Since the beginning of time, educational, creative, and imaginative skills have been a major importance upon the heart of every parent that wishes to see their child succeed in life. From the one room, brick-walled school house to the well-known Cambridge University, the heartbeat of America dwells within gaining skills and knowledge from every type of educational source. Today, many people would think that all these skills are gained from within the typical school room, but through the advancement of modern technology you may find it right in the midst of an American families’ living room: a videogame system. Videogames have been proven to cause countless millions who play them to become creative, imaginative people in our modern culture today.
The idea of a video game being a helpful tool to children has raised many doubtful questions by numerous amounts of concerned parents. Gaining knowledge from a school teacher can far surpass the lessons learned from a Wii game, but the idea of a game presenting educational, creative, imaginative skills to a young child is something that a majority of people does not comprehend. “The truth is that video games are unique among media in that they do provide the ability to make decisions and see and feel their consequences.” (Prensky, 111) Gamers that consume a majority of his, or her time playing games of no value and also place it with more importance than school education, should be trained to set priorities straight. Parents that are concerned with their child playing games for hours on end should have the discipline and correct authority placed in this aspect, but video games should not be seen as a negative influence on their child’s life.
A parent from last generation seems to see...
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...n in logical thinking skills, or by playing a game’s musical piece on the piano, video games has changed the world in which we live in. Parents that doubt the educational skills found in video games are not aware of the millions that thoroughly gain from the benefits a simply game provides. One that seeks to enjoy life and gain from twenty-first century knowledge should seek to stand in the middle of an American living room and let their imagination run free.
Main Source:
Prensky, Marc. Don’t Bother Me Mom - I’m Learning. Minnesota, Paragon House, 2006
Other Sources:
Bissell, Tom. Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter. New York, Random House, 2010
Ryan, Jeff. Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America. New York, Portfolio/Penguin, 2011
Maney, Kevin. “Video Games not necessarily turning kids brains to mush.” www.usatoday.com, 12 July 2005
It is often believed that children are better off spending more time reading books and less time zoning out in front of their video games. People claim that video games sanction and promote aggression and violent responses to conflict; and that most games are an immense waste of time. Steven Johnson, the author of “Why Games Are Good for You,” appreciates the virtues of reading books, but argues that playing video games may not be a complete waste of time. His purpose for writing this essay is to explain the impact of cybertechnology on human perception and communication, in which he defends the value of computer games. In his essay, Johnson fluctuates between the pros and cons of reading versus gaming to appeal to skeptics who believe video
... games do have an important and distinct impact on the psychological development of children. Some of the positive effects of social, educational, cognitive, and physical uptake are substantial and far outweigh the occasional negative showing of aggression and lethargic behavior. As with all things, the situation and content should always be considered, especially in the developing stages of young minds. With the landscape of the video game industry changing year-by-year, there are constantly more dimensions of this puzzle needing to be assessed. However, there has already been a shift in their potential effects even as recently as the past 10 years. With more research in this field, we can start to note trends (relative to sex and age) and begin to create and environment where children enjoy the process of growing up while developing good health and social habits.
Quittner, Joshua, and Maryanne Murray Buechner, et al. ?Are Video Games Really so Bad?? Time South Pacific 19 (10 May 1999): 50-55
This essay will attempt to prove, that statements made regarding the inappropriateness of video games are untrue. The advantage of playing video games can be proven in their ability to enhance learning, hand-eye coordination, and this in turn can enable children and teenagers to do better in school. Violent video games can help overcome anxiety by providing entertainment without leaving the house, taking everyday stresses out on the characters in the game instead of real life, takes the adolescent’s minds off worries and stress of the outside world, and encourages children to stay out of trouble. Video games c...
In society’s current era of technological advancement, video games have gone a long way since they were first created. Video games in the twenty-first century are no longer just toys or junk in the lifestyles of the youth. They have become innovative inventions that not only entertain its users, but also help aid the people in both the academic field and in jobs. The influences that video games bring about in the culture of the youth today are, in fact, not the negative influences that most people think. Video games are actually this generation’s new medium for educating the youth. The information they learn are also mostly positive and useful things that they may apply in their future lives (Prensky 4). In a generation that revolves around technology and connectivity, developers and educators have already been able to produce fun and interesting games that can teach and train people. Video game developers and educators should continue to collaborate in order to create more positive, educational, and appealing games.
