Games Students Play, Part 1: The Benefits

<p><strong>The Games Students Play<br></strong><br></p><p><strong>Part 1: The Benefits<br></strong><br></p><p>Game: from Old English gamenian "to play, jest, joke."</p><p>We often assign the idea of incorporating play into an educational setting as something reserved for little kids but line up 100 adult students and ask the question “who would like to bring game play into our classroom settings?” and I guarantee that few if any would keep their hands down.</p><p>As poet and naturalist Diane Ackerman has said, “play is our brain’s favourite way of learning.”</p><p>For most of us this is true. </p><p>But does incorporating games as a part of a teaching strategy hold any benefits beyond a bit of fun? Play and learning are not diametrically opposed to each other. They are in fact one sexy couple!</p><p> </p><p>Here are 7 reasons for a Trainer to incorporate games into lessons.</p><p> </p><p><strong>1.</strong>    <strong>Utilise and Control Competitiveness<br></strong><br></p><p><br>It’s not like we don’t already live in a competitive world. Competition is everywhere whether that’s finding work, bidding on a house, looking for that rare, limited bargain… Sheltering ourselves from competition can do more harm than good as eventually, we’ll be handed a loss whether we were actively competing or not. Dealing with competition in a healthy way can help us become more resilient after a loss and more gracious after a win.<br> <br> When a person is scared of losing to a point of feeling locked up in body and brain, that person will usually avoid taking any risks, embracing challenges, and seeking new experiences.  </p><p> </p><p>Michael Jordan said it well when he said, “I have failed over and over and over again in my life-and that is why I succeed.”</p><p><br> </p><p>No trainer should encourage full-blown ‘Lord of the Flies’, Squid Games, purge mentality competition of course but healthy competition that usually involves team support is ideal. What students in team comps are aiming for is less about working <em>a