Videogames Promote Creative Thinking in Children
In a study done by Michigan State University, researchers asked 491 middle-school students to test their creative thinking skills with tasks such as drawing pictures and writing stories as part of the Children and Technology Project funded by the National Science Foundation. November 2, 2011, ScienceDaily
writes: Linda Jackson, professor of psychology and lead researcher on the project, said the study appears to be the first evidence-based demonstration of a relationship between technology use and creativity. About 72 percent of U.S. households play video or computer games, according to the Entertainment Software Association.
The MSU findings should motivate game designers to identify the aspects of video game activity that are responsible for the creative effects, Jackson said.
“Once they do that, video games can be designed to optimize the development of creativity while retaining their entertainment values such that a new generation of video games will blur the distinction between education and entertainment,” Jackson said.
Journal Reference:
Linda A. Jackson, Edward A. Witt, Alexander Ivan Games, Hiram E. Fitzgerald, Alexander von Eye, Yong Zhao. Information technology use and creativity: Findings from the Children and Technology. Computers in Human Behavior, 2011 DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2011.10.006