Learning History Through Video Games: Let Your Kids Play While Studying the Past

Only recently, a bunch of researchers were reporting the negative effects of video games on kids. It is known that many video games bring the unnecessary image of brutality and violence for children to watch. Many people call video games dangerous for kids. Still, as with any other concept, it can have both good and bad sides. Sure, many video games have some extensive violent scenes. Still, many games can be used for educational purposes, for instance.

The proper history education looks a little outdated these days. It mostly brings books and teachers’ explanations to remain the main explanatory tools. The history essay writers from essaywriter service say that this method lacks the possible deep understanding of the events that took place in the past. In previous decades, films were often used in history classes. It has become popular since the 1920s to use films to illustrate to children the events from the past (R. Paxton and A. S. Marcus, 2018). These days, gamification has become an effective educational method that can bring more information and experience to kids.

Historical Video Games: Introduction and Use

The world-known game developers use advanced software and technologies to assure the best experience for gamers. It includes following the proper historical events line and chronology. It means, the developers tend to recreate the same historical events, places, and atmosphere as it was in the reconstructed times. It is a huge task to come up with the most suitable ways to restore the past. The historical video game is more than a simple entertaining game. It is the game that in some way represents the past or addresses it (A. Chapman, 2016). The history affects the way the game is developed and presented.

Many history games have already collected million-people fan bases. With the advanced software and innovative tools in game development, every player can experience almost limitless possibilities. In Minecraft, you can build your Colosseum. Therefore, writemyessaycheap.us emphasizes that you can learn a lot about the Roman Empire period, the Roman unique architecture, etc. The Call of Duty can offer you a closer look at the times of Nazi occupying Europe and the defense strategies used. The most important is the way students can both study and enjoy the game. Thus, the chances for them to learn the material is higher than by simply reading about it in a textbook. It was already proven many times that visual aids are very effective educational tools for children.

Learning History Through Video Games: Benefits

It is an outdated notion that video games harm kids greatly because of the violence presented in them. Sure, there can be a lot of violent video games or horror games. Still, it does not mean that all the video games are the same. You can find a horror book in a shop or library as well. Still, you can get a bunch of good history books at the same time. It all depends on the type of video game you let your kids watch and play.

Video games can be great visual aids for learners. They help to make the educational process more entertaining. It means you get better chances to learn the material faster. Reading about some events in the past in a textbook is not the same as experiencing it in a video game. Gamification is an innovative educational method that has already been called a very effective one (K. Becnel, 2019). There are more obvious benefits of learning history through video games than you could find at first. The game developers who follow the correct chronology of historical events can bring really effective educational tools.

Such video games like the famous Assassin’s Creed offer a chance to watch and experience the atmosphere of Ancient Greece, learn about the Spanish Inquisition, and the American Revolution. They describe in every detail how the defenses were built in World War I, how feudal Japan was operating, etc. As for writeanypapers.com, the biggest benefit of video games is the possibility for players to experience historical eventuality and to learn the causes of certain historical events. It brings the required set of knowledge and experience required to help students with solving existing problems. Thus, students can use the experience to deal with the current issues successfully.

Sure, video games are not the only effective educational tool that exists. It is rather an extra educational instrument that can improve the study process’ results. It can be used as one of the main history learning methods as well. Teachers should be less skeptical about the effectiveness of learning history through video games. It can be very beneficial for learners and teachers to add such an effective learning method. The teachers are the ones who can add gamification as an innovative educational technique. Thus, they can figure out with time how beneficial it can be for students to learn history through historical video games.

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Teaching history with film: Strategies for Secondary Social Studies Classrooms, R. Paxton and A. S. Marcus, 2018.

Digital Games as History: How Videogames Represent the Past and Offer Access to Historical Practice, Adam Chapman, 2016.

Emerging Technologies in Virtual Learning Environments, Kim Becnel, 2019.