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Good education comes from identifying a child's interest and utilizing it. I'm a 26 year-old-educator who remembers a time when parents vilified video games for turning their children into zombies. Yet, studies have shown that video gaming increases several intelligence categories. It heightens depth perception and hand-eye coordination. It hones memorization and puzzle solving skills, both main components of IQ. Finally, video games increase prolonged concentration on a specific task. Consequently, the most interesting implementation of video games in education is derived from this last principle and the fact that kids like video games.

ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) have plagued American youth for the past decade. The inability to focus for people with either of these disorders plagues them in their education. Lack of concentration in the classroom leaves them missing out or behind. Video games may be an answer.

My intrigue in the subject was inspired by my 13 year old cousin. He was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 9, often giving him fits of frustration classified incorrectly as a behavioral disorder. His parents took him to the Dent Neurological Institute in Western New York, who are at the forefront of brain disorder research. Their solution was video games.

My aunt and uncle's initial reaction was of skepticism, but these were not the Grand Theft Autos and EA Sports that they and I were accustomed to playing. Instead, my cousin's brain was and still is the controller. In these new age, highly therapeutic games, concentration is key. The console reads the brain waves of the individual as they concentrate on a specific task. For example, one game challenges a player to race a car. With simple controls, the car is easily steered by the player's concentration with one hiccup, if a player stops concentrating for a split second, the game shuts off. It is perfect for a stubborn person who has difficulty concentrating on a specific task.

Certainly, there are non-electronic exercises that will heighten concentration, but my cousin is overwhelmingly willing to do this one. Paperwork to a child is boring, blocks are babyish, but video games are cool, hip, and fun. With the aid of video games, he has progressed in school, home life, and with his behavior.

Using electronics for people who have brain disorders only makes sense and this research could benefit anyone with a stroke, dementia, Alzheimer's, epilepsy, etc. I think the benefits far outreach those with disabilities. If those with ADD and ADHD can benefit from concentration exercises, why couldn't the general population benefit from the same research? There are already brain limbering games out like Nintendo's Big Brain Academy, and certainly puzzle games are nothing new, but a real revolution in education will not be born until video games make the jump into the classroom.

Learn more about this author, Andrew Franz.
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