According to a study conducted at the St Columba's Primary in
Dundee, children who played educational PC games at the start of each
school day showed considerable improvement in Maths by an average of 10
percent.

Some 30 school children aged between 9- and 10- years were made to
play a game called 'More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima' on the
Nintendo DS console every morning for 15-20 minutes before starting
lessons.

Children who play games before going off to school get better grades
than those who don’t play such games, according to a new study.

The study was conducted at St Columba’s Primary in Dundee. Children
playing games for 20 minutes on Nintendo’s handheld DS console at the
each day’s start, indicated dramatic advancements in classroom after
gaming for 20 minutes before lesson starts.

The collection of mini-games such as number challenges, reading
tests, problem-solving exercises and memory puzzles, are projected to
exercise the brain by increasing blood for to the pre-frontal cortex.

In the study, children show significant improvement in Maths, and
increase their concentration and interaction levels as well, after 10
weeks programs.

The average time for completion of the test dropped from 17 minutes,
1 second to 13 minutes, 19 seconds or so. A specific group showed an
increase in average scores from 76/100 to 86/100.

The behavior also improved, they were more cohesive, supportive of- and comfortable with- each other.

Derek Robertson, Learning and Teaching Scotland’s development
officer, talked about computer games in improving classroom performance
of kids.

Robertson said, “There was dramatic enhancement in their mental
maths ability in such a short period of time. It also seemed to have a
settling effect on the children.”