Our Brains on Video Games

Three things I learned today are video games make students think faster, they also help develop different parts of your brain, and it helps build up multitasking and problem solving skills. The most important thing I learned from the video Are Video Games Making Your Kids Smarter is the Flynn Effect and how average human intelligence is increases as time passes.

There are so many things you hear in today's world about the effects videogames have on the average person. I am not much of a "gamer" myself, but I have two younger brothers who play constantly.

The positive effects of video gaming would be:


learning how to multi-task


developing and increasing the use of different parts of the brain


enhancing hand-eye skills


focusing


All the positive effects of video games can definitely help children become not only better students, but better people. On the other hand, the different video games being used can have negative effects on the children. Games such as COD or Grand Theft Auto can harm a child's development teaching them curse words, cruel actions, and showing gory images. I feel like if parents stay on top of the game restrictions and ratings there wouldn't be as much controversy.


I think the idea of game based learning is excellent! It’s not just throwing a TV in front of a child and having them play a game...it's showing the student that videogames are not only fun, but they can also be your teacher. Game based learning school, such as the one in the video Game Changers: New Ways to Teach Our Kids is such a creative way to include video games in everyday learning.


Honestly, I do feel that video games, to a certain extent and with modifications, can be very helpful for today's students. I also feel that higher rated games such as, 17+ or mature, should not be used by young students, because it teaches the wrong things to the children. We need to make learning like a protein shake, have good ingredients (video games) disguising the gross protein flavor (learning).