Research Suggests Educational Esports Programs Provide Significant Learning Benefits
Esports is bigger than ever - and it doesn’t seem to be slowing any time soon. As the popularity of esports continues to grow, so are the amount of schools deciding whether or not they should implement a program. As schools contemplate an esports program, research suggests that they should consider incorporating learning into their programs, rather than a simple gameplay and tournament program.
Through NASEF (North American Scholastic Esports Federation), an organization dedicated to creating programs that introduce educational and personal development to students in esports programs, the University of Califronia Irvine (UCI) researched the learning impacts esports clubs and classes have on students who are enrolled in the programs.
Professor of Informatics at UCI, Constance Steinkueler, has researched the cognitive, intellectual and social aspects of esports. Constance and a team of fellow researchers have finished a study that analyzed student behaviors and learning related to NASEF’s scholastic-based structured environment.
In their findings, the team uncovered that the students were afforded several significant learning experiences due to their participation in the program. These areas included STEM career interest, school engagement, critical thinking and many more. The study on Academic and Social-Emotional Learning in High School Esports revelaed that students experienced significant benefits in science, math, language arts, social-emotional learning, and school affiliation. The most dramatic benefits were observed in the social-emotional learning area.
Students and staff both revealed that the program improved self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness and relationship skills. Students revealed that they were transformed to be able to understand emotional regulation, sensitivity, and the ability to regulate strong emotional responses during gameplay that could have hindered their decision-making and teamwork skills, known as “tilt”.
One student explained, “I get tilted very easily, and whenever I play with them, I would start getting upset, and they would start joking, and it would take me off tilt, and then I would sit down and focus and be like, okay, I know what I’ve been doing wrong. I know how to improve it for the next games. So, I haven’t been getting as tilted as often, because I have gotten better to where if someone does do really horrible, I don’t care. I just focus on myself playing.”
Students were also eager to report that the league helped increase their affiliation with school. Students felt more connected with both the school itself and the adults participating in the program.
An interesting find in their research suggested that students from lower-income schools showed greater gains than students from more affluent schools.
Many of the benefits discovered from this study seem to indicate that mentorship and student leadership are critical aspects of these programs. Teachers and coaches played a key role in creating an environment where students focused on improving social, communication and analytical skills. Coaches who were present to introduce students to best practices, conduct post-game reflections, and coach strategies throughout the game proved beneficial for student improvement.
In research titled ‘Enriching Esports: Assesment of an After School Esports Program for Teens’, the research team concluded that the NASEF program significantly improved students STEM activity participation, perseverance, relationships with peers and adults, critical thinking, communication, school values, sense of belonging and self-management.
“You can’t just guess at whether a new approach to learning will be effective,” said Steinkuehler. “Teenagers are tricky; they can’t be talked into liking something or easily convinced that certain classes are relevant. I’ve been researching games and learning for more than a decade, working to hone in on something that kids are authentically drawn to AND that provides a meaningful, authentic context for meeting key educational goals and standards. These data suggest that NASEF is onto something important with scholastic esports.”
Chief Education Officer Tom Turner from NASEF says, “The tide has turned. Esports and video games used to be seen as negatives by parents and educators, but this research documents the positive benefits children realize when they’re involved in esports in a NASEF club, with structured learning built right into the fun. It’s time for all of us to embrace this new world of learning and to give our children the ability to learn while doing what they love.”
Story via eSchool News
