Gaming is Educational

[Mach10Hayley]

Despite what many people think, children can learn from electronic devices with high screen brightnesses and lively action. These devices help increase test scores, as well as hand-eye coordination. These devices use video games which are, indeed, educational.

 

First of all, video games can help increase test scores. Genres such as puzzle and strategy are most effective in doing so. According to the Entertainment Software Association, children who played "Dimension M" (a math game) scored higher by 8.07 percent on a math exam than children who didn't play. The genres mentioned before can improve math skills, vocabulary, and/or critical thinking.

 

("Scribblenauts")

 

Additionally, video games can benefit hand-eye coordination. Genres such as action/adventure, platforming, and sports are most effective in improving reflexes and encouraging exercise. The genres mentioned can help improve physical education grades in school. Gamers will have the ability to react to incoming objects by practicing with virtual ones.

 

Some parents believe that video games provoke violent thoughts. However, not all games are violent. Parents need to monitor their children better. Parents also believe that that gaming could strain children's eyes. As I previously stated, parents need to monitor their children better, but also control their playtime.

 

In conclusion, video games benefit a child's education. They help improve grades both academically and physically. Take a look at your grades. Are you happy with them? If not, take the time to be educated with video games so you can complete your goals and experience happiness through satisfaction.

 

You can post your thoughts about this essay I wrote for school below!

[The Stig]

I Concur. There is more to gaming than just "Mindlessly picking up a controller and drooling while staring dumbfoundedly at the idotbox in-front of you while pressing the A Button to shot the aliens in Space Invaders"...  There is so much more involved. I mean maybe back then in the early 70's and 80's games were more entertainment orientated than they are now, but now there they are so much more complex! They have story's, and complex controls with separate menus and interfaces, that all interconnect. You have to memorize the layout of maps and levels, remember characters and weapons and items, connect and relate to the experience, all while press more than 25 different  button commands a second. And control the two joysticks to maintain proper vision in the games.

 

And like you said, games such as Portal, and many others are even designed to be as educational as they are entertaining.

 

 

Of course there are always exceptions to this though....  

 

 

[Is not JL]

Everything is educational.

 

It really just depends on what is being educated.

[The Stig]

Everything is educational.

 

It really just depends on what is being educated.

Agreed. Anything can be used to teach a lesson. And everything, no matter how simple, has to be taught or learned at some point before it can be completed or attempted.

 

Plus We all know someone smarter than us by leaps and bounds in a particular subject, but their clueless in another. For example I am horrible at Math, Chemistry, Cooking, and many other things. But I have a friend who is a wiz with math, a cooking champion, and chemistry expert (Not Walter White). But he doesn't even know how change a lightbulb, or hold a shovel, or  handle a hammer, or tell the difference between a V8 or V6, or how to tell the difference between a Tbar Row and a Back Raise and how they correlate with each body part.  But those are something that I've known for almost my whole life.  

 

So does me knowing all of the stuff he doesn't make me smart and him stupid? No.  And Does him knowing all the things that I don't make him a genius and me a moron? No.(well technically yes, cause I am pretty stupid, and the stuff I don't know is all school related stuff. So by the educational standards. I'm kinda an idiot. But that's beside the point).

 

The point is, there are things we know, that someone else wouldn't. Just like how there is stuff they know that we wouldn't. I could talk forever about the difference between a Thunderbolt or Thundershock, or how many episodes are in each season of the Office and what happens in each episode, but I wouldn't know where to begin talking about atoms and molecules... Where as my buddy could talk happily for days about it.

 

No body's born knowing how to walk or speak. Everything we have done up to this point had to be learned. We learn something new everyday and gaming is no exception.  

[Is not JL]

although i would ahve to say that if i didnt spend all my time gaming my grades would be soooo high up lol

[Delpen9]

It seems that Azaxx has yet to make his point, though this would be his area of common interest.  Like Exia said, anything can be educational if you allow the time to contemplate what is done. Relations to secondary skills such as hand-eye coordination can be quantified through testing, where empirical data may conclude that a certain set of stimuli(games, media, products) can be detrimental or beneficial to the child's psyche or fine-motor movements. With anything intellectual, all that matters is how though provoking the 'stimuli' is, which is dependent on the child. Parents might see this as an 'out in the left field' claim, but that doesn't prevent it from being true; because that would make it no different from anything else involving parenting(a childs habits, common sense, food preferences, and individual education).... 

[AnimeAddict]

most people dont consider puzzle and strategy  or anything like that  most people think of things like Halo Gears all the Violent video games or the "recreational" video games

[Silent Orbis]

Assassin's Creed is like History class... Really.

[Delpen9]

So yes, Gears of War may help motor skills, but how much is really necessary? Only a special child would find a game like that intellectually stimulating, unless a creative gimmick is introduced like Halo Forge, Far Cry 3 Editor, or those skating games that let you build skate parks. 

 

God of War can teach a little history, but is that what parents really want? They know a few useless facts about Greek and Roman mythology in place of hours of lost time reading, studying, playing outside, or doing homework. Honestly, that doesn't sound like a good trade. The only thing that can convince parents to let kids play games is proof of a long-term benefit. Those are things that aren't readily apparent, and therefor require research. 

