Are Games Good For Learning?

Video Games have always been a controversial topic. As a modern invention, and a draw for kids, they’ve been a lightning rod for social commentary. Any “kids these days” complaint can always just be pinned on video games, television, mobile phones, or other invention the commentator didn’t have or had less of in their youth. The cries of social decay are as old as society itself, as we can look back through the press, literature, and even clay tablets to see the same worries about kids not valuing tradition, being rude or lazy come up across millennia. What if we stop and actually look at the facts through a more rational perspective and evaluate games on a scientific basis? Turns out, the reality is pretty positive. Games can do a lot of good.

The Research

For most of their history video games were relegated to the sidelines of scientific study. Only in the relatively recent past have they become the focus of any significant study. This is likely because of four reasons; the newness of the technology, the rise in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and it’s boon to the field of cognitive science, the increasing number of scientists who engage with video games, and the undeniable economic and social impact of gaming this century.

We are now seeing more study focused on the impact of technology on development and social interaction primarily focused on mobile phones, social media and video games. We also see a few important push factors for better research into our technology use and its impact on youth – rising rates of obesity, autism, and suicide have all prompted a deeper look at what modern childhood is and what causes might be behind these trends. Unfortunately for the fearmongers, video games might not be causing any of those problems, and might actually be a mitigating factor! We need more research and less hyperbole.

Thankfully we do have a growing number of researchers who are pursuing these issues. So far the results aren’t what the naysayers predicted. Prominent researchers like Dr. Rachel Kowert and Dr. James Paul Gee have not only helped build a body of evidence, but have helped put forward the good news into the public conscious. Games are not causing the downfall of civilization, but in reality they can and are actually promoting learning, better mental health, and increased mental performance. We now have multiple scientific studies, and meta-analysis (the evaluation of multiple scientific studies to better derive a consensus), that show video games can have cognitive, motivational, emotional, and social benefits for players.

Drive & Motivation

A common benefit cited for using video games in education is engagement. Video games are probably the most engaging media we can use in any field, and education is no different. Often when compared to traditional formal learning, video games offer students an exciting stimulating immersive opportunity for agency and autonomy. It won’t be a surprise to anyone that kids want to play video games. But this draw could just be the same as their desire to eat candy, mere fulfillment of base urges. What benefits is it really offering? One potential area is drive and motivation. Students want to play video games, if we provide educational games, they have some inherent drive or motivation to at least try them. But games are built to provide goals, choices and stories, a part of good game design is to help continually encourage the player to continue and succeed. Used correctly we can see games help students keep the drive to finish and by keeping them engaged encourage and increase participation and completion rates.

Tenacity & Resilience

Stick-to-it-ness is a valuable skill in a learner, and here video games can really excel. Part of the challenge of building a video game is to balance the difficulty. Games need to provide some level of challenge to the player, but also need to be winnable. Games are built around the concepts of challenge and overcoming challenge, often including loss or setback as part of the process. We’ve all seen character plummet to their doom or get eaten by monsters only to see the player get another life and try again. Resilience is built into the norms of gaming.

Good game design builds to encourage a growth mindset. Playing a game is a skill (or set of skills), either physical, mental or even social. Skills take time to develop, and the process inherently involves messing up. Games are built around these realities, with opportunities to fail, learn and grow. Combined with systems for drive and motivation they teach tenacity to reach goals and overcome setbacks.

Strategy & Planning

“Games are a series of interesting choices” is a quote attributed to game developer superstar Sid Meier, creator of the Civilization series. A good game provides the player with options. Combined over a series of choices and interactions players are faced with an emergent system to navigate and plan around. This necessitates at least some level of strategizing and planning. Some games take this further than others, with Strategy and Simulation gaming constituting a large portion of the industry. Games are a great way for us to explore ideas, concepts and consequences. Computers are perfect for simulation, being able to not just calculate complex relations and consequences, but also easily and quickly setup or clear out scenarios. By using games we can give students the ability to simulate situations or concepts and to explore them with agency and autonomy. They can try different strategies, analyze results and plan around different theories of solutions and options.

Problem Solving & Cognition

Strategizing and planning can’t happen in a vacuum. Players need to be able to perceive and interpret the game world correctly to make plans. This can be a major challenge with developing minds, games need to be age appropriate, but they can help to expand and train cognitive skills. Games require players to understand the game world and the problems and opportunities it provides. A good game is designed to help players understand these systems, sometimes through manipulation, others guessing, and others creation or exploration. They are a rich environment for perception, interpretation and hypothesis. Puzzle games are the most obvious examples of getting players to understand manipulating the game environment to progress, but all games are problem solving playgrounds in some form or another. Done right students can learn the joys of puzzling their brains, building theories and working out solutions.

Creativity & Imagination

One of the great joys I get in working with kids and video games is when they can discover their own voice through creative tools. Games aren’t just a medium of consumption, they can be creative tools for players to use to bring their imaginations to life. This is a wonderful and underappreciated nature of games – the ability to both spark imagination and empower creativity. Now not all games have a particular creative aspect, but all empower the imagination. When playing any game a players brain automatically is generating future possibilities. This skill can be prompted, enhanced and rewarded by clever educators and mentors. Games with direct creative opportunity provide these options directly, and educators should make good use of them. The exercise doesn’t just provide for the maturation of a students autonomy and personality, but it also encourages deeper understanding and engagement with the system and topics. Turning from observer to consumer to creator is a powerful transformation and shows students a path to personal fulfillment and self-empowerment.

Social Learning & Empathy

While video games are often seen as a solitary exercise they rarely are. While many games are multiplayer providing an obvious social angle, even solitary games are often a social engagement. As the dominant media of our time, students have gaming as both a hobby and as a generational experience. They talk about games constantly even when they can’t play them together. They’ll watch each other play, they’ll discuss their theories, ideas, strategies and experiences. They are a shared experience even when experienced, initially, alone.

We can see this as we bring video games into the classroom. Students will share with each other their thoughts and experiences about games. They’ll teach each other strategies, commiserate over setbacks and celebrate each others victories. Social bonding and social learning are inherent to the use of games. When actively engaged in through social learning best practices, video games offer wonderful opportunities for teachers to get students bonding and empathizing with each other.

Taking this further some games, even single player ones, can offer social and empathic content and game play. Role-playing games allow students to experience a game world through the shoes of a character that allow them to see things from their perspective. They engage in narratives, often reading dialogue and choosing responses to it. These can offer opportunities for reading comprehension, empathy and other social skills that students can explore with a digital partner, meaning mistakes and assumptions can be learned without the hurt feelings of a real-life partner.