Consequences Of Video Games

Video games are generally considered to be a pastime, as in to pass the time and have fun. The concept that they can be an educational tool is perceived by many as just an excuse to extend their playing time with more games. Students are sometimes punished by their parents by deploying the confiscation method to cease their activities with a gaming device. The simplest way to teach using video games is to have students play games that contain similarities with an existing school curriculum. This is not a recent addition to the classroom as teachers have been using games since 1971. There were three student teachers that had created the classic educational game called The Oregon Trail, for use in a history lesson. This paper looks at the benefits …show more content…
1998), along with various medical and psychological effects. It is also perceived as an addictive pastime (Griffiths, M.D. & Hunt, N. 1998), and parents constantly complain that their offspring focuses too much attention to it. Before video games came along, there were other gaming distractions that were equally addictive, suffice to say that children will always find something to distract them from reality. According to recent research, Video games can actually assist in many psychology disorders such as ADD (attention deficit disorder) (Wright, K. 2001). Attitudes may change with the onset of more frequent use of video games in the classroom and the realisation that it can be a positive learning …show more content…
Teachers are recognising the value of video games in the classroom to create a visual approach to a wide range of studies. The sizeable impact that this has on the students is not just about fun, it is also good pedagogy. The ability to combine an extremely fun activity with the learning concept can produce amazing results without the learner considering their environment. Video games also expand the imagination of the learner with the probability that they will want to re-visit the game in their own time or the classroom environment. Evidence suggests that vital skills can honed by children watching video games such as spatial visualisation (Subrahmanyam, K. & Greenfield, P. 1994), and language learning. The games can be used as a tool for measuring self-esteem, feedback and behavioural changes. A plethora of anomalies exist within the technology along with the curriculum, social and pedagogical levels in education amongst school based learning. When teachers engage students with content-aligned games, and particularly epistemic games, good pedagogy takes place while still maintaining levels of difficulty that will stimulate the imagination. This will keep the focus on the video game while the student may not even be aware of their learning