Computer Games May Foster Learning

New study shows some video games can teach kids to focus

By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 11/1/2005

A new study shows that certain kinds of computer tasks may teach young children how to focus—and how to learn.

“Teachers know a lot about training the attention of children,” says Michael Posner, a psychologist at the University of Oregon and coauthor of “Training, Maturation and Genetic Influences on the Development of Executive Attention.” “We wanted to show that training attention is specific and some exercises can make a difference.”

Computer labs in elementary schools around the nation often use game-like programs to teach skills like mathematics and reading, and games have also caught on with librarians who believe they can offer other learning benefits.

Posner believes that games “built a certain way” can help stimulate and develop certain neural networks in a young child’s brain that can help him focus and eventually foster numerical and literacy skills.

The study, involving exercises given to four- to six-year-olds over a period of five days, was designed to create a situation that would pose a conflict for the child. One exercise, for example, asked kids to choose the larger array of groupings: a group of seven number threes or a group of three number sevens. “If you go by number size, you go in one direction, but if you go by the number of items you go in the other direction,” Posner says. “These set up a conflict.”

IQ tests and the measurement of the electrical brain impulses of kids afterwards indicated changes in their brain activity, although it’s still unclear whether that change is long lasting. “But even if it was temporary, it would stimulate the child to do the exercise even more,” he says. “And by using it more, that could lead to a more permanent effect.” For more information about the study, visit www.pnas.org/cgi/content/short/102/41/14931.