For a long time, people have used all sorts of games to help children learn more about the environment and adapt to the society faster. But when kids grow up, we tend to use other ways to teach them about our world and its wonders. Instead of a playground or park, pupils sit in a class for a few hours, and instead of playing games they listen to lectures and read textbooks. It makes many students feel bored and they start disliking school or university and lessons. And even after school, we still use the same methods in order to learn something new — just read the passage or two on a topic of interest and then forget about it. But what if the magic of a game was brought back to our grownup lives? What if pupils were learning new things not only from books but from different games as well? This is possible, and, moreover, games might become something that would change the whole system of education.
How do brain games help your brain?
Your body needs to exercise to stay fit and healthy. Same with your brain: it requires exercising to be able to perform on a great level for your whole life. Unfortunately, your brain is not going to function perfectly all the time. It reaches its peak at 15-25 years, but then your brain stops accomplishing daily tasks as great as it used to. This is when brain training games come in handy. They are meant to help improve your thinking, memory, reaction time, and cognitive ability. Furthermore, the aging process seems to slow down. But all of that doesn’t mean that you have to start using brain games only when you’re getting older. Start exercising using brain training games as early as possible to make your brain feel and work better. Sportsmen start playing sports an early age to achieve the wanted result sooner and they never stop training. You have to do exactly the same thing: choose something that fits your needs and start right away. For even more fun check out Battle house laser tag.
Can we learn something interesting and useful from games?
It has always been known that the only thing games were good for was fun. People are playing games to relax and escape from the reality for a while. But what if games were both educational and fun? Well, nowadays, everything is possible. Kingdom Come, a Czech-developed game, has made a lot of headers recently for its almost 100% authentic medieval age gameplay. However, it has come as a huge surprise to many that the game is going to be used in a Czech university to teach students Czech history. The game creator has called this news a new step to use games for teaching, not just for entertainment.
Are cognitive thinking games useful at all?
In the past years, there has been much research on the matter of mind games. Some neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists have accused the game makers of making false claims. They think that any study that says that games can help you is wrong. However, all games are different. A group of scientists made a big research on the topic of mind games and video games. And they found that both actually improve the brain function and cognitive flexibility. However, they explain that only particular games could help our brains to develop. Therefore, the question if we can trust the advertisements is left without an answer further still. In the review, the head scientist stated that he was surprised to find out that the least commercialized apps were bringing the most useful experience. Also, the action games showed themselves as a great tool for training our brains.
What are the drawbacks of mind-improving games?
One of the most popular answers to this question is that by playing games we are spending our time that we could have easily spent on something more useful. Have you ever felt that by doing something that you like you are wasting the time that you could have spent doing something that would bring you more joy or some money? The same happens while playing mind games. You are spending the time that was originally supposed to be spent on socializing, reading or simply sleeping. Of course, this is not about those mind games that make you think. They are a great way to spend your time wisely.
We cannot forget about such thing as advertising while talking about the drawbacks of playing games. We have all seen apps that promise ‘unbelievable experience’ and ‘positive changes to your brain’, but the only thing they offer is boring puzzles and other useless features. That is something that should be supervised because not everyone wants to check if the advertising claims are true by themselves. Sadly, the truth is those shy apps that we do not see in the charts can actually be the most useful apps for us.
Is there a substitute for mind improving games?
There has always been a great way of training our brains. We have all met it at schools and some hated it, while some loved. It is a critical thinking essay. It is probably one of the greatest ways to increase your brains flexibility. While writing a critical thinking paper a student is developing his own thought on the topic by making his grey substance working hard. Therefore, we can call this old-fashioned way of training our brain one of the best out there.
Do we have to use mind games at all?
Well, it really depends on the personality and the game. It is hard to find a perfect match, which makes mind games a little less popular than they could be. Despite that fact, they are a great way to train our brains and to help our creative thinking improve without putting much effort into it.