Integrating games into education has the potential to create new and more powerful ways to learn in schools, communities and workplaces.
Individual studies have shown, for example, that well designed games can promote conceptual understanding and process skills,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] can foster a deeper epistemological understanding of the nature and processes through which science knowledge is developed[17][18] and can produce gains in players' willingness and ability to engage in scientific practices and discourse.
[24] Games alone will not make schools more efficient, cannot replace teachers or serve as an educational resource that can reach an infinite number of students.
Peter Gray, who has conducted research on early childhood learning, states that gaming is purely a beneficial activity in young children.
He states that children are able to choose how to most effectively use their time and that extensive use of a particular medium of learning shows they are taking something valuable from it.
Chiappe and colleagues determined that 50 hours of gaming significantly improved results on a performance test modeled after skills used when piloting an aircraft.
[25] Aside from this, areas of attention and vigilance, as well as basic visual processes have shown to improve with allotted video game time.
Digital learning tools have the potential of being customized to fit the abilities of individual students and can engage them with interactive tasks and simulate real-life situations.
These worlds can help people learn by integrating thinking, social interaction, and technology, all in service of doing things they care about.
Regarding a more traditional approach to education, The Sims has been used as a platform for students to learn a language and explore world history while developing skills such as reading, math, logic and collaboration.
Douglas Gentile, an associate professor of psychology at Iowa State University found that children who repeatedly play violent video games are learning thought patterns that will stick with them and influence behaviors as they grow older.
Elizabeth Zelinski, a professor of gerontology and psychology at the University of Southern California states that some digital games have been shown to improve the function of the brain, while others have the potential to reverse cognitive loss associated with aging.
Emma Blakey notes very few studies have examined whether video games improve classroom performance and academic achievement.
[24] Others, like Emma Blakey, a PhD researcher in developmental psychology at the University of Sheffield in England, question whether a greater reliance on video games is in students' best interests, indicating there is little proof that skillful game play translates into better test scores or broader cognitive development.