48 Education and Health Vol. 20 No. 3, 2002
Despite the disadvantages, it would appear that videogames( in the right context) may be a facilitatory educational aid.
Consequently, it is easier to achieve and maintain a person’ s undivided attention for long periods of time. 10 Because of the fun and excitement, they may also provide an innovative way of learning
� Videogames can provide elements of interactivity that may stimulate learning
� Videogames also allow participants to experience novelty, curiosity and challenge. This may stimulate learning
� Videogames equip children with state-of-the art technology. This may help overcome technophobia( a condition well-known among many adults). Over time it may also help eliminate gender imbalance in IT use( as males tend to be more avid IT users)
� Videogames may help in the development of transferable IT skills
� Videogames can act as simulations. These allow participants to engage in extraordinary activities and to destroy or even die without real consequences
� Videogames may help adolescents regress to childhood play( because of the ability to suspend reality in videogame playing)
There of course some disadvantages to researching videogames in an educational context. For instance:
� Videogames cause participants to become excited and therefore produce a whole host of confounding variables such as motivation and individual skill 11
� Videogame technology has rapidly changed across time. Therefore, videogames are constantly being upgraded which makes it hard to evaluate educational impact across studies
� Videogame experience and practice may enhance a participant’ s performance on particular games, which may skew results
Despite the disadvantages, it would appear that videogames( in the right context) may be a facilitatory educational aid.
Videogames and the development of skills among special need groups
Videogames have been used in comprehensive programmes to help develop social skills in children and adolescents who are severely retarded or who have severe developmental problems like autism. 12, 13 Case studies such as those by Demarest 14 are persuasive. Demarest’ s account of her own autistic 7-year old son reported that although he had serious deficiencies in language and understanding, and social and emotional difficulties, videogame playing was one activity he was able to excel. This was ego-boosting for him and also had a self-calming effect. Videogames provided the visual patterns, speed and storyline that help children’ s basic skills development. Some of the therapeutic benefits Demarest outlined were language skills, mathematics and reading skills, and social skills.
Language skills
These included videogame play being able to facilitate( i) discussing and sharing,( ii) following directions( understanding prepositions etc.),( iii) giving directions,( iv) answering questions, and( v) having a discussion topic with visual aides to share with others.
Basic maths skills
These included videogame playing promoting basic maths skills as children learn to interact with the score counters on videogames.
Basic reading skills
These included videogames’ character dialogue which are printed on the screen(‘ Play’,‘ Quit’,‘ Go’,‘ Stop’, Load’ etc.).
Social skills
Videogames provided an interest that was popular with other children makes talking and playing together so much easier. At school there are always other children who share a passion for videogame play.
Horn 15 used videogames to train three children with multiple handicaps( e. g., severely limited vocal speech acquisition) to make scan and selection responses. These skills were later transferred to a communication device. Other researchers have used videogames to help learning disabled children in their development of spatial abilities, 16 problem-solving exercises 17 and mathematical ability. 18 Other researchers have offered comments on how best to use computer technology for improved achievement and enhanced motivation among the learning disabled. 19, 20
There are now a few studies that have examined whether videogames might be able to help in the treatment of another special needs group- children with impulsive and attentional difficulties. Kappes 21 tried to reduce impulsivity in incarcerated juveniles( ages 15 to 18 years) by providing either biofeedback or experience with a videogame. Impulsivity scores improved for both conditions. Improvement was also noted in negative self-attributions and in internal locus of control. The authors concluded that most likely explanation for the improvement in both experimental conditions was the immediate feedback. Clarke 22 also used videogames to