What roles does video games play in developing problem solving skills in students k-12 grades - Research Paper Example

? VIDEO GAMES DO NOT ENRICH PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS Video Games Do Not Enrich Problem Solving Skills VIDEO GAMES DO NOT ENRICH PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS Outline Video games are hugely popular the world over, nowadays. According to the Entertainment Software Association, video gaming has overtaken the music industry and is today a $ 10 billion business opportunity. Video gaming has successfully cut across gender barriers and, surprisingly, almost 40% of all gamers, are female. In as much as two-thirds of all US households play video games, nearly 25% of all gamers are under the 18 years age bracket. Over the last ten years, children have exhibited a substantial increase in amount of time spent on video gaming (Rideout, Foehr and Roberts, 2010). From an average of 26 minutes in 1999, a child spent about an hour and thirteen minutes in 2009, on video gaming. Against the backdrop of such overwhelming popularity, this activity which seduces children and adults alike, present a host of benefits. Paradoxically, anti-gaming activists, too, make up a sizeable number and with good reason, as well. Introduction Video gaming as an educational pedagogy and a learning mode opens up a world of possibilities. A judicious marriage of caution and openness, supplemented by appropriate investments by way of time and effort, would prove to be ideal. Drawing pointers from issues such as gaming collaboration, single player games and usage of video gaming as an academic pedagogy, this paper attempts to prove that video games do not enrich the problem solving skills of K-12 students. The issue of why kids play video games and what they learn from this addictive activity has been a source of constant debate and dispute, among parents, teachers, VIDEO GAMES DO NOT ENRICH PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS researchers as well as the students. (Olthouse, 2009) proposes video gaming as a new, diverse and a growing phenomenon. While the fun element is what essentially draws kids to video games, it can be viewed against the backdrop of a host of perspectives such as gaming as a play, reinforcement, social interaction, fantasy as well as a cognitive exercise. While younger children sought immediate positive responses through the gaming exercise, mature children in the age group 14 to 18 years, exhibited good emotional value, sought stimulus and took risks in an action-packed genre. However, in many a case, video games offered a high dose of motivational power and requited large investment in terms of time and money. These proved to be heavy put offs for children. On a positive note, video games promoted meta cognition, computer and perceptual skills. On the downside, these games proved to be highly addictive, costly and heightened aggression. It also discouraged imagination and wonderment among the players. Another negative outcome was Stereotypical gender representations. Collaboration The advent of multi-player and on line games invited gamers to an interactive, participative and collaborative genre of video games Collaboration (Meij, Albers & Leemkuil, 2011) is an attempt to make an individual play, commercial off the shelf games, in pairs, rather than in a solitary mode. This strategy aims at benefitting from the resultant synergy as also to promote social interaction. Though the players reportedly benefitted a great deal from the opportunity to discuss and analyse the test VIDEO GAMES DO NOT ENRICH PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS scores, surprisingly, collaboration did not exhibit any positive affect on gaming engagement and individual knowledge scores, presumably, because the game dialogues were concentrated on superficial gaming features such as game movements. Single player games The attractiveness of single player games is still hard to beat. Citing three examples of the best video games ever, namely, Roller Coaster Tycoon, The Sims and Grand Theft Auto III (Prensky, 2002), a comprehensive analysis elucidates through the 5 Ws - how, why, what, where and when/whether - the need for welcoming video games into the learning domain. Both the positive and negative learning syndromes have been debated and the author sought to categorically reassure the parents that they need not worry about their children playing video games. Video gaming provides an ideal platform to combine fun with great learning. Academics The giant leaps made by humankind in the domains of media and technology have prompted teachers and educators to look out for innovative pedagogies in a classroom setting. Initially, video games were considered to be mere pastimes, filling up the student’s leisure with a gaming environment, indoors. However, academics looked up to this as a wonderful technique to make learning fun and interesting. Critical gaming pedagogy (Crocco, 2011) is an interesting exercise wherein game based learning embraces critical pedagogy to stimulate critical thinking. In a classroom setting, students were allowed to play Monopoly and their learning and critical thinking were studied. A strong case for incorporation of games and gaming principles into VIDEO GAMES DO NOT ENRICH PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS pedagogies has been made out. The results, however, clearly highlighted that talent, education and hard work were subservient to social inheritance. Extracurricular activities A nationally representative study (Lenhart, Kahne et al., 2008) attempted to establish a relationship between teen video gaming and civic engagement. It brought out that gaming was essentially a social experience for the child and that they are exposed to both pro and anti-social behaviour during gaming. The most popular games included both violent and non-violent genres. It also reiterated that video gaming and civic outcomes did not support any strong or positive relationship. Conclusion From the above, it is clear that video gaming has not been able to benefit a great deal from multiple player games, gaming collaboration or provide a stimulus to better civic attitude. It has been found that video gaming encourages procedural learning and not higher order thinking. Admittedly, no single educational approach including game-based learning can be applied across all learning contexts and environments for all students and across all subjects. (Spires, Rowe, Mott and Lester, 2011). Though video gaming has its good share of positives, there is no irrefutable evidence on the efficacy of video games improving or enriching the problem solving skills of students. However, at the same time, video games, cannot and should not be totally eschewed. Perhaps, the answer lies in am midway approach. A careful and judicious mix of context and content is imperative to gain optimum benefits out of this educative and fun-filled activity. VIDEO GAMES DO NOT ENRICH PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS References Meij, H. V. D., Aibers, E. Leemkuil, H. (2011) Learning from games, British Journal of Educational Technology, Vol 42 No 4 2011doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2010.01067. Spires, H. A., Rowe, J. P., Mott, B. W., Lester, J. C. (2011), Problem solving and game based learning effects of middle grade students’ hypothesis testing strategies on learning outcomes, J. Educational Computing Research Vol. 44(4) 453-472, 2011, North Carolina State University. Crocco, F. (2011), Critical gaming pedagogy, Radical Teacher Number 91 Fall 2011, Pages 26 to 41. Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/radical_teacher/summary/v091/91.crocco.html. Rideout, V. J., Foehr, U. G., Roberts, D. F. (2010) Generation M? - Media in the lives of 8 to 18 year olds, The Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, Retrieved from http://www.kff.org/entmedia/8010.cfm. Olthouse, J. M. (2008), Video Games: Why Kids Play and What They Learn, Meridian Middle School Computer Technologies Journal, Volume 12, Issue 1, 2009, Retrieved from http://www.ncsu.edu/meridian/winter2009/olthouse/index.htm.. Lenhart, A., Kahne, J. Middaugh, E., Macgill, A. R., Evans, C., Vitak, J. (2008), Teens, Video Games, and Civics - Teens’ gaming experiences are diverse and include significant social interaction and civic engagement - September 16, 2008 - Pew Internet Project, PEW Internet & American life project 1615. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2008/Teens-Video-Games-and-Civics.aspx. VIDEO GAMES DO NOT ENRICH PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS Prensky, M. (2002), What Kids Learn That’s POSITIVE from Playing Video Games © 2002. 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