The Importance Of Videogames In Education

Videogames

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“As well as entertainment, videogames can now be used for exercise, education, and training for many types of jobs. People who blame violence and lack of real social contact on videogames are simply part of an older generation who do not use or understand them.” To play or not to play is something is a looming in most countries. In the United States, for instance, it is estimated that on average 90% of children play video games for about 2 hours in a day (Woodham, 2014). An average gamer in the US is 30 while in the UK is 35 (Woodham, 2014). Considering that most children today grow up playing videogames like Sega Genesis and Nintendo, these children are likely to continue playing when they grow up. More

A report published by Horizon in 2011 provided that game based learning and augmented reality are likely to gain widespread use in the next two to three years (Annetta, 2008). The benefits of videogames in education have also seen a rise in game based learning advocates, who argue that game based learning especially in higher education creates the ability of digital games to used as teaching tools as well as tools for reinforcing skills that are significant for future jobs (McClarty et al, 2012). According to Annetta (2008) a number of videogames are currently being developed for education purposes. Immune Attack, for instance, was developed by the FAS, The University of Southern California and Brown University as an alternative means to educate students on complex immunology topics. In this game, the player who is perceived to have a unique immunodeficiency has to teach his immune system how to function properly or die (Annetta, 2008). In this game, therefore, the human body is regarded as the playing field, while immune cells act as worriers that face off the villain characters, which happen to be the

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Annetta, L. (2008). Video Games in Education: Why They Should Be Used and How They Are Being Used. Theory Into Practice, 47(3), 229-239. doi:10.1080/00405840802153940

Barab, S., Scott, B., Siyahhan, S., Goldstone, R., Ingram-Goble, A., Zuiker, S., & Warren, S. (2009). Transformational Play as a Curricular Scaffold: Using Videogames to Support Science Education. Journal Of Science Education And Technology, 18(4), 305-320. doi:10.1007/s10956-009-9171-5

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Engelhardt, C., Bartholow, B., Kerr, G., & Bushman, B. (2011). This is your brain on violent video games: Neural desensitization to violence predicts increased aggression following violent video game exposure. Journal Of Experimental Social Psychology, 47(5), 1033-1036.