The Role of Interactive Games and Entertainment in the Creation of Lasting Knowledge
The paper discusses the importance of digital interactive games in education. People perform better in life when they are asked to do something that they enjoy. Similarly, educational interactive games play a major role in the creation of knowledge among students in elementary and secondary school. Recent studies have shown that students perform better in certain subject matters when the instructor associates a reward to the assessment. Also, one of our recent analyses showed that students who received rewards after performing well on an educational game became very interested in the subject matter. Review of a broad body of literature has led us to draw important conclusions on the role of entertainment in the creation of knowledge among children.
Keywords: Educational Games, Knowledge Acquisition, Academic Performance, Interactive Computer Games, Student Development
Dr. John Malala
University Professor of New Media, Radio-TV Division, University of Central Florida