HOUSTON — Tired of badgering the kids to quit wasting time with those computer and video games and get started on homework? Here’s a news flash for the 21st Century: It turns out many of the games might be better than homework.
In a series of research projects as likely to thrill young people as they are to horrify their parents and teachers, academic experts across the country are unearthing educational benefits in the digital games that surveys show are now played by more than 80 percent of American young people ages 8 to 18.
Quoted: David Williamson Shaffer, an education professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of a recent book, “How Computer Games Help Children Learn”; Kurt Squire, another University of Wisconsin researcher.