would recommend for

elementary students. This game can teach children lessons about math as well as real life. He

tells me that the students use this game and other website games to complete classroom work as

well as homework assignments that can be done at home if they have internet access. I believe

the educational system is taking steps in the right direction by incorporating online video games

in their curriculum. Who knows, at this rate there might be such a thing as distance learning for

elementary, middle, and high school students. Will this be good for our kids, only time will tell.
 References

Flatow, I. (1992). October 1958: Physicist Invents First Video Game. Retrieved

December 03, 2017, from https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200810/physicshistory.cfm

Cohen, D. (2016). The Atari 2600 - A History of the Atari VCS. Retrieved December 03,

2017, from https://www.lifewire.com/atari-2600-console-729665

Takahashi, D. (2013, November 25). More than 1.2 billion people are playing games.

Retrieved December 03, 2017, from https://venturebeat.com/2013/11/25/more-than-1-2-billion-

people-are-playing-games/

Kulman, D. R. (2015, July 13). How Much Time Do Kids Spend With Technology?

Retrieved December 03, 2017, from http://learningworksforkids.com/2015/07/how-much-time-

do-kids-spend-with-technology/

Loo, K. (2014, November 04). 7 Ways Video Games Will Help Your Kids in School.

Retrieved December 03, 2017, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/kara-loo/7-ways-video-

games-help_b_6084990.html

Shapiro, J. (2015, March 30). How Video Games In The Classroom Will Make Students

Smarter. Retrieved December 03, 2017, from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jordanshapiro/2015/03/30/how-video-games-in-the-classroom-

will-make-students-smarter/2/#367dcffc4246
 Demonstration

https://youtu.be/uBoljEoUDL4