Implications of Adding Brain Exercise Games to School Curriculum

This article was written with the help of Olivia Onil who is a master in English philology and literature at California University. Olivia is currently working as one of the best writers at the ExclusivePapers.net She also studies feminine psychology.

Science has been in support of play in education by indicating that playful behavior seems to bring positive influences on the brain of a child and their learning abilities. The scientists have gone further and conducted experiments to explore this issue. One of the best examples of the performed researches was the one conducted in 1964 that involved enriched and impoverished rats. The research found out that the rats that were placed in enriched and stimulating environments emerged with bigger brains than those placed in impoverished environments. In fact, the rats in stimulating places appeared to be smarter and could scrap through mazes faster than the impoverished ones. However, questions remain whether such proves apply to human beings as well. It is unfortunate that ethical considerations have prevented scientists from conducting such experiments on children. Nevertheless, it can be observed that brain games have implications on the human brain and especially on the brain of the school going children. Now the question remains whether the implications are beneficial or disadvantageous.

These implications can be subdivided according to their nature into educational, scientific and financial. Scientists have indicated that school children tend to pay attention to education once they have experienced a recess and are free to play. They have also indicated that brain games such as chess enhance exploration that is a practice of investigation. Educational benefits such as improving school grades have been associated with video games. In fact, video games have currently been playing a huge role in America’s school curricula and that happens when teachers try to use the interests of students to teach complex courses such as Mathematics and computer programming. However, negative implications of brain games have been noted in terms of finances needed to implement such practices. The current paper seeks to provide a discussion of the implications of brain games in school curriculum showing that they have positive scientific and educational implications, although require huge funding in order to enhance effectiveness and efficiency.

Educational Implication

Brain games have been regarded as powerful learning tools when integrated with other exploratory, ongoing directions and hands-on practices since they enable students to interestingly grasp class concepts. Most of the brain games that are being introduced into the school curriculum are targeted at improving the working capacity of student’s brains and memories. In that case, working memory refers to a cognitive skill, which enhances storing and manipulation of information in the brain. That is quite important for learning especially in academics. The whole concept of brain games and training relies on the same way that people strengthen their muscles, by exercising in the specific field of education. It is by constantly challenging the brain, as a result of which the working capacity of the brain increases. That will in return lead to improvements in certain skills throughout the educational practice. Good grades will be noted in reading and in the student’s entire academic performance.

A good example that shows the positive implication of brain games in schools is that in the Quest to Learn, which is a public school in New York. The school provides a clear understanding of how gaming transforms not only the way students learn, but also all that they learn. In fact, the teachers in the public school have been applying the principles of video games construction in attempts to write the school’s curriculum. This has been an ongoing practice since the opening of the school in the year 2009. The curriculum has been integrated with the school’s mission as well as with the quest for education and tends to focus on diverse challenges that give more than a single answer. This gives chances to the students to arrive at and examine different solutions by choosing answers during the exercise.

It can be inferred that if educational brain games are effectively executed into the school’s curriculum, they offer a rigid framework that enhances easy enquiry along with project-based learning. Most importantly, games have been also uniquely suited in attempts to enhance skills that are vital in examining complex, transforming and interconnected periods.

In response to the above argument, it is clear that digital literacy along with an understanding of the way systems operate will boost brain games. This will increasingly become crucial across the world of education where most students will still be learning out of their own interests and benefits of brain games will be of great advantage to their grades.

Scientific Implication

Scientists have developed much interest in determining the implication of brain games in school curriculum and have indicated that memory and cognition can be boosted by such games. With regards to science, a good training study that uses brain games will meet two crucial criteria including assessment of training’s ability to lead to improvements of the working memory. The second criterion is that it is vital for trained students to be compared to a controlled group. That way, the active control group ought to complete similar activities to the group that is undergoing training; only that this will be done in the absence of the working memory. It will play a significant role in distinguishing between training effects and those that occurred as a result of interest. Interests will emerge from motivation or interacting with brain game tools. Using such tools, scientists have been able to prove that rigorous activities that emerge from brain games are reliable and enhance improvements of the working memory of children.

Several proofs have been made through scientific experiments. The most prominent among them is the one conducted in Boston that integrated 13 past studies. It was presented in the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, and was based on the effects of computerized brain games on students and concluded that training enhances fluid intelligence. Fluid intelligence is the critical ability of human beings to sense patterns, reasons as well as learn. In other words, the study concluded that practicing brain games enables people to become smarter than they were before. Scientists have also proved that less than 6 hours of playing the brain games over a period of 10 weeks improves grades of individuals, who come to school on an irregular basis as a result of family challenges. That has been noted in both, languages and mathematics.

Scientists have a wide platform to carry out researches from in order to determine whether playful experiences in school enhance learning and improvement. It is easy to see how brain games can apply more to intellectual pursuance. They continue to hold that play is self-motivated as well as fun meaning that all that is learned during the brain game session is acquired without any perception or involvement of hard work. That is in contrary to general learning that is regarded by many as arduous and the capacity to pay attention throughout learning sessions can be drained by boredom. In fact, brain games have been regarded as gateways to the conditions of flow that many students enjoy. Most importantly, there is empirical proof that children tend to treat brain games as tutorial in nature. They also perceive them as vital in coping with life complexities.

Therefore, it can be concluded that offering students the chances to engage in brain games will have major positive implications, especially to their natural capacities through self-motivated learning. Scientists have indicated that children engage in games all around the world and that tends to stimulate the types of activities that they will be motivated to grasp. Brain games are promising interventions towards the maintenance and improvement of people’s cognitive functionality in schools.

Financial Implication

Apart from the positive implications in terms of education and scientific proofs, brain games have limitations in terms of funding since they require huge amounts of finances for implementation. Brain games cannot be considered as the most cost-effective alternatives for institutions of learning that undergo tight financial budgets and overpopulated classes. Brain games such as those involving computers will require purchases of tablets, computers and other technological devices. They will also need committed internet servers along with other systems and channels of communication. Most importantly, such institutions will require extra infrastructure, teacher as well as personnel training and development. In fact, a fully and completely game-infused institution will require incurring millions of currencies and calling for continuous support from trained personnel.

A good example that shows the financial implication of the brain games is that of Luminosity application that can be installed on mobile phones, tablets or computers. It is vital to imagine the whole class or learning institution that is likely to use the application. Despite the fact that at the beginning one can get three games free of charge, the costs will accrue. The cost of unlocking a game costs an individual $15 each month. For a class of 200 students, that amounts into $3,000 and an approximate of $36,000 every year. That is quite a lot considering the fact that some schools are operating on tight budgets every year. Moreover, teachers and personnel will require payments.

That way, there are huge financial commitments that are required with regards to implementing complete brain games into learning institutions. The finances will have to be acquired through the institutional planning and that will increase the expenditure levels of such institutions.

Therefore, for schools with tight budgets and huge populations, the future of brain games still remains unseen. Regarding rich schools, the present indication is that they are embracing the new era of learning and are continuing to reap the benefits of game training. In fact, schools that use video games in classrooms have their students playing them at least once every week. That will eventually boost their performances due to increased memory capacities. It is clear that apart from the educational and scientific implications that are positive in nature; financial implications deter brain games from school curriculum.