Estudiante

“Effects of Video Games in Elementary School

Students at Harrisburg Academy Pennsylvania”



Abstract

Video games are a maturing medium, and have caught the attention of scholars across a variety of disciplines. By and large, computer and video games have been ignored by educators. When educators have discussed games, they have focused on the social consequences of game play, ignoringimportant educational potentials of gaming. In this work, I will show the history of games in educational research, and argues that the cognitive potential of games have been largely ignored by educators. Contemporary developments in gaming, particularly interactive stories, digital authoring tools, and collaborative worlds, suggest powerful new opportunities for educational media.


Index

❖Abstract
❖ Introduction
❖ Background of the Problem
❖ Literature Review
➢ Video Games, Educational Tools
➢ Effects of Video Games in Students
▪ Positive Effects
▪ Negative Effects
➢ Which are the Proper Video Games?
▪ How to Choose Them?
❖ Recommendations
❖ Annex
❖ Conclusion
❖ Works Cited
Introduction



The fact that video games cantransform education is changing the widely shared perspective that games are “mere entertainment.” More than a multi-billion dollar industry, more than a compelling toy for both children and adults, more than a route to computer literacy, video games are important because they let people participate in new worlds. They let players think, talk, and act—they let players inhabit—roles otherwise inaccessibleto them.

While schools largely sequester students from one another and from the outside world, games bring players together, competitively and cooperatively, into the virtual world of the game and the social community of game players. In schools, students largely work alone with school-sanctioned materials; avid gamers seek out news sites, read and write faqs, participate in discussion forums,and most importantly, become critical consumers of information. Classroom work rarely has an impact outside of the classroom; its only real audience is the teacher. Game players, in contrast, develop reputations in online communities, cultivate audiences as writers through discussion forums, and occasionally even take up careers as professional gamers, traders of online commodities, or gamemoderators and designers.


Background of the problem



Video games have been available to consumers for the last 30 years. They are a unique form of entertainment, because they encourage players to become a part of the game's script. Today's sophisticated video games require players to pay constant attention to the game, rather than passively watching a movie. This has both positive andnegative impacts on players. Several studies have been published that explore these impacts on today's children. 

“Teachers and parents who view video games as addictive diversions that lead to teenage sloth should think again”, a group of U.S. scientists says. After a year studying the games and their effect on children, the Federation of American Scientists said a new vision of videogames could redefine education and captivate students so they will spend hours learning on their own. The group found many video games require players to master skills in demand by today’s employers. It also called for more research by the U.S. government into how the games can be converted into serious learning tools for schools. "This is an investment that the private industry simply is notcapable of taking," said Henry Kelly, FAS president and a former White House science and technology leader during the Clinton administration. "This is the kind of thing where the federal government has always acted in the past, to underwrite basic research that you need to drive an important movement forward."


Literature Review



1. Video Games, Educational Tools
A video game is an...