Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
KSL Newsradio's Danielle Wood reportingA study from the Federation of American Scientists says all those hours spent with the X-Box or Playstation could actually be doing your child some good.
Best-selling games are built in a way that requires players to problem solve, plan, execute, make decisions, and be analytical.
"You can actually learn an awful lot from all sorts of games, even if they're not intended to teach what an educator could draw from it," said FAS Learning Technology project manager Michelle Roper.
Games with objectives such as killing alien zombies, or racing through the streets of San Francisco, require critical thinking, and trial and error. Sometimes it's the only way to win, and coincidentally, those traits are needed for success in school and work, said Entertainment Software Association President Doug Lowenstein.
"A simple game where you have to go through multiple levels and solve multiple problems just in order to keep in advancing," he said. "It's stretching the mind."
University of Utah education psychology professor Mike Gardner says he agrees that video games can have beneficial effects in stretching the mindd, but it's important to watch out for content.
"Some of the content is probably not very helpful," said Gardener. "Games that encourage violence and being a drug dealer and things like that are not things we generally want to be teaching our children."
FAS and the Entertainment Software Association are joining forces to create games for the classroom, that combine educational content with elements that stretch the mind.
