Effects of Video Games to the Academic Performance free essay sample

Effects of Video Games to the Academic Performance of Second year High School Students of Miraculous Medal School, School Year 2010-2011 The Problem and its Setting Introduction A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. Different platforms can be used to play video games, an example is personal computers. Video games typically use other ways of providing interaction and information to the players allowing them to feel like they’re really in to the game allowing it to be more addictive and fun. Video games, like most other media, may be categorized into genres based on many factors such as method of game play, types of goals, art style and more. Because genres are dependent on content for definition, genres have changed and evolved as newer styles of video games have come into existence. Ever advancing technology and production values related to video game development have fostered more life-like and complex games which have in turn introduced or enhanced genre possibilities (e. g. virtual pets), pushed the boundaries of existing video gaming or in some cases add new possibilities in play (such as that seen with titles specifically designed for devices like Sonys Eye Toy). Some genres represent combinations of others, such as massively multiplayer online role-playing games, or, more commonly, MMORPGs. It is also common to see higher level genre terms that are collective in nature across all other genres such as with action, music/rhythm or horror-themed video games. (Wikipedia) In the past, academic performance was often measured more by ear than today. Teachers observations made up the bulk of the assessment, and todays summation, or numerical, method of determining how well a student is performing is a fairly recent invention. Grading systems came into existence in America in the late Victorian period, and were initially criticized due to high subjectivity. Different teachers valued different aspects of learning more highly than others, and although some standardization was attempted in order to make the system fairer, the problem continued. Today, changes have been made to incorporate differentiation for individual students abilities, and exploration of alternate methods of measuring performance is ongoing. The tracking of academic performance fulfills a number of purposes. Areas of achievement and failure in a students academic career need to be evaluated in order to foster improvement and make full use of the learning process. Results provide a framework for talking about how students fare in school, and a constant standard to which all students are held. Performance results also allow students to be ranked and sorted on a scale that is numerically obvious, minimizing complaints by holding teachers and schools accountable for the components of each and every grade. Unfortunately, playing video games may have an effect on the academic performance of students if ever they will not balance their time between playing video games and having advance studies for their lessons at school. This study is conducted to explore the specific effects of video games to the academic performance of the second year high school. Statement of the Purpose This study aims to present the effects of playing video games on the academic performance of the second year students of Miraculous Medal School. Specifically, this study seeks to: 1. Identify the specific effects of video games to the academic performance of the second year students. 2. Point out the advantages and disadvantages of video games to the second year students. Significance of the Study Playing video games has a relative effect on the students. According to Robert Weis, a psychologist from Denison University of Ohio, students who play video games have lower performance in school than students who don’t play video games. Further research by Angeles Llorca Diez from the Department of Didactics of Musical, Plastic, and Corporal Expression at the University of Granada, along with professors Dolores Alvarez Rodriquez(University of Granada) and Angeles Diez Sanchez university of Salamanca) claims that video games doesn’t have effects on the academic performance of students. In fact, their research claims that video games can have a very positive effect on the academics of students, when used in moderation. The other researches that have been conducted are commonly focused on the behavioral effects of children when playing video games. These studies also focus on the negative effects of playing video games. There are also studies that say video games can be very addicting. The studies of Robert Weis and Angeles Llorca Diez together with professors Dolores and Angeles says that when students focus more on playing video games, they can have a negative effect on their performance in school but if there will be moderation in playing it can also have positive effects on students. This study is important because it can help in solving the problems of students in their academic performance. The low performance of students in school can easily solved and probably changes can be seen in the performance of students in school. Also this will help students to be motivated to lessen their time in playing video games for them to be able to have higher grades in school. And this will be a big help to parents and teachers alike, for they will be able to formulate strategies in handling students to avoid so much video game playing. Explanation on the Conceptual Framework Video games is one of the most famous and most used by the youth today.