The Implications, Benefits, Research, And The Assessment Of Serious Essay

The Implications, Benefits, Research, And The Assessment Of Serious Gaming Integration Into The K-12 Educational Model - Essay Example In particular, digital games have emerged as rather common educational games and teaching tools. An important aspect of educational games is that they should be and are designed to fit learner needs and different tasks and activities that k-12 educational systems require learners to undertake at school and at home (Krumholz 2). Before delving deeper into the implications and benefits of integrating gaming into the k-12 educational system, it is essential to understand what educational gaming is. In essence, an educational game is a game designed and constructed in a manner that teaches human beings, especially school-going children on the various subjects and aspects of life taught at school. In other words, educational games teach children not only learning skills but also real-life skills. Fortunately for educational games and children in the k-12 educational systems, stakeholders such as educators, parents, and governments have largely appreciated the role of educational gaming in recent times (Krumholz 5). This change of attitude in stakeholders has resulted in the increased realization and awareness on the physical, educational, and psychological benefits and implications of gaming on learning and development of learners in the k-12 educational systems. Consequently, educational gaming has become conventional in educational systems as a teaching tool. ... Gaming thus helps learners enjoy their fundamental needs of learning, which include involvement, enjoyment, passion, and motivation, gratification of one’s ego, creativity, and emotional stability (Krumholz 5). Of great importance is the role of educational gaming in supporting social interactions among k-12 learners. Besides its physical and psychological implications, educational gaming also has biological and evolutionary benefits for learners. For instance, gaming helps learners in connectivity, movements, brain growth and development. Games, particularly computer games are thus not merely entertainments tool in educational settings. There are numerous ways in which gaming helps transform k-12 educational system learners. The first implication is with regards to changing the process of learning. Second, games change peoples’ view of learning as a process characterized by strictness that only permits certain academic activities and performances, thereby making learni ng a more relaxed and friendly exercise. In the end, learners enjoy learning since they no longer view it as excessively demanding and strict on their part. In addition, educational gaming, more so computer games, should not be viewed as just another multi-billion industry out to make money from parents and schools; rather, educational games help children see and participate in new worlds that may have remained closed to them (Krumholz 6). In this sense, educational gaming enables learners to act, talk, think, and inhabit roles and responsibilities that might have remained inaccessible as they concentrate only on books and other traditional forms of classroom work. It is the virtual world of games such as computer games, which give educational games their powerful learning context