Educational Video Games Useful for Academic Achievement

By Pritha Biswas 

Rubik Cube

Time and again in scientific quantitative research gamers have shown to outperform non-gamer control groups. According to social science scholars games are not a new phenomenon of the 21st century to be used in learning. They have been around for a long time and were used by the Department of Defense to inspire or stimulate military and political crises situations. For instance, in the Polish nationalistic uprising, the pro-Castro movement and in the Cold War. But the way games are used have come a long way and are much more than conniving military strategy tools. They are now ingrained in our culture and form a significant component of our contemporary culture.

But video games since their inception have been an object of both fascination as well as fear among the masses. Today the gaming fear has subsided and as per reports, 75 percent of corporate managers in IT giants like Apple, Google and HP under the age of 35 play video games on a regular basis. Also employees above the age of 35 play or have substantial gaming experience. In fact these days' games are so popular that they are purchased in numbers greater movies.

There has been a shift towards educational video games along with other educational toys like the Rubik's cube. Educational video games have very many positive effects on kids like, give them a sense of achievement when they begin to solve a problem and progressively get good at it, they learn real world problem solving strategies, there is optimism from persevering to solve the game as they understand that they are fairly smart and regular play of such educational games for kids work to keep their brains active and stay sharp. Their mental reflexes to a problem at hand changes for the better and also gives them a wider perception to solving problems. There are also other benefits to such game play, like, it improves hand-eye coordination, improves children's concentration levels and helps them to process thoughts faster and also improves short-term memory skills.

The most interesting form of intellectual development associated with video games is the level of foremost intelligence in humans of spatial or visual understanding. Humans have the unique ability to imagine realistic worldly spaces in their minds, and video games help to develop and work on kids' spatial intelligence; as these games work as a 3 dimensional puzzle much like an open-ended puzzle like a treasure hunt.

Moreover, certain educational video games are also known to help children with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) so that they can avoid unhealthy thoughts and keep their minds off from them with games that keep them busy.

So, what are you waiting for?! Pick up your gaming consoles and start learning like the contemporary gen next child should!

Pritha is a writer and Team Member at Aklavya- A Free Educational Game for Children. The project is still in its nascent stages but already is considered to hold much potential.

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