How Math Video Games Can Boost Motivation to Learn

In the study mentioned above, researchers had offered students a math video game to try out. When the children played the video game collaboratively or competitively with a partner, they automatically adopted a mastery mindset that is highly conducive to learning, unlike when they played alone. It was also observed that students’ enthusiasm and enjoyment when playing children’s educational video games increased when they played with another student.

The finding of this study has been published in the Journal of Educational Psychology and explains how game consoles, computers and mobile-based education can generate greater learning benefits.

One of the study’s lead authors, Professor Jan Plass, stated that they have found wide support for well-designed math video games that can act as effective tools for teaching students subjects that are generally less popular with children. All forms of game-based learning pique students’ interest in that topic by expanding their interests beyond the goal of simply collecting points or stars.

By putting interactive educational tools to use in classrooms, such as a free educational game for kids that can help improve problems that plague within a typical classroom setting, putting students in a mindset to appear smart rather than be interested in learning.

Two main types of motivational orientations were mainly identified among students when they were engrossed in playing educational video games: mastery motivation to achieve a goal, where children focus on learning and developing new skills, and the second, goal orientation based on performance that children focus on validating their abilities. So if we consider this scenario in a classroom, students may be interested in getting better at the game (better at math) while playing, or they may be interested in trying to prove they are smart or trying to avoid looking incompetent in the face of his companions. , thus improving performance-based motivation.

While the design and content of video games are important factors that have a great impact on the beneficial outcomes of the game, the positive result of these studies definitely shows that the gamification of education can have a significant positive impact on learning.

Some forward-thinking thinkers even argue that education through games is the key to saving the concept of learning, from instruction to true education. But these are just predictions and it is time to decide what to do with this promising new medium.