Why they work.

Sage came running upstairs the other day, “Mom, what’s 3 + 2?” She was playing a Handy Manny game and they were adding tools to the tool box. This totally encourages learning, and the great thing about it, is she does not even know she is learning. She is just having fun and needs to answer the questions correctly in order to get some sort of reward. Isn’t this the goal of all parents and teachers, to make learning fun?

The reason why these games do work is that in addition to being fun and entertaining, they still encompass the aspects of learning. Most of the games work in such a way that the player is challenged to do something; lets say match the shadow to the animal. If you do so correctly you gain some sort of reward. Sometimes the reward is in the form of points, or sometimes it is just a pat on the back (not literally of course, I’d like to see that happen), what I mean is just an encouraging, “good for you, you got it right”, or something to that effect.

I have seen a variety of reinforcement schedules in these games. Depending on the game, sometimes the reinforcement occurs continuously, after ever right answer the player receives points or recognition. Sometimes however the reinforcement is offered at variable schedules. So lets say your in a rocket shooting at all the letters of the alphabet, every once in a while a certain letter that you hit will release a bonus feature or something special. The player strives for those intermittent rewards and is pleasantly surprised upon retrieval.

In addition to positive reinforcement, a lot of games also encompass negative reinforcement. If the player zaps a number, instead of a letter there is a buzzing sound, or maybe you even loose points. The two methods of negative and positive reinforcement go hand in hand.

I know this is maybe not the best parenting advise, but isn't this really how we train our kids to most things... we bribe them. "Finish all your supper and you can have dessert".
"If your good in the mall, you can get a treat". Or, remember potty training, everytime they went on the potty they got a gold star or a smarty. You probably tried a couple things until you finally found something that stuck. I know I started with stickers, I didn't want to use candy because I didn't want food to be a reward. Well, the stickers only went so far, one day I brought out the jelly beans and viola! That was way more motavational then stickers, and you know what, she learned how to go on the potty. The reward system works.