In the above said study the researchers had offered students a math video game to try their hands on. When the children played the video game collaboratively or competitively with a fellow player they automatically adopted a mindset of mastery which is highly conducive to learning, as opposed to when they were playing the game alone. It was also noticed that keenness and enjoyment of students when they played children’s educational video games increased when they played with another student.

The finding of this study has been published in the Journal of Educational Psychology and elaborates how gaming consoles, computers and mobile-based education can yield increased learning benefits.

One of the lead authors of the study, Professor Jan Plass stated that they have found ample support for well-designed math video games that they can act as effective tools for teaching students subjects that are usually less popular amongst kids. All forms of game-based learning piques the students’ interest about that subject with broadening their interests beyond the aim of just collecting points or stars.

By putting interactive educational tools to use in classrooms such as a free educational game for children which can help to improve the plaguing problems inside a typical classroom environment, which puts students in a mindset for appearing smart rather than being interested in learning.

Two main types of motivational orientations were primarily identified among students when they were engrossed in playing educational video games – the mastery motivation of achieving a goal, where kids focus on learning and developing new skills and the second being, performance-based goal orientation in which the children focus on validating their skills. So, if we consider this scenario in a classroom then students may either be interested to get better at the game (better at math) while playing or may be interested in trying to prove that they are smart or trying to avoid looking incompetent from their peers, thus enhancing performance based motivation.

While the design and content of the video games are important factors that strongly impact on the beneficial outcomes from the game but the positive result from these studies definitely showcase that gamification of education can have a significant positive impact in learning.

Some forward looking thinkers even contend that education through games hold the key to the salvation of the concept of learning- from instruction to true education. But these are predictions only and it is time that will decide what we make out of this promising new medium.