Games Based Learning Techniques are Beneficial for a Child

By Akshay Sharma March 24, 2020 Parenting

The best practices for a healthy mind must be cultivated from a young age to ensure success at various stages of life. There have been numerous developments in regards to education for children over the years. There is no doubt that the contribution of technology has been the biggest game-changer in the last two decades.

GBL for children

Game-based learning (GBL) is a new method of incorporating the necessary teaching in a game-based learning method, that allows the children to be able to absorb the information faster and more efficiently due to fun and excitement.

Although there has been much emphasis been put on cognitive function, very little stress is put on non-cognitive function, although developing non-cognitive functions are just as important. Cognitive functions focus on the things that there is to know and learn; however, non-cognitive functions will deal with patience, discipline, and compassion, among other emotions and feelings. These are equally important in a child’s life and there is no better way to learn that through games, like freedom of making a choice is as important as the learning process itself. This is one of the main reasons why children do not learn so well in classroom environments.

Collective intelligence

Freedom and choice are the two most important factor that plays crucial roles in the ways children learn. Many researchers are claiming that human minds learn better when thinking collectively in a group; children are not supposed to be learning alone. Rather, they are supposed to be learning in a network, which is then termed as collective intelligence. If one was to go about using this as a reference then game-based learning is superior to any of the other methods.

Choice and freedom are big players in the ultimate learning of a person. It is the single most common reason, why many children excel in the classroom atmosphere, whereas some others have a difficult time doing the same things. Although the end result should be knowledge, at the end of any game, science kit or activity, the most important factor that contributes to a healthy learning experience is the choice to learn or pursue what the child desires.

What are some of the key benefits of game-based learning?

There are some main factors that should be considered for a child’s optimum learning from every activity that he or she indulges in. Some of them are briefly discussed below.

Choice

The key factor is being able to make that choice; about what they wish to indulge in or not. With game-based learning, the main advantages are that the child can continue to enjoy him or herself, with the game, while at the same time, learn things that can help them understand the fundamentals of whatever they are learning.

Motivated self-learning

With game-based learning, the child does not need to work hard to motivate themselves, or do not get bored too frequently. The main problem with traditional methods of teaching is that most students lose focus due to boredom and lose motivation, half-way through the course. Positive learning is the best practice to ensure that the child is learning and enjoying, enabling them to learn things faster and with more accuracy than if it was in the textbook format.

Communications and social skill development

In multi-player games, the child will learn how to navigate difficult social situations due to the keen interest in that activity, which is the game; this is teaching the child patience, motivation, self-control, and perseverance.

Judging their own progression

Games based learning, allows self-evaluation by the participants in comparison to their own performance, giving them a fair idea on the levels they need to work on to improve their performance to score higher.

Special learning development problems

As each child have their own learning methods and techniques, it is now believed that through games a child has more scope of learning the basic than in a classroom environment. Children suffering from problems such as ADHD and dyslexia have different ways of learning when compared to conventional methods; through games, it is easier for such children to learn their lessons.

The main point which stands out is that children learn better with the right rewards, and reward-based learning is the key for children facing learning disabilities and other problems, in the classroom from the traditional methods. Therefore, it may be concluded that educational gifts for kids and other types of educational games have a positive impact on the developing mind.