Video Games in Education

I will tell you teachers three reasons why video games can be
educational: first they are motivational, second, they can benefit
health, creative problem solving and last but not least it helps
decision making. I hope that after reading this you will start using video
games to educate your students.
Video games are a method you can use to educate students through play.
This essay is about how and why YOU can and should use video games at
school.

How are video games

motivational?
When children play video games they will be more interested and
curious about the work and learning taking place in the game. If you were
to tell your student or child go learn about volume, area and perimeter in a
math book, the child would most likely say,uhh... but I want to play
Minecraft can I do that later? But using video games like Minecraft can be
useful in this case for motivating them to do more. For example, you could
ask your student or child to do math about area and perimeter on
Minecraft. How you would do this is by asking them to build a house with a
certain amount of blocks for volume. To do this for area you could say the
width is 18 and the length is 20 so find how many blocks you need to fill in
the floor. In this case the student would then be more eager to learn new
skills so they can study for hours with Minecraft.
Lumosity is another educational website that uses games to entice
learning. It helps with memory through a game that is called memory
matrix. What the game does is shows you a pattern and then it disappears

so that you then have to put down the pattern on the board from memory.
It then gets harder but you only have 15 tries so you better have a great
memory. If youd like to try it out click on this link
Lumosity.

Health benefits
Video games have various but related ways
they help with the
health of a person, in this case a student. When a
child is having
fun, the brain is releasing stress and this makes learning easy as it opens up
the brain to understanding. Furthermore, video games can help develop
fine motor skills. The fingers become stronger hence developing muscles
that can be used in other related education fields like writing. Video games
also help develop hand-eye coordination. Hand eye coordination is
beneficial for students and some students who have disabilities and if they
play video games they will start or continue developing their hand eye
coordination.
Another way video games can help with health is that they can
improve memory. One game that can do that is Lumosity. It helps with
memory, both short term and long term. Memory is important for both
older and younger people.
In some studies it was shown that videogames can also help with
eyesight; one example of this was proved through a study conducted by
scientists from the University of Rochester. They took 22 university
students and split them into two groups; one group that played fast paced,
action games and the other played SIMS (SIMS is a game where you control
people, develop relationships, build things, and begin to understand the
wants and fears of others). After 9 weeks and a total 50 hours of gameplay
the students who played action games where better at comparing things
and finding the difference between unlikeness and likeness.

Decision-Making
Did you know that students who play action and fast paced games can
make accurate decisions 25% faster than other people? How we know is
through a test conducted by scientists from the University of Rochester,
they found out that action fast paced games can help you make accurate
decisions 25% faster. They allowed participants to play 2 video games, one
group an action game the other not an action game. Then they tested the
students, the students who played the action games answered 25% faster
than the other students. The students who played the fast paced action
games answered the same amount of questions correct as the students who
played the SIMS but 25% faster!

Creative Problem-Solving
Video games can build creative problem-solving. How, you ask? Well
there was a woman named Jane McGonigal and she suffered from a severe
head injury. To help her recover she gamified her life by setting herself
challenges to do. Games helped her regain control over her life. To give
back she made a game that is called Superbetter. What the game does is
improves your mood, adds belief in yourself and it also helps people achieve
their goals.
Terraria is another game that includes creative problem-solving. In
Terraria is a game where there is a lot of outside research so that will then
include a lot of outside research and then you have a lot of trial and error
like for when they are building. When the students make a mistake that
will make them have a new idea and maybe that idea might inspire them to
be an architect, so that can and will improve their creativity and problemsolving.
I hope that after reading this you will start to use video games more in
education. As you have learned gaming is motivational, it can benefit you
and your students health and it brings creativity. So please use video games
to educate, you will have a new experience!

Bibliography:
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<http://www.improveeyesighthq.com/video-games-improve-eyesight.html>.
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