Reactions from article: "Can Playing Video Games Give Girls an Edge In Math?"

Whether you agree or not, researchers have made notable connections between spacial skills and "creative and scholarly achievements". While I have your attention, no, the article title isn't saying this would only benefit girls; however, boys already have interest in video games and are currently benefiting from the mathematical benefits. This information comes from the blog Mind/Shift and their research from the journal, Psychological Science, "the ability to mentally manipulate shapes and otherwise understand how the three-dimensional world works turns out to be an important predictor of creative and scholarly achievements."  In addition, this research predicts, "the likelihood that the individual would develop new knowledge and produce innovation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the domains collectively known as STEM". Additionally, the Journal of Cognition and Development, reported that "training children in spacial reasoning can improve their performance in math" and in a "single twenty-minute training session in spatial skills enhanced participants' ability to solve math problems, suggesting that the training 'primes' the brain to tackle arithmetic".  So, how does this all relate to video gaming?  The article suggests that children don't just learn at school, but at home.  It is this informal learning that adds additional impact on the child and suggest that parents fill this gap or add emphasis at home.  For older children this spatial manipulation of 3D shapes can come from video games.  The article claims that "males have historically held the advantage over females in spatial ability, and this advantage has often been attributed to genetic differences. But males' spatial edge may also reflect, in part, differences in the leisure-time activities of boys and girls, activities that add up to a kind of daily drill in spatial skills for boys." The article then states their opinion on how this type of informal learning could fill the gender gap and "produce more female scientists, engineers and mathematicians" as suggested by a study by University of Toronto researchers in the Psychological Science journal.  It is suggested by these authors that this higher-level ability to "mentally rotate objects" 'could play a significant role as part of a larger strategy designed to interest women in science and engineering careers.' So whether or not you agree with video games as your outlet for work with spacial learning, it is clear to see the importance of learning to manipulate spacial objects in some capacity.  I've always shied away from gaming; perhaps it's merely due to the marketing, games that don't really interest me, my competitive nature (I MUST WIN), or perhaps it is due to how I was raised.... OR perhaps, just because I'm a girl! But I do feel that I still hold a high understanding and interest in such areas as creativity, engineering, mathematics and the sciences.  It is more than likely in part to a hands on manipulation of objects.  Hey, we all love playing with Legos... right?

Paul, Annie Murphy. "Can Playing Video Games Give Girls an Edge in Math?." Mind / Shift. KQED, 24 Jul 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. <http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/07/can-playing-video-games-give-girls-an-edge-in-math/