Video Games DO Make You Smarter: Playing Minecraft and Lara Croft is Linked to Success at University

• Video games help young people develop good communication skills, study finds
• They also help improve resourcefulness and mental versatility
• Lead researcher says that these skills are useful to both students and graduates
• He suggests that video games could have a role in the future of higher education

Parents often despair at the amount of time their children spend playing video games, but new research suggests it could be doing them more good than harm.

Playing games like Minecraft or Lara Croft can make students smarter, according to a new study.

This is because video games help young people develop good communication skills and mental versatility, the researchers claim.

Gaming was found to teach students to be resourceful, and the study's lead researcher suggests that video games have a role to play in the future of education.



Playing video games such as Minecraft or Lara Croft (pictured) can actually make students smarter, according to a new study

HOW DOES GAMING HELP STUDENTS?

Modern video games often require players to be adaptable and resourceful.

They force players to find multiple ways of accomplishing a task.

The way games are designed often encourages critical thinking and reflective learning, commonly cited as desirable attributes in graduates.

The study's lead researcher suggests that video games could have a role to play in the future of higher education.

Both groups completed surveys before and after the experiment which measured different skills.

The findings showed that the group that played the games showed improved communication, adaptability and resourcefulness, compared to the control group.




Popular video games like Minecraft (pictured) help young people develop good communication skills and mental versatility, the study's lead author said

Mr Barr said: 'Modern video games often require players to be adaptable and resourceful, and finding multiple ways of accomplishing a task.

'The way games are designed often encourages critical thinking and reflective learning, commonly cited as desirable attributes in graduates.'

He added: 'My research is perhaps what every parent may or, in the case of some, may not like to hear.




Gaming was found to teach students to be resourceful, and the study suggests that video games may have a role to play in the future of higher education

'This work demonstrates that playing commercial video games can have a positive effect on communication ability, adaptability and resourcefulness in adult learners, suggesting that video games may have a role to play in higher education.

'The study also suggests that graduate skills may be improved in a relatively short amount of time, with the gains reported here achieved over a period of eight weeks and representing just 14 hours of game play.

'Certainly, the results of the randomised controlled trial described here suggest that the popular discourse around games' alleged ill effects should be tempered by considerations of the potential positive outcomes of playing video games.'