Why You Should Encourage Girls to Play Video Games
Your child may be too young to seriously consider a career in STEM, but that doesn’t mean that he is too young to develop interest. If you’re raising a girl, new research shows that one of the easiest ways to do this is to simply let her be a child and play video games.
A new study published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior , according to the University of Surrey, suggests that girls’ active participation in video games often leads them to earn a STEM degree. Led by Dr. Anesa Hossein of Surrey, the researchers found that girls between the ages of 13 and 14 who described themselves as “avid gamers” were “three times more likely to receive a PSTEM degree” compared to girls who did not play video games. Heavy games meant nine or more hours a week.
This information can be used in education in many ways; Dr. Hossein believes that teachers and parents who see girls’ interest in play could encourage girls to explore STEM diploma opportunities by attending “conversations with game experts” or by including play in STEM programs in general. She also says it’s important to beware of stereotypes. Not all geek girls, as Hossein describes herself, fit the same model, although they might feel like they should be doing this to be taken seriously both as gamers and as scientists:
It also found that 100% of the girls in the study who already had a PSTEM degree were identified as gamers. However, the same cannot be said for boys, where the same number of players exist regardless of the type of education, which leads to the idea that boys have much less pressure to live up to the stereotype of video games if they study a PSTEM degree.
In addition to developing potential pioneers in science and technology, video games have recently come to be seen as a useful educational tool for meeting basic literacy needs. Perspectives Reading shared several stories of children with dyslexia and other learning disabilities developing these skills while playing Skyrim and Minecraft.
These complex worlds make reading an important component of discovery in role play, which means children will progress further than in class.