How to engage girls with gaming

Photo: Meris Stansbury

"In today's news, interactive educational games that are collaborative and focus on social good can boost girls' participation, say experts. According to 2012 data, almost 50% of all game-players are women, though their patterns of play differ from those of men", writes Meris Stansbury, Online Editor.

Photo: eClassroom News

Many people associate video games and gaming with boys, but researchers have discovered that girls become just as engaged when playing interactive educational games featuring certain motivating elements.

According to 2012 data from the Entertainment Software Association, 47 percent of all game-players are women, though their data patterns of play differ from those of men. Sixty-one percent of casual gamers, who play games such as “Words with Friends” and “FarmVille,” are women. Sixty-two percent of gamers play games with others, either online or in person.

“There’s a great social nature to games,” said Jayne C. Lammers, who has studied girls and gaming extensively and is an assistant professor at the University of Rochester’s Warner School of Education.

Interactive educational games also cover many 21st-century learning principles, such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, creativity, and innovation, the experts said.
Read more...

Related link
How mainstream video games are being used as teaching tools

Source: eClassroom News