Source 1 :

6 Basic Benefits Of Game-Based Learning

There seems to be a perception that online gaming has a detrimental impact on childrens
development. Nothing could be further from the truth, and there are countlessand complex
reasons for this, but it also makes sense at the basic benefits of game-based learning.
Of course children should not spend every single second of the day staring at a computer
screen. Nevertheless, education and online gaming certainly arent enemies either. In fact,
playing online games may be something which can enhance a childs learning and development.
How?

1. Increases A Childs Memory Capacity

Games often revolve around the utilization of memorization This not only relates to
games whereby children have to remember aspects in order to solve the game, memorize critical
sequences, or track narrative elements.
2. Computer & Simulation Fluency
This is something which is very important because we live in a world which is dominated
by technology. Playing on games via the internet allows children the license to get used to how a
computer works and thus it becomes second nature to them. There are websites, such as Cartoon
Network games, which provide young children with fun and exciting games which also teach
them to utilize the mouse and keyboard properly, not to mention browsing, username and
passwords, and general internet navigation.
3. Helps With Fast Strategic Thinking & Problem-Solving
Most games require children to think quickly. Moreover, they have to utilize their logic in
order to think three steps ahead in order to solve problems and complete levels. This is great
because it is something which helps children in later life as they develop their logic, their
accuracy and their ability to think on their feet and outside of the box.
4. Develops Hand-Eye Coordination
As mentioned earlier, Cartoon Network games and similar fare require children to
use a gamepad or a keyboard and the mouse to operate the games. Not only does this get
them more tuned to how a computer works, but it also helps to develop hand-eye
coordination because children have to look at the action on the screen whilst using their
hands to control what is happening at the same time.

5. Beneficial Specifically For Children With Attention Disorders

Research has revealed that online games can actually help children who experience
attention disorders. This was concluded by a professor at Nottingham University (CNN covered
it here), and is a notion which has been repeated by many in related studies.
6. Skill-Building (e.g. map reading)
A lot of games contain certain aspects which help children with specific skills. For
example, a lot of mystery and adventure games contain maps which children will have to read.
This obviously helps their map reading skills and practical thinking. Moreover, there are games,
such as football management games, which introduce children to managing finances and general
project management.
As you can see, there are a whole host of reasons as to why online games can be
beneficial for children. Thus, education and gaming certainly arent enemies; in fact many would
say that they are more like best friends.
This is a contributed post from Celina Jones, a freelance blogger associated with Cartoon
Network; 6 Basic Benefits Of Game-Based Learning
Source:
http://www.teachthought.com/uncategorized/6-basic-benefits-of-game-based-learning/

Source 2 :
The Benefits of Games for Children and Adults
The use of games for children and adults alike are a great way to improve a great number
of mental and physical skills, and often bring with them a lot of significant benefits. Games have
a far greater educational influence than most people are aware of. Many children with
developmental disabilities, who dont normally seem to react to their environments are often
completely transformed when playing games.

Games have a great impact on sensory perception at a number of different levels. For
example: A baseball player learns to process very quickly that the ball is coming toward him, or
that he is in danger of being tagged, or that it is his turn; or that he hears the footstep behind him,
or his name or number called, a touch on his shoulder, the persons senses are stimulated so the
person can recognize and respond to all the things going on around them. With practice, the
clumsy awkward body becomes agile and expert; a child who tumbles down today wont tumble
down next week. Were never too old to improve our physical ability to respond to sensory
stimuli and games are a great way to help us does that.

Games also contribute a great deal to social development. Many kids, because of
problems at home, shyness or physical disability find it hard to react with others. Some adults
cant either, and nothing places one at a greater disadvantage in a business or social setting.
Many developmental studies show that children that are normally withdrawn for whatever
reasons, have shown a lot of improvement in their ability to cooperate with playmates, and have
even increased their popularity among their playmates because of skills brought about by playing
games. Tests done with shy adults have had similar results.

Games teach children to follow certain limits and levels of self-control. A child who has to
take his turn will think more carefully about his turn. A game that requires taking turns is
a great way to focus attention, since a player constantly has to readjust plans based on
others actions.

The as children grow older, their play becomes more complicated, and requires increasingly
more social skills. Games for children should have very few restrictions; but as players grow
older, the games have more rules and regulations appear. These require even greater self-control.
Rules like waiting ones turn, and not starting over the line in race until the signal is given
require a lot of mental and physical control.

