How Gaming Can Teach Essential Life Skills

When I first heard a student tell me he was planning to major in “gaming,” I was skeptical. What does that mean? How on earth could gaming have any practical application? I was surprised, therefore, to learn that, in fact, gaming and social and emotional learning (SEL) can lay strong foundations for future school, career, and interpersonal success.

According to the World Economic Forum’s 2016 report titled New Vision for Education: Fostering Social and Emotional Learning Through Technology, “To thrive in the 21st century, students need more than traditional academic learning…Coupled with mastery of traditional skills, social and emotional proficiency will equip students to succeed in the swiftly evolving digital economy.” The report adds that 65% of grade school students will end up in jobs that don’t exist today, which will require an expanded learning base that pays attention to creativity, problem-solving, and other skills that are applicable to the modern world.

That being said, how does something as seemingly new-fangled and trivial as gaming help prepare young people for future careers? Lets’ break it down:

New times, new skills: A mere ten years ago, something like coding was probably not a skill you would see listed on a resume. Today, however, skills such as coding or website design can be invaluable and provide a leg up for a student looking for colleges or careers. For kids who love technology and video games—which, according to an ABC survey, constitutes a staggering 97% of young respondents— we see a unique opportunity to integrate SEL skills and tech skills The idea is that playing games can help train students to be collaborative, creative, empathic, and communicative, all vital life competencies.

The “21^st century skills” than can be transferred through gaming are indispensable in real-world job situations. Look, for instance, at the game “Ori and the Blind Forest,” a puzzle platform for Xbox and PC, which offers players the chance to complete missions and objectives, make decisions based on empathy and resilience, and think about creative solutions to problems. Here, we begin to see the value of such games. There are also multiplayer online role-playing games that allow young people to work on collaboration, teamwork, and social interaction. While gaming often gets a bad rap, the truth is that we should embrace it as a new skill rather than denounce it as an impersonal waste of time. Click here and here for more gaming suggestions to improve your child’s 21^st century skills.

The importance of SEL cannot be underestimated. Through the practice of teaching these skills, we are teaching young people about empathy, teamwork, courage, humility, communication, integrity, curiosity, and perseverance. This type of emotional intelligence is absolutely necessary for being successful in a world where all types of evolving relationships—from interoffice to digital to facetime— are unavoidable. If these essential life skills can be delivered to young people via games, there is an even better chance of the lessons being embraced and applied. More and more schools are integrating creative ways to teach SEL and viewing it as a topic as important and fundamental as math or English skills.

Teaching positivity through gaming is yet another way to help students prepare for “real-world” situations. Educational consultant and SEL advocate Jessica Berlinski points out that children are drawn to games, and that this attraction provides unique opportunities to use games to build essential life skills such as a sense of purpose and a positive mindset. This, in turn, can lead to helping children prepare for and discover meaningful, impactful educational experiences and careers.

Overall, these “innovative ways to help students develop competencies and character qualities” are more than just a fad: embracing changing technology and making it applicable to real-world situations is essential in providing creative, holistic, and successful academic lives for kids.

Written by Phil Lane

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