• Hand-eye coordination and other physical skills.
• Multi-tasking skills for the future workplace.
• Effects of risks and rewards.
• Cooperation and communicating effectively.
• Developing strategies for success.
• Deciphering how, what, why, where, and whether in new situations.
• Creativity, imagination, behavior, and character development.

The items above are just a few of the more sophisticated justifications and claims made regarding the educational value of video games. When looking at the list, I must say, it seems pretty appealing. However, one must keep in mind that all the items above can be replicated in other non-video-gaming activities and environments. And, there is something to be said about the ways which all the items above can be carried to an excessive, unhealthy level.
So, to be clear, when questioning the educational value of video games it’s not that I think it’s harmful or bad for children to spend part of their time playing video games, but I would get concerned if children get so absorbed and focused so much of their attention and energy that it takes away from other, more creative and imaginative activities. But, I do think it is worthy to question and study the ways in which the knowledge and skills gained through gaming are so lasting and addicting:

To carry the “educational value of video games” inquiry a bit deeper, I have a tendency to move beyond the obvious and most touted benefits (as stated above) to questioning the long-term dynamic knowledge and skills developed through video games due to the ways they naturally elicit emotional involvement and responses. That is, when deep meanings are engaged and when information is processed so that a person both acquires intellectual understanding or usable skills as well as felt meaning, the experience is much more dynamic. When considering this concept, I am reminded of Gardner’s “genuine” or “deep” understanding.

Many contemporary video games ask the user to construct their own meaning and make decisions based upon the virtual experiences. In my own experience with some games, for example, the emotions experienced, concepts learned, and skills developed are quite vibrant imprint in my memory. Dynamic knowledge is often described as the total of the categories, ideas, and thoughts that we naturally and innately use as we interpret and interact with the world around us – or in this case, the virtual world. This type of knowledge and experienced is often characterized by the capacity for represent a problem in a number of different ways and to approach its solution from varied vantage points, which is often a part of adventurous, contemporary video games.

Let be honest as educators, dynamic knowledge is the type of knowledge we want our students to acquire as a result of our classroom curriculum and experiences. The genuine mastery or competence that they have is the degree to which what they have studied has been incorporated into their perception of the world. In other words, in the same way that a player makes instantaneous associations with previous experiences and learned knowledge to successfully maneuver through a new level or phase of a video game, isn’t that sense of what a person actually believes and perceives at the moment of needed action in the work place or in society in general precisely what success is all about? The dynamic knowledge that seems to addictively lure children in video games is much more personal (but often deceptively so) than the same concepts and skills presented in typical technical or scholastic learning experiences. The dynamic knowledge elicited by video games, I believe, derives its power from deep meaning and intrinsic motivation. It is meaningful because it is based on genuine, personal insight and achievement.

Many tend to focus on the excessive, addictive, and sometime inappropriate qualities of some contemporary video games, and in all honesty, with very good reason. But at the same time, it may be wise for educators to truly look at the ways in which video games draws and motivates children. I believe it is because of the dynamic and satisfying knowledge, experiences, and personalized achievements they make. How can we tap into mimic this in the school curriculum? How can the school curriculum learn from the video game industry and move beyond surface knowledge, or technical/scholastic knowledge, to the development of the more lasting, satisfying dynamic knowledge and skills?