[Fishy]

I am very much in agreement in this topic. There are incredibly great games out there that teach you many things you might need to know later on in life.

 

Assassins Creed- This helps you greatly in ancient world history. But where could I use this at? Well if you are taking a high school/college course that is based on world history, then it can greatly help you. That's an easy class credit for you.

 

Battlefield- Although this won't only be useful if you join the military, it does teach you that reality physics. If you're going to jump 400 feet out of the air, you're going to die. In battlefield 3, there was a suicide button. This is kind of something of a dead cold humor that EA had. But it's true, some situations get so tough, there is always the option of suicide. But you get to choose the choice to either fight it out, or give up.

 

But all in all, video games will teach you something. Everyone is different, some people will acquire different uses than other. Most of the time, video games bring up the same conclusion. No matter who or what you want your way to be: You're going to need other people there for you, otherwise you don't have fun and you get lonely. That's why it's best to choose life long friends.

[Delpen9]

Assassins Creed doesn't teach you nearly enough to even count as a course. Secondly, video games are used to train military recruits, but isn't a replacement for common sense and good ole fear.

[Ranger Intel]

I persoanlly think Sci-Fi games, such as Halo, can teach a lot about Modern-Day Science. Since I began getting deep into the Halo books, I've been learning a lot from them and getting interesting into finding out how things work. I now take a big interest in Science and get As and A*s on my Tests. Lowest I've gotten all year was B and that was mainly because we had less time. I think it encourages the interests of some people and get them wanting to learn more. I agree that gaming can be educational.

[Delpen9]

Lore and Canon are not the game in itself. Halo is good for the 15+ demographic, but not so much for children. Like I said, the willingness to learn from a game is unique to the person(kid), which sadly leads to statistical and probability analysis. The minority of kids that can learn something from certain games are far outnumbered by the majority(CoD kids being the majority), but there are few that use those games as a gateway to game development, dynamics, and teamwork(clans). Other more omnibus developments include fine-motor skills and multi-tasking, with their usefulness being questionable at best. The bright side is that the fairly smart kids, the ones that will learn something from map/world designing games and certain aspects of the games themselves are easy to notice. You can tell when a kid is brain-dead compared to when they're doing something worthwhile. The argument of this topic makes little difference, because the only kids at loss are the one parented by cynical pricks, worrisome families, and parents with moral obligations and/or ideals. Those kids are few, though they exist.

[Fishy]

Assassins Creed doesn't teach you nearly enough to even count as a course. Secondly, video games are used to train military recruits, but isn't a replacement for common sense and good ole fear.

Your argument is dumb. The military only uses Battlefield 3, Halo, and about 2 other games to train their recruits. This doesn't even give them enough training either. They only use it for a simulation. They don't just sit there and play video games and call it Basic, they still get the physical and mental training as always. If you knew any better, the military want people who play video games. Because they know they're able to Multi-task, controller adaption, and awareness are already raised to the area they like. They want to recruit gamers to pilot drones for them. That's mostly what the military wants.

 

And Assassin's creed teaches you way more than you think. If you don't play for fun, that is. Instead, you need to play for the story. Listen to what's going on in the story and you'll hear all the events that went on in that time period and location. You could learn a lot from any video game story, actually. 

 

The point is, gaming is more educational then you can think. It has inspired many people to become involved in something that includes technology for a career. It has brought us all the technology today, all because these inspire some ideas and somebody comes by and sees it and says "Hey, I could use that idea for..."

[Delpen9]

Your argument is dumb. The military only uses Battlefield 3, Halo, and about 2 other games to train their recruits. This doesn't even give them enough training either. They only use it for a simulation. They don't just sit there and play video games and call it Basic, they still get the physical and mental training as always. If you knew any better, the military want people who play video games. Because they know they're able to Multi-task, controller adaption, and awareness are already raised to the area they like. They want to recruit gamers to pilot drones for them. That's mostly what the military wants.

 

And Assassin's creed teaches you way more than you think. If you don't play for fun, that is. Instead, you need to play for the story. Listen to what's going on in the story and you'll hear all the events that went on in that time period and location. You could learn a lot from any video game story, actually. 

 

The point is, gaming is more educational then you can think. It has inspired many people to become involved in something that includes technology for a career. It has brought us all the technology today, all because these inspire some ideas and somebody comes by and sees it and says "Hey, I could use that idea for..."

Fishy! You don't even read what I write! Simulation is a form of training,and in no way did I intend to say that gaming was all the training they used. I did forget to mention 'awareness' in my extensive argument, but that is beside the point. Additionally, the games that the millitary use for simulation purposes are specialized for the millitary; not much of Halo, Battlefield, or whatever else. The use games that simulate tactile uses, with such extensions as guns and control panels to create immersion.  At best, gaming experience is used in the screening process or encouraged as a casual advantage. I'm dissapointed that you had the AUDACITY to come out and call me stupid with little consideration of what I've written.

