By Gavin Boyle
Adults who played video games as children are finding that the pastime actually gave them skill valuable for real life.
“Instead of a student reading a textbook and answering questions about Jamestown, they can actually be immersed in a Jamestown world, learn the same skills, and they can still go and take that unit test,” said Niyoka McCoy, K12 Chief Learning Officer, when providing an example of how video games can help students learn. “We looked at the difference between the students who just read the text, answered the questions, and the students that actually went through [a] Minecraft world and found that those students did do better on their assessment.”
K12 runs a company that creates these types of experiences to help facilitate learning, and its internal studies found that students believe gaming of all types helps them learn. From Gen X to Gen Z, roughly 50% of those who grew up playing video games believe video games taught them skills that they use in their professional careers.
Related: Can Video Games Teach Players About Real-World Economics?
Those involved in the study cited problem-solving, strategic thinking, decision-making under pressure and creativity as the most useful skills acquired by childhood gaming.
Teachers outside of the K12 network have found similar success using video games to teach students, and topics like economics are especially ripe for integration with the pastime.
“They match really well,” explained researcher Dmitri Williams when discussing how video games can teach economics. “When people have the same incentives, people feel about their in-game money the way they feel about the real-world money.”
“I would argue that most students today, and that the younger generations, they learn about the financial system through gaming more than any other source,” added Joost van Dreunen, a professor at the Stern School of Business in New York.
However, before parents allow their children to spend every second of their free time playing video games, they should recognize that many of the skills learned through video games can be gained through other means. Sports, music and art can also teach problem-solving, strategic thinking, decision-making under pressure and creativity, while also engaging other parts of the mind and body.
Rather than viewing video games as the holy grail of learning, they should instead be fit into a balanced life with the understanding that they are not wholly bad as many thought in the past. The skills they teach are valuable, but they are not the only way for children to gain this experience.
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