When it comes to gaming, whether for primary school or senior school pupils, it is a common belief that time spent gaming is negative and can lead to a number of repercussions.
Whether they are spending their summer holidays hidden away in their bedrooms, or up late in the evenings gaming away with friends, there can be no doubt that there is a dark, negative side to gaming.
But it is not all doom and gloom when it comes to gaming, in fact, gaming can hold a number of benefits for school pupils.
In this blog, we will cover the benefits of gaming and pupils and how time spent on their favourite console can in fact benefit and enhance their learning experience when in school.
Keep reading to discover the top five benefits of gaming and pupils.
1- Improved social skills
Often not thought about when it comes to gaming, but time spent gaming can actually enhance and improve your child’s social skills. It is commonly thought that the time spent hidden away, shunning the outside world is having a negative effect on their social skills, but this is far from the case. In fact, the time spent socialising, chatting and communicating with fellow game players can actually improve their skills.
With many current popular games being multiplayer and team based, the need to communicate and work within a team is paramount. Not just ensuring that they communicate, but also helping to build their self-esteem at the same time, the importance of gaming for school children should not to be overlooked.
2- Develops technical skills
Another top benefit of gaming and pupils and that is the technical skills that are developed and expanded through the playing of games.
Through their time spent playing video games and their desire to experience and play the latest games, this passion could spark an underlying interest in technology. Whether this leads to learning how to code or programme, it is not uncommon for young gamers to grow up, experiencing and trying their hand and build a gaming pc for themselves.
By allowing your child to experience and develop a love of gaming in a secure and safe environment, they could develop a passion and grow up to love coding and technology, finding a vocation for the rest of their lives from playing their favourite games.
With a number of educational features, refusing to allow school pupils to experience the joy of gaming can withhold and stop the pupils critical and technological skills from developing.
3- Expands Pupils Critical Thinking
Other benefits of gaming and pupils and that can be seen, is the development of the pupils’ critical thinking skills. Through the need to see, review and develop their strategy within their game, gaming is a valuable addition to their education. Through playing the latest trials and challenges within the game, they can develop their critical thinking skills which they can then transfer to their school work. This pre-planning, problem solving that they use to move up another level, can also be used when struggling with a problem or a dilemma on the school playground. By being able to see, predict and act upon these strategies that they are developing to solve a problem that they are experiencing, they can unknowingly use these developments to improve their brain development and their decision making skills for the future.
4- Develops the child’s creativity
Along with developing a pupils technical and critical skills, their time spent gaming can also develop and widen the child’s creativity. Through the witnessing of the latest gaming advances, and being able to immerse themselves within another futuristic, 3D world, this can ignite sparks and visions that otherwise would have been unable to develop. Improving the school children’s brain development in multiple ways, this creativity that they can develop as a student can then be used throughout their educational years and even into the future. This individual creativity that is developed during their time spent gaming can be first witnessed with pupils being able to customize and modify the character and their appearance that they play within their games. Taking this newly developed creativity and using it within their creative writing classes, helping them to express and tell a story.
5 – Creates healthy Competition
Competition is an important addition to helping to develop a school pupil while setting them up for a successful future. The need to create and develop their competitive skills is paramount in ensuring a desire to succeed and do well no matter where their path in life takes them. The benefits of gaming and pupils can be seen in the creation of friendly competition and the desire to win and succeed, whether in levelling up in their game, or passing their school test.
This need to achieve and do well can also help develop and improve leadership skills, essential for the future in their professional working life.
How the students’ leadership skills are tested and worked upon can be seen with multiplayer games where pupils can play and work together within a team.
How can gaming be used within classrooms?
With five very important benefits and reasons why school pupils should be given the opportunity to play and develop within a safe and controlled environment, how can schools include these benefits within a classroom?
Able to be easily incorporated and added to the curriculum, through time spent playing games either on their lunch break or within a class, students can develop their creativity, technical and critical thinking skills surrounded by supportive adults.
With a selection of different games available and for a range of age groups, whether they are developing wind turbines, moving blocks to conquering and negotiating within the Legend of Zelda, even the simplest of games can have a huge effect on their development.
By introducing school pupils to the world of gaming through the friendly and welcoming games such as ItzaBitza to Lifeboat to Mars, that teaches them the importance of an ecosystem.
Conclusion
There you have it, five benefits of gaming for pupils. From the ability to expand and develop important and key critical skills to enhancing and igniting their creativity, their time spent gaming should not go ignored.
Whether incorporated into their lifestyle either at school or a couple of hours at the weekend, the importance of gaming can be witnessed across a selection of different essential skills, while helping to set them up for a successful future.
It should be said, however, that when it comes to developing your child’s skills through the power of gaming, making sure that they are playing in a time controlled, safe and secure environment is paramount.
Let us know your thoughts or any skills that you have witnessed develop through the power of gaming.
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