1. ParentingScience.com
https://patients.aan.com/
These article gave us varied opinions and views about how video
games within education relate or don’t relate to poor school
performance.
Educational video games not associated with poor
school performance
Erin Hastings led a survey of 70 school boys, aged 6 to 10 years
(Hastings et al 2010). Her team asked parents to describe their sons’
usage of video games, and to report on their sons’ academic
performance (e.g., the boys’ grade point averages).
Subsequent analysis revealed that time spent playing was linked with
low school competence--but only for violent video games. Kids who
played educational video games (like Math Blaster or Reader Rabbit)
did not suffer academically.
Such results are consistent with surveys on adolescents who play
video games in the United States. In one representative sample of
American adolescents, aged 10 to 19, kids who played video games
spent 30% less time reading and 34% less time doing homework
(Cummings and Vandewater 2007).
Health effects of video games
Researchers tracked the boys’ academic performance at school, and
found evidence of an effect. Not only did the kids who received game
systems spend less time doing homework, they also performed worse
on standardized tests of reading and writing four months later.
Moreover, their teachers were more likely to report academic
problems.
While a number of companies have tried to create beneficial
games for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD), they've had limited success. “It's difficult to make
games that are exciting for kids who have attention issues, but
2. not so exciting that the game reinforces ADHD-like behaviors,”
says Dr. Hummer.
Practicing anything repetitively physically changes the brain.
With time and effort, you get better at the specific task you're
practicing, whether it's shooting at the enemy in a video game
or hitting a baseball. Those repetitive actions and thoughts
stimulate connections between brain cells, creating neural
pathways between different parts of your brain. The more you
practice a certain activity, the stronger that neural pathway
becomes. That's the structural basis of learning.
