Recreational Computer Use Can Benefit Students

September 23, 2013

UW-Madison education professor Matthew Berland says that using computers for fun and video gaming is associated with positive effects on high school students' reading and mathematics achievement test scores. Berland says these positive effects are similar to student academic and school-related behaviors that schools routinely promote and endorse, such as homework outside of school, extracurricular activities, and reading outside of school. Berland's study does not claim that using computers for fun and video gaming causes increased student achievement. Rather, the findings provide evidence to inform current theories about the nuanced relationship between student achievement and their recreational computer use. Using computers for fun, and moderate levels of video gaming, may provide an additional avenue to improve student achievement, in addition to other school activities such as homework, extracurricular activities, and recreational reading. More information is available here.