Games May be Better than Homework?

Did I get your attention? In Sunday's Tribune there was an article about some current research efforts that may show that there are educational benefits to playing video games.

"We realized that over 80 percent of American kids have game consoles at home, 90 percent of kids are online and 50 percent of them are producing things online, so we really need to understand what is going on here," said Constance Yowell, director of the MacArthur Foundation's digital research initiative. "This is what kids are doing, so we need to know both the positive benefits and the unintended consequences."

Witt, Howard. "Skip the Textbook, Play the Video Game." Chicago Tribune 11 Feb. 2007.

Of course any good gamer could have told you this ten years ago, but it takes an army of researchers and millions of dollars to convince people of this. The complexity and depth of modern day games can be mind boggling. The learning curve for some games is steep and many come with tutorials that just gloss over the basics of game play, let alone some of the deeper aspects of the game.

Don't dismiss videogames. There is more value to them than we give them credit for. If you get a chance, give one a try.