15 2 Educational Benefits of Gaming Platforms in Digital Learning Environments

Image Source: Microsoft Designer

Work and play are overlapping more and more in modern education, and in spite of what intuition might tell you, this is actually a very good thing.

The benefits that come with integrating gaming platforms with digital learning in particular deserve your attention, so here are some of the major upsides explored and unpacked to ideally inform your next steps and erode any prejudices you might have.

Boosting Student Engagement

Gaming platforms light up students’ curiosity and drive to learn. The interactivity of games makes lessons more captivating compared to traditional methods.

For instance, Minecraft: Education Edition offers a sandbox environment where creativity and learning coexist seamlessly. Students can build historical landmarks, explore chemistry by combining elements, or solve math puzzles, all within an engaging virtual world. Better yet, this can all be handled in a safe and secure way by setting up your own server to cater to students who are learning digitally. You can learn about Minecraft server hosting with NameHero, and get started in no time.

Other key benefits here include:

• Interactive Learning: Unlike passive reading, gaming requires active participation.
• Personalized Pace: Students can progress at their own speed, ensuring comprehension before moving forward.
• Visual Appeal: Games like Assassin’s Creed Discovery Tour allow students to walk through ancient civilizations visually instead of merely reading about them in textbooks.

Additionally, leaderboards and rewards systems provide motivation, while points and badges translate academic progress into tangible achievements. This gamified approach makes students eager to complete tasks that might otherwise seem tedious, and has been shown to increase individual performance by up to 90% compared with traditional methods. So there’s data to back up the hype.

Enhancing Problem-Solving Skills

Gaming platforms are like mental gymnasiums for problem-solving. They challenge students to think critically and devise solutions under pressure.

Portal 2 is a prime example, requiring players to solve complex puzzles using physics-based mechanics, while conveniently being wrapped up in a compelling and creative story. The game demands logical thinking and spatial reasoning, both of which are skills considered essential in STEM education.

Additional advantages here include:

• Strategic Thinking: Games like Civilization VI force players to plan long-term strategies, manage resources, and anticipate opponents’ moves.
• Adaptive Learning: Students learn from their mistakes in real-time, fostering resilience.
• Scenario-Based Problems: The Witness presents intricate puzzles set in an open-world environment that encourages exploration and deductive reasoning. Games like The Case of the Golden Idol and Return of the Obra Dinn are similarly stimulating and innovative.

The idea is that these games show students how approaching challenges methodically is advisable, as well as rewarding. They can refine their analytical skills progressively in an environment that’s specifically been designed for this purpose.

Better yet, games often feature feedback loops where success is immediately rewarded or failure prompts reflection and adjustment. This loop mimics the scientific method: hypothesize, test, then analyze results. Put simply, gaming turns theoretical knowledge into practical skills by offering dynamic problem spaces, experienced digitally, which students will relish the opportunity to experience.

The Last Word

In their simplest form, games present an obstacle which players must overcome. This is a description that could just as easily be applied to most educational tools that have previously been put to work to prompt learning in students of all ages.

What gaming platforms do better than anything that’s come before is make problem-solving fun, and in doing so ensure that engagement among learners is at an all-time high. Of course not every game is going to be appropriate for use in the digital classroom, but the suggestions we’ve provided show there’s much more to this industry than mindless action.