There is a great deal of debate about the advantages and disadvantages to children’s health of regularly playing video games with some people actually feeling that there are even dangers associated with playing games for long periods of time. It is a fact that gaming is here to stay but can it be used as a positive influence on children’s learning in the classroom and at home?
Educational companies who are constantly trying to produce new inspiring material for schools are now developing interactive material that children can use on mobile devices and computers and are seeing a surge in interest from Local Authority Educational departments eager to raise standards. It is a well known fact that highly motivational materials help children to learn and often through gaming they do not even realise that they are in fact practising skills and gaining knowledge. For example, learning multiplication facts can be tedious for many children but it has become an important part of the mathematics curriculum in recent years. There are games that children can play at home where they are learning these facts in a fun way perhaps competing against their peers which helps them to retain the facts and use them in their maths work in class.
For children who may struggle with putting pen to paper the opportunity to learn in this way is beneficial and although gaming will never replace traditional learning methods its value should certainly be recognised and used alongside other ways of inspiring children to learn.