Social effects of gaming

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How to address opposition in young children. Are poinsettias, mistletoe, or holly plants dangerous? Waiting for motivation to strike? Try rethinking that. Thinking of trying Dry January? Learning is about incrementally applying content in context. And context is all about iterating relationships. In the process of learning to incrementally iterate in context, students are developing metacognitive skills.

Among other things, it refers to the ability to self-evaluate a thought process and to iterate based on an analysis of strengths and weaknesses. For learners, strong metacognitive functions translate into study skills. Strong metacognitive functions mean students have the ability to identify problem areas and seek out the necessary and deliberate practice needed to compensate for weaknesses. Metacognition is also another word for what educators are talking about when we say we want to create life-long learners.

Those skills are not really unique to the new millenium. They are the same reflexive skills that have always been the prerequisite to critical thinking.

Character education is code for metacognition. It's all about producing individuals who have the desire, the drive, and the skill, to look at themselves and evaluate the way they think about their place in the world. Most importantly, strong metacognitive skills translate into strong interpersonal skills. Not well. Relationships, conflict resolution, and emotional intelligence all require strong metacognitive skills. What does this have to do with video games? A lot: 70 percent of gamers play their games with other people.

Contrary to the popular image of the gamer as an awkward, socially inept loner, players are actually engaged with one another. Think back to that educational community that emerged in every s pizza parlor around the Ms. Pacman machine. Gamers play cooperatively. They play competitively.

They share tips and tricks. They work together. Video games are a trademark commodity in our modern, technologically driven culture. Although undoubtedly entertaining, considerable debate remains as to their relative positive or negative impacts on individuals and society. Even though studies regarding this issue are relatively new, they can still provide insight into the benefits and drawbacks of this popular pastime.

Numerous studies have examined the pros and cons of video gaming. Here are just a few that have found video games provide distinct advantages to their players.

Video games can help improve multitasking, increase mental flexibility and even reverse the mental decline that occurs as people age. Playing video games has been found to enhance hand-eye coordination, lengthen attention spans and improve both working memory and rapid decision-making abilities. Both anecdotally and scientifically, video games have been shown to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. For example, Scientific American reported that the game Tetris may actually ease the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

In forums such as Geek and Sundry, authors describe how video games may help those who have social anxiety disorder learn how to initiate relationships and learn about social cues. While video games have been touted for their advantages, evidence also suggests that playing them may be detrimental. Those who participate are likely to have fewer girls to play with. This same insight into the potential effects of video games on girls has been found in other studies. It should be noted that in this study, as in many others, girls were on average more socially competent than boys.

The researchers offer three possible explanations for the link between reduced social competence at ages eight and 10 and more gaming two years later. The study raises new questions. Are the social effects of video games different depending on the nature of social gaming?

How children interact with each other may be important, rather than just how much they interact, which was all that was examined in this study. And, of course, social effects may not be the only consequence of video games — cognitive development, for example, may be influenced also. The characteristics of individual children and their home environments are also likely to be important.

They were tested at the ages of six, eight, 10 and