Using video games to learn in the classroom and at home can be challenging at first, but it can motivate reluctant students in surprising ways. If you are a parent of children these days, you know the appeal that video games have on children. Girls or boys, old or young, you’ve probably heard the pleas that come awfully close to crossing into obsessive, unhealthy territory.

Unless you’re some kind of superhuman, or have kids straight out of a 1950s sitcom, you’ve probably also stumbled upon perhaps the biggest hurdle to education: boredom. Uncontrollable yawning and an ugly black hole that swallows up attention and motivation like a sinkhole. In my admittedly limited experience as a parent and school volunteer, I have found one thing, and one thing that alone blocks boredom: using video games to learn.

Yes – use children’s love of video games to your advantage and eliminate their boredom. My son doesn’t really enjoy sitting him down to practice math with flash cards, but when I’m in front of a computer or video game console, learning is the greatest thing in the world.

Using video games to learn takes a bit of practice. The first time I tried to implement an educational video game session at my son’s school, classroom discipline deteriorated very quickly. Honestly, I think they knew something was up; there was an excited undercurrent from the moment they returned from recess. Can kids smell high-quality plastic the way dogs smell bacon? Be that as it may, when Mrs. Holmes called an orderly group around the classroom television, something resembling a rugby scrum broke out for the best seats.

Despite this initial setback, the students eventually adjusted and have since learned to treat using video games for learning as another part of their education, albeit a particularly fun one.

The format we find works best is to set up a series of “stations”, to divide the kids into small groups (definitely dividing up the troublemakers, they’re thick as thieves), with each group spending about fifteen minutes at each station. The key is to make as many stations as “independent of authority” as possible – the less time you spend explaining the rules, interrupting fights, or answering silly questions from stations one to three, the more time you have for some intense interplay between stations. the teacher and the student. You will find that using video games for learning makes students very independent for those 15 minutes or so.

Perhaps the only tension that using video games to learn can create is also very common among younger learners: no one wants to share. Most classrooms are limited in televisions and computers. I was able to ease some of the stress in my son’s classroom by donating a nice CRT television that was not used much in my house. If you have similar televisions that are rarely used, donating them (and anything else of value!) is a great way to help your children’s education. If resources are limited in your child’s classroom, students must be motivated to share.

Motivation can be as simple as asking students who are waiting their turn at the console or computer to cheer on their peers as they play. Or, ask each student to analyze their “partner” to see if there are ways he or she could improve her score, and demonstrate compiling this data in a weekend analysis. Perhaps the simplest solution is to ask them to bring a book or lesson to help distract them while they wait. While you can always resort to depriving yourself, I have found that the positive reinforcement is stronger than the negative.

Many learning games include “teacher only” modes that break down each student’s performance, a perfect tool to see in which areas of study each student might need particular help. When you use video games to learn, you may find that some students do better in subjects that they previously had some trouble with; too often, it is not a student’s intelligence or ability to understand a concept, but rather the way the concept is explained.

Making learning fun means students will feel good about their education. Using video games to learn can turn problem students into lifelong learners. Sometimes all it takes is a small change like a learning video game for them to see the value of education.

And as always: be involved in your child’s education. The best teachers in the world who use video games to learn cannot motivate a student whose parents do not show them the value of learning.