Interactive eBooks and Digital Games Support Cognitive Balance

shutterstock_14675620[1]Characteristically, boys play more video games than girls. Interestingly, boys typically test as having greater spatial skills of the visual variety.

For me, the visual-spatial gender inequality is true as my husband can look at luggage, including odd-ball pieces, and pack the trunk of our car perfectly, all the bags fitting together like a 3-D Lego’s puzzle. While I have many gifts, that is not one of them; yet, I am quite good with abstract vocabulary, an additional spatial element that is also significant.

Intriguing new research shows that when girls play video games, they test higher on spatial skill tests. And why do spatial skills matter? According to a study published just this month in Psychological Science, the ability to mentally manipulate shapes and understand how the three-dimensional world works is an important predictor of creative and scholarly achievements.

Just like any other skill, spatial skills can improve with practice. Surprisingly, some digital tools readily at hand today, those which involve visual-spatial activity, are video games and interactive ebooks, especially eBooks / iBooks with some gaming features. This research also showed that such activity seemed to prime the brain for math and abstract vocabulary, both higher cognitive skills.

Annie Murphy Paul, a journalist and an author, who writes “The Brilliant Report: A Monthly Newsletter Bringing You the Latest Intelligence on Learning” has a complete blog post on this research and its implications: bit.ly/17DaZSz  “Achieving Cognitive Balance: Why Girls Should Play More Video Games” via http://anniemurphypaul.com/ .

It’s a worthy read.

I’m encouraged by the reference to abstract vocabulary, in which I am keenly interested.  Numerous studies have proven that kids who test as having low intelligence benefit from the study of abstract words. Research published in an archived edition of The Elementary School Journal, is particularly enlightening. It remains intriguing though not as new as the research cited above: John H. Langer “Better Abstract Vocabulary-Higher Intelligence Quotient?” http://bit.ly/1c3iju3

Achieving cognitive balance in children is clearly a worthwhile pursuit. Their overall education and entire life would be enriched. While it’s important to support children’s natural gifts and talents, the brain is malleable. We can increase kids’ aptitudes and creativity by applying information from this new research as well as the long-standing.

Boost your children’s brain power along with their math and reading skills by developing their visual spatial skill set, their imaginations, and their abstract vocabulary. A digital tool that incorporates all of those features is our interactive e-book, EggMania: Where’s the Egg in Exactly. Its interactivity, soft gaming components, imaginative narrative packed with lexical humor and abstract vocabulary, expansive vocabulary in general, all introduced in a fun and novel way that kids will love (btw: the word love is an abstract noun), fits the bill for supporting cognitive balance, helping children to be smarter.

As a female, I can eagerly embrace some video games, but does that mean that I will then have to pack the car?

 

Sherry Maysonave