Games In Education

Learning through video games had been largely ignored by the education community. It has not yet been widely accepted as a powerful tool for academic learning. Current research is very limited and remains largely unexplored. The little research that exists states that learning through video games has multiple advantages because it is user-centered. In other words, they can promote challenges, co-operation, engagement, and the development of problem-solving strategies. For this reason, it is important for the educational community to begin considering the learning possibilities offered by video game based learning.

Video games center on visual learning through iconic and spatial representations. Research indicates that children develop particular spatial skills since video games focus primarily on reading images, such as pictures and diagrams. Pictures are far more important than words in this type of learning environment. Children develop visual attention skills as they are continuously keeping track of a lot of different things at the same time. However, there is not sufficient research that links video game playing to higher developed attentional skills.

A number of studies have been completed to explore the role of games in supporting educational goals. Forty-six educational videogames were designed, covering almost the entire educational program in language and mathematics. Findings indicated that teachers responded positively to the use of video games in learning. They considered the videogame to be an easy-to-use educational instrument with potential as backup to other teaching material. Even though the response was positive, teachers stressed the difficulty of using videos games in their teacher due to pressure of time and the need to cover the educational curriculum outline. Most teachers, however, acknowledge that games contribute to the development of a wide variety of strategies that are extremely important for learning: problem-solving, sequence learning, deductive reasoning, memorizing. The following conclusions were an outcome of this study:

1. Videogames aid the development of strategies for reading three-dimensional images.
2. They help to develop learning through observation and hypothesis testing.
3. They broaden the understanding of scientific simulations.
4. They increase strategies for parallel attention.

The inclusion of video games in education has not been widely explored. Research begins to point to the benefits but a large body of research is still needed to fully understand the impact videos games can have in student learning.