What better way to teach a child self control and moral reasoning? When engaged in a game, the
child has to learn that even in the emotional excitement of an intense game or close race, he or
she has to observe rules and regulations; to choose between fair or unfair, and to act on those
choices appropriately.

If children develop a sense of fair play early on, and engage in activities that reinforce these
values, it can only be a good thing for the community at large.
Source:
http://www.javamazon.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-online-gaming/

Source 3 :
The Benefits of Video Games
( High-tech parenting writer Scott Steinberg, a professional keynote speaker and business
consultant, is launching a new book series, "The Modern Parent's Guide," and a companion
video show, "Family Tech: Technology for Parents and Kids." The following is excerpted from

"The Modern Parent's Guide to Kids and Video Games," which will be free to download at
www.ParentsGuideBooks.com in February 2012.)
Opinion by Scott Steinberg: In addition to understanding the many real concerns that today's
parents have with video games, it's also worth considering the benefits and positive aspects that
contemporary interactive entertainment choices provide.
Certainly, many popular titles today are M-rated and intended for discerning adults, given
the average age of today's gaming audience. But the vast majority of games can be played by a
broad range of ages and still manage to be fun and engaging without resorting to foul language
or violence.
"Games can definitely be good for the family," says the ESRB's Patricia Vance. "There's
plenty of selection. Oftentimes I think parents feel that they're not because video games in the
media are portrayed as violent, and hardcore games tend to get the lion's share of publicity. But
parents also need to be comforted knowing that E for Everyone is by far largest category [of
software]. Nearly 60 percent of the almost 1,700 ratings we assigned last year were E for
Everyone, which means there's a huge selection of games available that are appropriate for all
ages."
In fact, most video games do have quite a few redeeming qualities - even those with
violent content. All games can and do have benefits for players, and in a number of different and
sometimes surprising ways.

Educational Benefits for Students

A recent study from the Education Development Center and the U.S. Congress-supported
Ready To Learn (RTL) Initiative found that a curriculum that involved digital media such as
video games could improve early literacy skills when coupled with strong parental and teacher
involvement. Interestingly, the study focused on young children, and 4- and 5-year-olds who
participated showed increases in letter recognition, sounds association with letters, and
understanding basic concepts about stories and print.
The key for this study was having high-quality educational titles, along with parents and
teachers who were equally invested in the subject matter. That way kids could discuss and
examine the concepts that they were exposed to in the games. Also interesting is the value that
video games are proven to have even for very young players. A study by the Education
Department Center further found that low-income children are "better prepared for success in
kindergarten when their preschool teachers incorporate educational video and games from the
Ready to Learn Initiative."
Older children such as teens and tweens can benefit from gameplay as well. Even
traditional games teach kids basic everyday skills, according to Ian Bogost, associate professor at
the Georgia Institute of Technology and founder of software maker Persuasive Games. "Look at

'World of Warcraft': You've got 11-year-olds who are learning to delegate responsibility, promote
teamwork and steer groups of people toward a common goal."
Games that are designed to help teach are having an impact on college-age pupils as well.
Following a recent 3D virtual simulation of a US/Canadian border crossing, wherein students
assumed the role of guards, Loyalist College in Ontario reported that the number of successful
test scores increased from 56 percent to 95 percent.

Educational Benefits for Adults

Surprise: Adults can learn something and benefit from video games, too.

As mentioned earlier, research underway by the Office of Naval Research (ONR)

indicates that video games can help adults process information much faster and improve their
fundamental abilities to reason and solve problems in novel contexts. In fact, results from the
ONR study show that video game players perform 10 percent to 20 percent higher in terms of
perceptual and cognitive ability than non-game players.
As Dr. Ezriel Kornel explains on WebMD.com, playing certain video games (e.g. Brain
Age or Guitar Hero) can also improve hand-eye coordination, enhance split-second decision
making and even, potentially, boost auditory perception. Just playing isn't enough, though, says
Dr. Kornel. The key is that you have to be improving each time you play, because in order to
improve you have to be learning.
"Anytime the brain is in learning mode," Kornel says, "there are new synapses forming
between the neurons. So you're creating thousands of connections that can then be applied to
other tasks as well."
Someday, a video game might even save your life, as games are already benefiting
students and practitioners in the medical field too. A study published in the February edition of
Archives of Surgery says that surgeons who regularly play video games are generally more
skilled at performing laparoscopic surgery. In addition, according to Dr. Jeffrey Taekman, the
director of Duke University's Human Simulation and Patient Safety Center, "serious games and
virtual environments are the future of education."
Besides offering medical students the ability to practice on patients (which is much safer
in the digital world), simulations offer health care providers several upsides. Chief among them,
Taekman says, are the abilities to make choices, see results and apply information immediately.
Beyond allowing for greater scalability and group collaboration than traditional
classrooms, every decision made in a virtual world, he continues, can be tracked and
benchmarked against best practices, then standardized or archived for others' review. "The

