Can video games benefit your child? James Paul Gee, a literacy studies professor from the Arizona State University certainly thinks so. Author of What Video Games Have to Teach About Learning, Gee claims that a video game presents a set of problems to solve; often these problems are hard and complex and work is needed to solve them.
The same situation confronts a child tackling an algebra problem. To succeed, he needs to work long and hard, persist past failure and that in essence is what a video game presents to the child as well.
Video games can be used to help children learn how to achieve goals through gaming. Gee supports games that do not promote violence like The Sims,in which players build a family in a community and design houses. Games like this provokes innovation. Moreover, Gee argues that the idea is not whether the game is good or bad, but how parents can use them to interact with children and use them to develop specific skills.
Every new technology, says Gee , presents children with the opportunity to get smarter or less so, depending on how parents help them interact with that technology.
Video games are part of our culture; they will no go away. Parental guidance and active participation can help children develop skills in decision making and weighing consequences. There are also games out in the market that promote good behavior and learning.
A description of some of these games can be seen in the following article:
Video Games that are Good for Children.
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