Remember the earlier mentioned studies that showed that action video games improved visual-spacial skills? The Benefits of Playing Video Games (Granic, Lobel, and Egels in Americal Psychologist, January, 2014) noted: Spatial skills predict achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Spatial skills “can be trained with video games (primarily action games) in a relatively brief period” and that these skills “last over an extended period of time” and are transferable to other “spatial tasks outside the video game context.” Those learning these skills from video games show increased efficiency of neural processing.
Playing video games of any type has been linked to enhanced creativity, although we do not know if games contributed to the enhanced creativity, or if creative types tend toward video games, or both.
What are the downsides to game based learning?
According to Tobias et al, when the game mechanics become complex, learning can be inhibited. Game designers “need to be mindful of the cognitive load imposed on players” to learn to play.
There is little knowledge on the most effective ways to produce games “the reliably yield pre-specified instructional objectives.”
There is also little knowledge on the most effective ways to produce games that reliably yield pre-specified learning objectives. It’s hard to know in advance if students will master a specific standard through X hours playing any one game.
However, games that are intended to support learning (edugames) were especially effective when combined with other instructional methods, which argues for games being integrated with multiple methods of instruction. “Integrating games into the curriculum improves transfer from games to school learning tasks.”
Games, combined with other instructional strategies, may be the solution to Blum’s two-sigma problem.
Mitch Weisburgh is co-founder and director at Games 4 Ed, a non-profit committed to studying and breaking down the barriers to ubiquitous gaming in the classroom.
For this piece, Mitch Weisburgh leaned on several references, including:
Effects of video-game play on information processing: A meta-analytic investigation
Digital Games as Educational Technology: Promise and Challenges in the Use of Games to Teach
Playful Learning: An Integrated Design Framework
Flow in Schools Revisited, Shernoff, Chikszentmihalyi, Handbook of Positive Psychology in Schools, Second Edition
Engagement and Positive Youth Development: Creating Optimal Learning Environments
Independent Research and Evaluation on GlassLab Games and Assessments
The Benefits of Playing Video Games
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Thanks for interesting article. While your focus is K-12, many of your findings apply to both university level and corporate/executive training as well. My observations are based on corporate and entrepreneurial management experience, serving as an adjunct professor for 12 years at three leading universities, and being directly involved in both online K-12 and educational gaming ventures several years ago.
I am pleased to share several comments:
1. Game based learning changes thinking and improves creativity as you noted. As an example, using Harvard Business School case reviews to reinforce complex business concepts is the traditional approach used in business schools. If you couple these with a simulation game, for example, which lets students establish product mix and pricing strategies to maximize profits and EPS, you see real benefits. The key point here – the case studies and the gaming alone provide benefits but working together provides greater benefits, i.e., the ” 1 + 1 = 3″ situation. We are changing student ‘thinking’ here
2. The optimum solution is as you noted to integrate educational gaming with other forms of instruction as you noted. But the challenge is both creating strong content such as noted above and developing the proper mix of time and resources. I am looking at this challenge now to structure both traditional and ‘gaming’ courseware for educating entrepreneurs ( including possibly K-12 level).
3. We need to educate decision and policy makers on the benefits of educational gaming. On the one hand, many are emphasizing the need for increased social interaction and reducing ‘screen time’- educational gaming and electronic courseware moves in the opposite direction. Creative educational gaming requiring some social interaction (such as integrating teaming an approach I am looking at in entrepreneurial courseware) appears to be an effective solution and there may be others.
4. Decision and policy makers also have to be comfortable moving to electronic media and educational gaming. This is changing and the work of your group and other is helping, but as we know, despite looking at a classroom filled with student I-pads, many instructors and decision makers are still ‘clinging to textbooks.’
Bottom line here – educational gaming is still in its infancy – very exciting, high growth area that can in my view fuel significant improvement in our K-12 educational system and other areas as well.
Paul B. Silverman is Managing Partner Gemini Business Group, LLC (http://www.geminibusinessgroup.com), a new venture development firm. He has four decades senior corporate management, management consulting, adjunct professor, and entrepreneurial management experience. He writes about entrepreneurship, healthcare, analytics, strategy management. Author of “8 Building Blocks To Launch, Manage, And Grow A Successful Business. Follow his blog at http://paulbsilverman.com/blog/
The good thing regarding this time around factor is
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i think u should go home and play minecraft
You have explained very well on “The Psychology Behind Why Gaming Helps Students Learn”.
Learning based on games is a great idea to learn. can learn while playing, will reduce pressure. I like so much.