traditional textbook will soon become pass," he suggests. "Gaming platforms will offer an
interactive way for students to learn and apply information in context."

Improved Multitasking
Other carefully-designed studies have also shown that action video games can improve
several aspects of brain activity, including multitasking. According to studies by Daphne
Bavelier, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, video gamers
show real-world improvements on tests of attention, accuracy, vision and multitasking after
playing certain titles.
"If you think about it, the attentional and working memory demands of video games can
be much greater than other tasks," says Michael Stroud, a professor of psychology at Merrimack
College. "Consider Pac-Man as an example. In Pac-Man, you must navigate your character
through a spatial layout while monitoring the separate paths of four additional objects (the
ghosts), while keeping the overall goal of clearing the small pellets in memory, as well as
keeping track of the remaining large pellets."
"Think about how this may apply to skills such as driving," he continues. "When you
drive your car, you are faced with a constantly changing environment in the road, not to mention
several other distractions that compete for attention that reside in the car. At the same time, you
are attempting to navigate through the environment to reach a goal."

Social Benefits
Games with broad appeal that are easy to grasp can additionally help many families
play together, and better bridge the gap between generations. Consider a title like hipwiggling simulation Just Dance, which can have young kids dancing alongside their
grandparents.
There are also many games that have positive social messages that encourage families to
be a force for good. In a series of experiments published in the Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, researchers found that participants who had just played a "pro-social" game in
which characters must work together to help each other out as compared to those who had just
played a "neutral" game (e.g. Tetris) were more likely to engage in helpful behaviors. Examples
included assisting in a situation involving an abusive boyfriend, picking up a box of pencils or
even volunteering to participate in more research.
So-called "serious games," specifically designed to teach and inform, are also having an
impact on the world. Titles like the United Nations' Food Force teach kids about real-life issues,
humanitarianism and the practical challenges facing governments and private organizations
today. In the game, children must complete six different missions that reflect the real-life
obstacles faced by the World Food Programme in its emergency responses. Other games, like
Nourish Interactive's online Chef Solus and the Food Pyramid Adventure, teach kids about the

benefits of healthy eating habits, while still more highlight pressing geopolitical and social
issues, e.g. the Global Conflicts series.
Upsides can even extend into the physical world. Consider Facebook game Ecotopia. In
summer 2011, players of the popular social game met a challenge from its creators and planted
25,000 trees in the game world in 25 days, leading the game's developer to plant 25,000 trees in
real life.

Career Benefits
Future career choices for today's tots will no doubt be influenced by technology in a way
that is difficult for many parents to imagine too. Skills learned and honed playing home console
and video games, as well as mobile gaming apps, will undoubtedly be very valuable to students
in the workforce of 2025.
As mentioned earlier, the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) has proclaimed that
kids need more, not less, video game play. They argue that video games hold the potential to help
address one of America's most pressing problems - preparing students for an increasingly
competitive global market.
"The success of complex video games demonstrates that games can teach higher-order
thinking skills such as strategic thinking, interpretative analysis, problem solving, plan
formulation and execution, and adaptation to rapid change," the Federation announced in a 2010
report. "These are the skills U.S. employers increasingly seek in workers and new workforce
entrants."
Games are increasingly being used to educate and instruct workers around the globe by
governments, trade bodies and the world's largest corporations as well. From Cisco Systems' The
Cisco Mind Share Game, which facilitates network certification, to the US Department of
Justice's Incident Commander, in which emergency responders practice coordinating disaster
relief efforts, the number of practical examples continues to grow. In fact, a recent study by the
Entertainment Software Association found that 70 percent of major domestic employers have
utilized interactive software and games for training purposes, and nearly eight out of 10 plan on
doing so by 2013.
Going forward, in addition to polishing your resume and interview skills, who knows?
You may even want to brush up on your button-mashing abilities.

