Gaming and the brain

This site where this link is housed is devoted to "brain training" via games, which is not really supported very conclusively in the current research, but the benefits for training and learning in general (not of improving cognitive skills) is a pretty clear benefit and I'm always supportive of any initiative that is looking to find better ways to utilize new and better methods and tools for education.

Serious Games: Developing a Research Agenda for Educational Games and Simulations | SharpBrains:

Teaching computer games

Teaching computer games: "Computer games have a broad appeal that transcends gender, culture, age and socioeconomic status. Now, computer scientists in the US think that creating computer games, rather than just playing them could boost students' critical and creative thinking skills as well as broaden their participation in computing. They discuss details in the current issue of the International Journal of Social and Humanistic Computing."

Cosmic Log: Big brains for video games

Cosmic Log: Big brains for video games: "

Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: Psychologists say they can predict how well you'll learn a video game by looking at three little structures inside your brain. The bigger they are, the better you’ll do.

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Video games take bigger role in education

Video games take bigger role in education: "Teachers trying to get students interested in molecular biology or space now have a new tool — video games."

Is Tetris good for the brain?

There is a very large budding industry around the idea of "training" your brain (and an excellent blog that is a proponent of the idea at SharpBrains.com) - but the idea needs a lot more research.

Is Tetris good for the brain?

As with most things brain related, at first blush the idea of training your brain sounds perfectly reasonable, but there is quite a bit of research out there that says it is a non-starter at best. I'm still on the fence.