It has been said from many people of the older generations that “video games fry the brain”. In fact that is not the case, because they actually do the opposite for the brain. Playing video games allows the student to have better attention, increased visuospatial skills (ability to identify visual and spatial relationships among objects), and increased density of the brain. Video games should be allowed in school with restrictions.
The attention of a student is immensely important to the learning they are suppose to do throughout the day. When a student does not pay attention, it's almost as if they ‘zone out’, which means they basically heard nothing from the teacher. The goal of a student is to learn and be ready for the outside world so they can get a job and earn money. This is all based off of their younger schooling/high school days. The child's future depends on these critical years. By allowing students to play video games in school, it will raise their attention span so their time for learning is optimized. After multiple studies were conducted, found that video games will improve the attention of a child. “For example, video game use is known to affect attention. The studies included in the review show that video game players display improvements in several types of attention, including sustained attention and selective attention” (Nichols, 2017). The article continues to say that the regions of the brain in which play a role in attention are more efficient in gamers compared with non-gamers. Not only that but they require less activation to stay focused on demanding tasks. By allowing the student to play video game, or by incorporating games into the daily lesson plan, children will have an increased attention span during the day.
The phrase ‘practice makes perfect’ is a true yet false statement. Even though anybody can practice a skill constantly, will they ever become perfect? In the case of sports, an athlete can definitely get better at their skill, which is likely hand eye coordination or reflexes. They can practice it over and over again and constantly get better little by little but will never become perfect at it. Unsurprisingly, the same goes for most video games. In a study based around video games and how they affect the brain, there was a clear link between playing video games which keep the gamer on their toes and certain parts of the brain. By practicing certain skills in the game, the child is more likely to repeat what they just learned because it will now come naturally to them. From the studies, the performance of the brain after playing video games enhanced and the structure of the brain increased. The evidence from the study illustrates that playing video games increases the size and competence of parts of the brain responsible for visuospatial skills (Nichols, 2017). In many classes in the high school, finding relationships between two different things is critical to understanding the key concepts during the day. By incorporating different video games into the daily lesson plans, students will be able to make connections between concepts and create a deeper understanding of the text. By intensely doing the same process over and over again it will eventually improve certain areas of the brain. One study found that playing video games frequently and intensely was associated with more cortical thickness in the brain, or essentially more density in certain brain regions ( Bushak, 2015). With this being said, storytelling in video games may improve children's social skills and emotional abilities- especially those with autism. Video games have also been linked to improving memory and problem solving skills.
Games can be integrated into the school day by creating an elective, or held in a 9th mod room. It gives the students an opportunity to do what they want and enjoy their time, without having to worry about getting in trouble while playing in school. By having a signup sheet in homeroom, it can allow the student to pick a day of the week to go down to a certain room and at least give the opportunity to play the games they want once in a while. Another great way to integrate games into the educational day is by actually using them while learning. For instance, some of my teachers thought it was a great idea to play games that are based off of what we are learning, especially in biology. It helped me and my fellow students really grasp the idea that was being taught. This would eliminate students getting bored and falling asleep while the teacher is non-stop lecturing, when the subject isn't interesting. Who wants to learn about meiosis in biology and be expected to remember all of it? Wouldn't an interactive game taking a student through the steps be more helpful and engaging? Isn’t it better to be a kid while they still can?
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