Encouraging Cooperation and Teamwork

Many games today also emphasize the cooperative aspects of game play, in which two or
more players need to work together in order to reach a common goal. For instance, games like
Lego Star Wars or Kirby's Epic Yarn are enhanced by having players cooperate to solve in-game
puzzles.

Massively multiplayer games such as LEGO Universe and Lord of the Rings Online
further offer added depth, atmosphere and enjoyment by allowing players to band together and
work as a team in order to complete certain quests or defeat especially tricky opponents. Game
industry analysts such as DFC Intelligence actually predict that video game revenue will reach
nearly $70 billion by 2015, thanks in large part to these online, cooperative, subscription-based
games that can be played together. Small wonder top titles like Star Wars: The Old Republic and
Titan (the next MMO from Blizzard, the company that created World of Warcraft) continue to
resonate so strongly with millions worldwide.
Even the way that games are made can encourage teamwork. At Washburn University in
Kansas, students study the game development process as a way to build teamwork and
collaborative skills.
"It taught me to work in a group," said Washburn student Adam Bideau of the program in
a recent interview with the Washburn Review. "Video games are not created by just one person
and they require you to work well with others. You have to pool everyone's talents together in
order to produce the required product."

Building Confidence
Researchers from McGill University's Department of Psychology have created and tested
computer games that are specifically designed to help people enhance their self-acceptance. The
researchers drew on their experience playing repetitive computer games and devised novel
counterparts that would help people feel more positive about themselves.
Even games that aren't specifically designed to do so can still help kids feel a sense of
achievement, based simply on the basic principles involved in what makes a good game.
Through puzzles, exploration and discovery, players learn to succeed in ways that some
researchers say our brains actually prefer. Most games are designed to introduce a concept, such
as jumping, and then provide players with an opportunity to master it. Players are then free to
explore and utilize and achieve success with this new skill, growing in self-confidence all the
while.

Promoting Exercise
All parents know that kids need a healthy combination of physical and mental exercise.
Happily, today's motion-controlled games for Microsoft's Xbox 360 Kinect, Nintendo's Wii and
Wii U, and Sony's PlayStation Move help kids get both kinds of workouts at the same time.
Better yet, people of all ages are finding them a more approachable way to stay
physically fit. While many shy away from exercise because they see it as an activity that isn't
enjoyable, organizations like the American Heart Association now cite, and even recommend,
video games as a fun and entertaining way to enjoy physical activity.

Upsides of active play are considerable too. A study reported in the Archives of Pediatrics
and Adolescent Medicine of 39 Boston middle-school children who played with six different
interactive gaming systems found that the games "compared favorably with walking on a
treadmill at three miles per hour, with four out of the six activities resulting in higher energy
expenditure."
Organizations supporting individuals of all ages and interests are additionally using active
games to help get people up and moving. Nursing homes, cruise ships and even after-school
programs all now employ active video games in some form to help stimulate both the mind and
body.
The good news: People seem to be enjoying active play more than ever. Healthy
diversions such as Wii Fit and Zumba Fitness continue to be some of the most popular and bestselling games year in and out.

Group and Social Play

Video games can also have some very important effects on family relationships, and
deserve to be thought of as something that can - and should - be played together.
It's always seemed obvious to families that activities like playing board games, makebelieve, or even making music together could strengthen the family bond. But many parents view
video games as a solitary, sedentary, time-wasting activity, when the truth is that video games
have in fact emerged as a viable option for family game time that can potentially offer great
benefits to families who are willing to enjoy them together. You won't be alone if you do decide
to take the plunge either. According to the ESA, 45 percent of parents play computer and video
games with their children at least weekly, an increase from 36 percent in 2007.
Families that embrace playing video games as part of their everyday life are likely to find
themselves enjoying a greater sense of cohesion and communication than families who still view
video games as an idle, meaningless and solitary pursuit. As a result, it's small wonder that so
many in this day and age are putting away the cards and dice and turning to high-tech
alternatives for modern family game nights.
Moving, thinking, cooperating, helping, learning, empathizing, growing, seeing the world
from other perspectives video games can help kids and families do all these things and more.
So talk to your friends, do the research and seek out games that your family likes to play and that
you as parents are comfortable with, then consider making play a part of your regular routine.
Chances are, you won't just have a great time - you'll also make lasting memories and
connections with your kids while doing so.
Source :
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2011/12/the-benefits-of-video-games/