NAME: Rafael Eduardo Acevedo

PROFESSOR: Willington Lpez

SUBJECT: Conversational English
SEMESTER: 8TH Semester Night Shift

DATE: 18th November

THE BENEFITS OF USING VIDEOGAMES AS A TOOL IN EDUCATION

Technology is considered as one of the most important advances in human history and it
has influenced in many aspects that are relevant for us like medicine, economy, journalism,
entertainment, fields of knowledge and so on. Additionally, one of the disciplines that has
been benefited with the apparition of Technology is education due to the use of videos,
images, diagrams, and other multimedia files which make the environment of the classroom
much more interesting for students. However, there is a kind of technology that is
underrated but it can be one of the most useful tools in students learning processes:
Videogames. In this essay, I will show the advantages of using videogames and their
repercussions in children learning process.

First, is important to create a background perspective of the development of videogames. In

1960s, some university and research centers started to work in the creation of the first
videogames. Lowood (2009) remarks that the first games like Spacewar! and Adventure
were the result of the relationship between the work of Computer Science and Computer
Games. Nowadays, videogames become in one of the most important and influential areas
of technology that attracts large quantities of money. Enterprises such as Microsoft (X
Box), Sony (Play Station) or Nintendo (Wii and NDS) are the main leaders of this area.
Furthermore, the advance of technology makes evident the development of the games. The
last is demonstrated just playing current videogames like FIFA 15 or The Sims
videogames considered as real-life simulators. In conclusion, the industry of videogames
comes from computer science and now it has become in an important industry which moves
not only a lot of money but also many fans around the world.

As it was said previously, videogames are part of many children and youngsters. Hence, is
important to consider the advantages of its use and how those benefits allow students be
successful in their school life. Williamson (as cited in Boulanger, 2013) asserts that
videogames have an incredible potential to be an educational instrument. Additionally, this
potential is reflected in different benefits and one of them is the improvement of planning
and problem solving skills. Boulanger (2013, no page) argues that the development of
childrens brain is improved with games in which the children have to search, negotiate and
plan various approaches in order to advance to a new level in the game. Besides, the
implication of following rules and steps of a videogame implies an improvement of
childrens skill to follow orders which is important in academy. To resume this aspect, is
important to say that the use of videogames in children can result in the improvement of
skills that are crucial in childrens school life.

Many parents and even some psychologists- see videogames as a way to separate children
from social life. A lot of psychologists researches remark the negative impact of
videogames because they promote violence, addiction, and depression (Granic, Lobel &
Engels, 2014). Nevertheless, gaming is a good tool to increase students ability to interact
with other people in the classroom. Griffiths (2002) asserts that videogames provides a
good framework to increase students habit to talk to other children when they are playing
together and videogames can be used as a topic of conversation between students who share
the same passion of gaming. Furthermore, when students start to talk more, they become
more confident and begin to build motivation to participate in the classroom. As a
conclusion, videogames is wrongly seen as a way to create unsocial people; however, it has
the property to make students be more confident to participate actively in the class.

Another advantage of videogames is its capacity to recreate reality through simulators. This
aspect is what make videogames so interesting for people and specially children.
Videogames let you do what you cannot do in real life. Besides, some videogames can
immerse students in history and sports i.e. Ages of Empires or Empire Earth. Shaffer (as
cited in Boulanger, 2013) remarks that these kind of situated games like Lineage [a

medieval fantasy game] can make students deal with money, trade raw materials and be
good in finances. Moreover, such kind of videogames gives students some relevant
information about history through the personification of main characters of the history like
Joan of Arc or Blackbeard. Thus, videogames is also a good source to learn outside the
classroom.

In addition, videogames not only are used outside the classroom but also it is a good
instrument in the language classroom as an authentic material. Peacock (as cited in
Martinez, 2012) argues that authentic materials are are materials that have been produced
to fulfill some special purpose in the language community (no page). Videogames can play
the role of authentic material due to the benefits that it can provide in the classroom. In
English as Second Language classes, videogames are useful to improve listening abilities
because of its capacity to provide audio lessons complemented by visual input and
feedback (Anderson, Reynolds, Yeh & Huang, 2008). Besides, many online pages that are
very entertaining and can play not only as a videogame platform but also as a tool to learn
English such as Duolingo or Trippin that can be played in the classroom using the adequate
devices for doing that such as computers and Internet connection.

Finally, videogames are a rich source that students and teachers can use to reinforce the
learning/teaching processes. When children play videogames, they can improve different
skills that are important to have success in school. Moreover, students can improve their
social skills to build confidence and motivation and that aspect results in their performance
in the school. Furthermore, teachers use videogames as authentic materials which are very
useful in learning a second/foreign language through online platforms like Duolingo. The
adequate use of videogames not only represents entertainment but also demonstrates that
they can be determinant in education.

REFERENCES:

Anderson, T., Reynolds, B., Yeh, X., & Huang, G. (2008). Video Games in the English as a
Foreign Language Classroom. Digital Games and Intelligent Toys Based Education, 2008
Second IEEE International Conference on. Retrieved from
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4700755

Boulanger, A. (2013). How Video Games Can Help Children Succeed In School. Retrieved
from http://www.medicaldaily.com/how-video-games-can-help-children-succeed-school246201

Lowood, H. (2009). Videogames in Computer Space: The Complex History of Pong. EEE
Annals of the History of Computing, 31, Number 3, 5-19. DOI: 10.1353/ahc.0.0076.

Granic, I., Lobel, A., & Engels, R. (2014). The Benefits of Playing Video Games. American
Psychologist, 19, 66-79. DOI: 10.1037/a0034857.

Griffiths, M. (2002). The Educational Benefits of Videogames. Education and Health, 20,
47-51. Retrieved from http://sheu.org.uk/sites/sheu.org.uk/files/imagepicker/1/eh203mg.pdf

Martinez, A. (2002). Authentic Materials: An Overview. Karens Linguistics Issues.

Retrieved from http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/authenticmaterials.html