Video Games in the Classroom

Should video games be used in the classroom? This is a question that has many people debating. Video games have been around for years now and are a part of most childhoods. In the article, Digital Games in Education: The Design of Games-Based Learning Environments, the author Begoña Gros thoroughly researched the topic. The researched revealed the following conclusions:

1) “Digital games are user-centered; they can promote challenges, co-operation, engagement, and the development of problem-solving strategies.”
2) “Videogames are useful instruments for learning specific strategies and for acquiring knowledge; they also develop the learning that is characteristic of the culture of the information society, and this learning is likely to have long-term consequences.”
3) “The suite of skills children develop by playing such games can provide them with the training wheels for computer literacy, and can help to prepare them for science and technology, where more and more activity depends on manipulating images on a screen.”
4) “Researchers of the potential of games to support learning consider that games are not as good as other media for generating textual understanding. What they are able to do effectively is to promote conceptual learning, problem solving skills, co-operation, and practical participation.”
5) “An important problem for the integration of videogames is the time that is necessarily required to produce an activity. Generally, the games require many hours and, on occasion, it is difficult to establish the sequences of play that should be significant for both the students and school curriculum.”

Personally I think Gros stated in best, “Video games are not the solution to educational problems.” As with everything in education, there is no one thing that is going to work for every student. For now, if video games are used in the classroom, they should be used supplemental and should be carefully selected.