Video Games: More Beneficial Than We Thought

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Recommended: The affect of video games on youth

In today’s world one thing you don’t hear everyday is learning is fun. For some it can be, but many children aren’t that excited to learn. What if there was a way to make learning fun for kids? Well there is, its called gamification. Gamifiction is the process of using game thinking and game mechanics to engage audiences according to Gabe Zichermann an educational gaming expert. Though its been said that video games cause laziness and violence in kids, we now know that video games can be a significant learning tool in early child development. Research has shown that video games help children with multitasking skills and can also increase fluid intelligence, which is the intelligence we use to solve problems (Zichermann). Video games may be more beneficial than we thought.

In today’s society video games have a bad reputation and a negative connotation because research has said that video games promote violence. Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill by Dave Grossman and Gloria DeGaetano is a book about the negative effect the entertainment industry has on children’s, “We should not be surprised that half the video games that a typical 7th grader plays are violent”(1). Well violent games do not make a child violent, however if you have a violent kid already then a violent game may make them more violent (Zichermann). It has also been said that video games can distract kids and cause anti-social issues. Dr. Dimitri Christakis from UW states, “Children habituated to games may find the real world underwhelming and under stimulating.” Which means that children will be out of touch with what’s going on around them because they are too consumed in their video games.

Even though video games have a bad reputation more and more researchers are ...

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...me-Based Learning: Its Not Just The Digital Natives Who Are Restless." Educause Review Mar. 2006: 1-16. ProQuest. Web. 14 Dec. 2011.

Gee, James Paul. "Learning by Design: Good Video Games as Learning Machines." E-Learning 2.1 (2005): 5. Print.

Grossman, Dave, and Gloria DeGaetano. "Introduction." Introduction. Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: a Call to Action against TV, Movie & Video Game Violence. New York: Crown, 1999. Print.

How Games Make Kids Smarter. Perf. Gabe Zichermann. Ted.com. Tedx, Nov. 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. .

Steinberg, Scott. "How Video Games Can Make You Smarter - CNN." Featured Articles

from CNN. 31 Jan. 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. .

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