Since the Early 70’s video games have been giving a bad name. Parents state that video games rot the minds of children and are influencing them do be violent. These accusations are far from the truth. In my research I found that there are many positive effects of gaming. Some of these effects are increased skills, creativity, general knowledge, and also help those in need. Parents can also take proper precautions and look into a game before buying it to see if it meets the criteria discussed in this paper.
194 Issue 2, p10-10. Norcia, Andrea. The Impact of Video Games on Children.
American educational philosopher John Dewey once said, “ Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” Education is the foundation of a permanent lifestyle. Parents should desire for their children to have educational stability to build upon. Any concerned parent should want nothing but the best for their child as they are well aware of the new forms of child entertainment. Since the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, children in the United States have become subject to a new type of entertainment: video gaming (Nickson, 2010). Video games have become a big part of the average American household. Parents have begun to wonder how video games are affecting their children’s lifestyles.
Video games are no longer the uprising form of media that ill informed parents and scientists used to fear; video games are now an established form of entertainment that is just as universally accepted as film or literature. The difference between videogames and mediums like film and literature is that they do not have the higher value that books have in exercising the mind and communicating information, nor do they have the value that films have to intellectually challenge an audience and to make people think. This is the general argument that can be heard voiced by leading intellectuals in various field as well as parents who are rising young children; both claim that videogames
We should develop games that people want to spend time on that are also educational, increasing the attention span of people, visual acuity, and multitasking abilities of all generations. The author very effectively portrays her message of by connecting with her audience charismatically, visually, personally, and logically. In the age of technology we must come to terms with the changing hobbies and daily activities around us. Rather than passing them off as bad campaigning for them to be cut back, censored, we should be focusing on the good that is already done by video games and how we could continue to improve
There are several negative stereotypes associated with video games and those who play them; some of these may often hold true. However, there are plenty of learning opportunities in video games. While the direct purpose of some games is to educate or train, other games that do not directly have this purpose can still become a learning experience for the player. As Ntiedo Etuk, president of the educational video game company Tabula Digital said, “The traditional view of video games has been that they are distractions from the task of learning” (Electronic Education Report 1). Video games are an effective tool for learning and retaining skills both inside and outside the classroom environment. The basic cycle of game play--the introduction to the game, game play, collaboration, improvement of these between each round, and evaluation at the end of the game (Klievink and Janssen 159)--are nearly parallel to the traditional classroom learning cycle of reading a textbook or listening to a lecture, taking a quiz, studying, focusing on items missed on the quiz, and taking a test or exam. Within this cycle, there are many opportunities to develop and perfect both educational, life, and occupational skills.
Nowadays, video games are frequently accused of having detrimental effects on children and adolescents. The main arguments against video games are that they lead to addiction, that they provoke violence, and that they impair social development. Whether or not such claims are true has not been determined with certainty as scientific studies have produced contradictory results. Nevertheless, video games also have beneficial effects, which tend to be underrated, as they do not receive the same level of media coverage that adverse ones do, and are thus unknown to the general public. Some of the positive effects of playing video games on mental development include: stimulating analytical thinking, improving concentration, and encouraging planning and anticipation (“Video game controversies”).
"Video game play may provide learning, health, social benefits." American Psychological Association. February 2014, Vol 45, No. 2
The purpose of this report is to know both the good and bad influences of video games on children’s behavior and mind. Parents aren’t aware of what video games may led their children to, thus an informative report was required to give insights about this important topic.
Playing games on hand-held can be beneficial as it can be enjoyable but self-motivated way for children to learn and play “play is intrinsic to children’s quality of life, it is how they enjoy themselves. It is also a key component of a healthy lifestyle”. Children’s games on hand held devices such as iPad, iPhone and tablets give children access to a vast wealth of information which can develop children mind and knowledge surrounding a broad spectrum of subjects. Educational video games that are age appropriate have an inventive way of simulating a young child mind and sustaining a young child’s attention, while they are engaging in the practice of learning and problem-solving; for example a literacy letter game expands a young child’s language and literacy skill in a visual character and audio sounds as way of simulating the mind help the child retain the information in certain part of their brain. Then if games ask questions to challenge the child understanding further such as find the right letter?