Video games stimulate learning and creativity
During the evolution of the human being, the methods of learning that he has been using have been changing, as have the tools he uses to carry out this purpose.
These methodologies and tools have evolved at the same pace as human beings have , going from having very archaic and questionable characteristics to being involved in technology and modernism, with its consequent complexity.
Learning and its evolution with the emergence of new technologies
We could say that until relatively recently, the only teaching method for children of child-bearing age and in groups of older age was the management methodology taught in conventional schools that everyone knows. In parallel, for several years, it is beginning to normalize and settle a much less directive and freer type of education based on the needs and preferences of each child , in which the experience prevails.
This type of education has both defenders and detractors. The latter argue that this type of education is not serious or productive as it is not given so much importance to purely academic and book learning, despite all the scientific research that supports this new methodology.
The fact that humanity has always feared that new is no mystery. This phenomenon of aversion to the new or resistance to change, in this case to learning with new technologies, produces strong debates for a long time until the new paradigm ends up being accepted, leaving behind a trail of polarized research and a feeling of obviousness against the new paradigm. It is simply a cultural change that, sooner or later, will occur .
New tools to teach and learn: videogames
At the moment a strong debate is being generated in relation to a new paradigm that is being created and established little by little: the normalization of the use of new technologies from very early ages. This paradigm covers the whole phenomenon that is occurring in relation to the high "technology" that society is experiencing in the most developed countries.
As in the case that we have previously commented on the new methodologies of learning at school ages, a similar situation is now taking place but this time, in relation to the tools used to carry out teaching or learning. In this case we are talking about the use of videogames as tools to carry out learning or to enhance it and that at present, it is suffering an increasingly wide debate within the discipline of psychology.
Technologies that have come to stay
Before performing any act of judgment against the use of video games as a tool through which to learn, we should take seriously the context in which we find ourselves in the most developed countries and analyze the evolutionary process that has followed humanity, since electronic devices (as analogical did in their day) are part of the daily life of the new generations nicknamed "digital natives".
These same generations grow from almost the first moment surrounded by smartphones, tablets, consoles and a host of electronic devices that build the foundations of their growth in the information age. So that, it could be almost absurd to try to look the other way and deny a natural evolutionary process , discrediting forms and ways of learning that can be much closer to young people in today's society and defending other methodologies and tools that did their work well for years, but that over the years may be becoming obsolete by not feeling identified with them the subjects to whom they are dedicated.
Video games are excellent enhancers of creativity
For us, as a company specializing in the psychological analysis of video games and its use both therapeutic and educational, one of the areas of learning to which we give more value is that of creativity, since it is an area that allows developing and enhancing the Autonomous Learning.
Videogames like the famous Minecraft become powerful tools to encourage creativity since allow the player to enter a world where he can create architectural works of a high complexity at the same time that they experience an adventure in which they have to survive from the hordes of enemies and gather food.
The fact of joining the construction with the adventure becomes a way, for the player, to learn basic construction and architecture standards, as well as allowing him to unleash his creativity, which will be enhanced and polished as he spends more hours playing the video game. We could even say that Minecraft is a 3D creation tool under a gamified approach and dedicated to people without programming knowledge or 3D modeling; so it is an interesting and useful way to bring these possibilities closer to the youngest and learn by knowing and experimenting in a more playful way.
"Serious Games": video games made to teach
Other examples of video games with great training power are the "Serious Games", which are explicitly developed to provide an educational experience in which to learn all kinds of things according to their subject matter and which become tools created with the clear intention of promote autonomous learning in a playful way adapted to the youth of the current era.
These and many more are some of the video games that are currently used in some classes in the world to impart academic content and also motivate the student to learn them in an innovative and fun way. Society advances and with it technology, and change, inevitable, requires adaptation and brings with it new forms of learning, among many other things. .
