Video Games and Learning

In this video, researcher Daphne Bavelier asserts that in reasonably doses playing action video games actually have quite powerful and positive effects on many different aspects of our behavior.

1. Action gamers that spend 5-15 hours per week playing, have better eyesight than those who do not. They statistically see in greater detail and resolve different levels of gray easier.
2. Action gamers can track 6-7 objects at a time effectively, while most people can only track 3-4 effectively. This is especially helpful in tasks like driving.
3. The areas of the brain that are responsible for focusing and attention span, are actually more active an efficient in action gamers than others.

In this video, Gabe Zichermann asserts that perhaps instead of children having ADD, the real world is just too “slow” for their minds; that “gamification” can actually aid in students ability to learn and increase intelligence.

1. Children have to have incredible multitasking skills to have success in video games. This type of activity has profound impacts on your brain. There was a study conducted that found that when people participated in a stimulating activity, the amount of gray matter in their brain increased.
2. The 5 things found to increase Fluid Intelligence (problem solving) are to seek novelty, challenge yourself, think creatively, do things the hard way, and network. These are all present in many popular action games today.
3. Video games fundamentally provide an exponential increase in learning to users. They are constantly evolving and moving forward. The dopamine released in your brain when you succeed at an activity (in gaming) leads you to return to that activity over and over, therefore creating an intrinsic motivation to continue learning.

In this video,  Katie Salen asserts that play is an important aspect of human development, and also that gaming provides many opportunities to cultivate characteristics that are desirable in the 21st century including teamwork, multitasking, problem solving, exploration etc.

1. Games work in  the same way that good teachers work. There is a clear connection. Game developers are constantly asking “what does my player need to know to do well at this task” in the same way a teacher asks about their students. This sets up scaffolding which is providing learning support to students and then slowly retracting support so that students become self-reliant. 
2. A game should not be seen as the sole tool for education, but rather teachers should recognize how a game can be used to aid in a student’s overall curriculum experience. If they approach games in this way they can be quite useful and not distracting to students or daunting to work with for themselves. 
3. When kids work with digital media they take on the role of a designer. What that means is they are thinking about who their audience is. That can be a very useful mind process to be considering in the 21st century. 
4. Also, since kids know when playing games that there is a way for them to be successful at it (beat a level, achieve certain points or rewards, etc) they look forward to the challenge and don’t easily become discouraged, but thrive on the challenge of it. If this type of mindset could be achaieved in the classroom, it could have profound results.