[Rue]

Omg funny story! I was taking my MAP test for a class and one of the questions was, "What latin word means 'to kill the king'?" I totally would have had no idea if it hadn't been been for me playing Regicide on Halo 4 all weekend.

[The Director]

You're right about everything but I'd like to add something about the hand-eye coordination.

 

Playing games will only improve your hand-eye coordination to a certain point. The easiest way to get the most out of it is to actually play the game for just long enough that you remain unfamiliar with it, as this will exercise the part of your brain that controls hand-eye coordination. This will actually help boost your reaction time for "irl".

 

However if you play the game so much you become accustomed to it then your brain will switch from focusing on what your are doing physically to what you are doing in the game. The controller becomes a reflex. At the point the controller becomes a reflex, it is no longer stimulating the part of the brain that controls hand-eye coordination. Which causes you to level out.

 

Once you level out it will take quite an extended time to get to the point where playing will help your hand-eye coordination again (and for some gamers this may never happen because of the "universality of controllers").

 

Basically, video games do help hand eye coordination but not so much that it's the greatest thing ever. lol

[AnimeAddict]

Your argument is dumb. The military only uses Battlefield 3, Halo, and about 2 other games to train their recruits. This doesn't even give them enough training either. They only use it for a simulation. They don't just sit there and play video games and call it Basic, they still get the physical and mental training as always. If you knew any better, the military want people who play video games. Because they know they're able to Multi-task, controller adaption, and awareness are already raised to the area they like. They want to recruit gamers to pilot drones for them. That's mostly what the military wants.

 

And Assassin's creed teaches you way more than you think. If you don't play for fun, that is. Instead, you need to play for the story. Listen to what's going on in the story and you'll hear all the events that went on in that time period and location. You could learn a lot from any video game story, actually. 

 

The point is, gaming is more educational then you can think. It has inspired many people to become involved in something that includes technology for a career. It has brought us all the technology today, all because these inspire some ideas and somebody comes by and sees it and says "Hey, I could use that idea for..."

HAHAHAHAH just imagine in the future they will use Battlefield 15 to do war instead of sending out soldiers xD

[Fishy]

HAHAHAHAH just imagine in the future they will use Battlefield 15 to do war instead of sending out soldiers xD

Lol, Battlefield brought in the top 3 world powers. Now that we've got China, USA, and Russia, who's next?

[Delpen9]

You're right about everything but I'd like to add something about the hand-eye coordination.

 

Playing games will only improve your hand-eye coordination to a certain point. The easiest way to get the most out of it is to actually play the game for just long enough that you remain unfamiliar with it, as this will exercise the part of your brain that controls hand-eye coordination. This will actually help boost your reaction time for "irl".

 

However if you play the game so much you become accustomed to it then your brain will switch from focusing on what your are doing physically to what you are doing in the game. The controller becomes a reflex. At the point the controller becomes a reflex, it is no longer stimulating the part of the brain that controls hand-eye coordination. Which causes you to level out.

 

Once you level out it will take quite an extended time to get to the point where playing will help your hand-eye coordination again (and for some gamers this may never happen because of the "universality of controllers").

 

Basically, video games do help hand eye coordination but not so much that it's the greatest thing ever. lol

This is why you are my favorite. 

[тυcкєя]

kk I know this is off topic but my mom is always getting on me about not exercising, like most kids once I get in game mode theres no going back. I always have something to say "Tucker! Are you on the game, not exercising?" "ACTUALLY MOM I AM EXERCISING.. WITH MY FINGERS ." But anyways I do think games can be educational. Take strategy games for an example, you have to think instead of being reckless. Math can be involved with video games too. I'm not sure how but XD. Nice post btw .

[Delpen9]

kk I know this is off topic but my mom is always getting on me about not exercising, like most kids once I get in game mode theres no going back. I always have something to say "Tucker! Are you on the game, not exercising?" "ACTUALLY MOM I AM EXERCISING.. WITH MY FINGERS ." But anyways I do think games can be educational. Take strategy games for an example, you have to think instead of being reckless. Math can be involved with video games too. I'm not sure how but XD. Nice post btw .

Actually, my friend uses math to determine the physics of certain android apps. It's interesting to say the least. Sadly, some games that can be beaten with math and logic are instead played through trial-and-error(which is the most renown form of heuristics)...  Sudoku is fun. 

[Silent Orbis]

I probably have a better reflex than your average street kid - thanks to gaming. And, there are so many history assignments I would've failed without Assassin's Creed, I swear.

[AnimeAddict]

Lol, Battlefield brought in the top 3 world powers. Now that we've got China, USA, and Russia, who's next?

GERMANY!

[Ranger Intel]

Some of you bring up really good points. True that shooters can work and improve on your reflexes. About learning Science from Halo, I was also trying to point out the books. I get really stuck into them and keep reading on. I learn new words and different way about how Science can work. It's great because I'm also learning about Halo Lore!. About strategy games (such as Halo Wars), like Tucker said they require real mental skill. You can't be reckless because you're likely to end up losing. You have to be extremely thoughtful about how you can counter the enemy and destroy them whilst still keep your units and allied units (if you have a team) alive.