Which one of us doesn’t love playing video games? We bet that all of you do! Video games are a great activity for a pastime. They are engaging, fun, competitive, and have plenty of other benefits too. But, while many think that such activities are only good for passing the time, they can actually be used in education too, and they have plenty of benefits in this sector.
Table of Contents
1. Learning From Failure
Although it is proven that making mistakes is a crucial element of the educational process, it often feels like you have no right to fail in a traditional academic curriculum. Let’s say you were assigned to write an essay. You can do your best to research the topic and put your ideas together in a compelling paper. But then, a teacher spots a mistake, and all your efforts go in vain.
Of course, it feels very downing to get a bad grade despite your efforts. No wonder why students choose to use the paper writing service WritePaper.com to avoid mistakes and ensure high grades. As a result, students lose all motivation to study and get a strong fear of making a mistake. And, of course, this gets in the way of their progress.
Video games are much different. In every game, players fail in a safe environment and learn from their mistakes. They can try over and over until they succeed. In the process, they study more efficiently, and it is pretty fun too. So, this is the first way such activities can benefit education.
2. Better Engagement
The second big perk of game-based learning is that it boosts students’ engagement. Do you know how engaged students typically are during a lesson? According to a study by the American Psychological Association, they only spend 60% of their class time learning. The rest of the time they spend distracting and minding their own business. Now, it is easy to imagine how much information they miss during that 40% of the time that they are not engaged in the process.
In order to ensure learners’ success and help them perform better, schools have already tried to extend the school day. However, this turned out to be not too effective. On the contrary, one thing that is effective is integrating engaging activities that would keep young people involved. And video games can really help with that.
Such activities are designed to maximize students’ engaged time on task. Games keep them involved and motivated, which also helps them acquire and process new knowledge better. So, this is another way it can benefit the educational sector.
3. Making Complex Knowledge Simple
When it comes to complex subjects, such as sciences, educators often have to go the extra mile to explain the key concepts to their class. However, no matter how hard they try, learners may not always be able to comprehend complex knowledge right after the teacher’s explanation. Often, it requires additional repetition and practice to process and retain knowledge. And the form of material presentation also matters a lot – the more laid back and simple it is, the better.
Now, what does this have to do with video games? Believe it or not, developers often do better than teachers in laying out complex concepts in a simple manner. When playing, students receive the educational material presented in a fun and simple way. On top of that, they also tackle different tasks to reinforce the learned material and acquire related skills.
As a result, students are having fun while also learning even the most complex subjects. Add to this increased motivation and engagement, and you have a perfect formula for academic success.
4. Creating Experiential Learning Experiences
One thing about schools that we often forget is that they are not only about studying. Simply memorizing the learned material is never the end goal of the education process. The end goal is to prepare learners for their future careers and life. And that’s where traditional experiences don’t work too well anymore.
Experiential learning is more effective in terms of preparing young people for the future. It focuses not only on providing educational material but also on helping students acquire the most crucial 21st-century skills. These skills include creativity, problem-solving, collaboration, and more. They all play a huge role in the modern world. But, acquiring them from a traditional curriculum is nearly impossible.
That’s one more place where video games step in. Such apps help us create experiential learning experiences. While playing, users often have to solve real problems in a virtual, fantasy environment. This often requires applying additional skills such as critical and creative thinking. Such experiences can’t be gained in traditional classrooms. But they are crucial for academic success. So, this is one more reason why we need video games in education.
5. Keeping Students in STEM
There has been a lot of buzz around STEM education lately. In a nutshell, STEM is a special teaching approach designed to bring together science, technology, engineering, arts, and math and create cross-disciplinary learning experiences. Although STEM education can be quite exciting, it can’t be called easy. STEM subjects include some pretty challenging courses, for example, calculus, that students really struggle with.
Due to its complexity, STEM remains one of those fields that very few students will choose. However, the truth is that there is a huge need for a STEM workforce in the future. So, teachers and schools should look for ways to help students stay in STEM.
The University of Oklahoma found a solution. The institution has developed an exciting calculus game meant to make this course simpler and help students succeed in it. As a result, their research has found that this game has significantly increased students’ success in calculus and created an opportunity to retain students in STEM. If we apply the same approach to all challenging courses within all facilities, we can boost students’ engagement in complex subjects and prepare a new generation of the high-quality STEM workforce.
6. Making the Most of Personalization
Not all of us are the same. Therefore, there can never be one-size-fits-all solutions in education.
This brings us to the last benefit of video games in education – they provide more opportunities for personalization. They enable students to learn at their own pace. Besides, such games can offer personalized resources and materials to match every student’s learning style and personal needs.
As a result, by integrating games into education, we can create more personalized experiences and set every individual learner up for success.
The Bottom Line
Whether in a high school, college, or university, creating engaging, fun, and personalized experiences is the key to helping learners achieve success. However, traditional teaching methods and activities don’t seem to be as exciting for students as they used to be before. Now, in the age of technology, students are craving innovation. And game-based learning can give it to them.
As you now know, leveraging video games in a classroom can have numerous perks. It makes the process fun and keeps students involved. It also explains complex subjects in simple terms and, thus, helps learners achieve greater results. So, one way or another, there is a huge potential for gamified learning!
