elc handin

8/12/2019 Elc Handin

1/3

ELC1014 Assessment 2 Andy Ng Sek Long

Playing video games as an extra-curricular activity is beneficial to engineeringstudents. To what extend do you agree with this statement?In recent years, video games have risen to be one of the most inf!entia forms ofentertainment" #ideo games not ony affect chidren, they aso inf!ence coegest!dents, as ma$ority of coege st!dents %artici%ate in video games &once in a 'hie&(1)" In s%ite of the negative re%resentation of video games in society, inteect!a,%ractica and comm!nication skis received by %aying video games co!d be !sef!for engineering st!dents" *his essay hods the vie's that video games most ikey areva!abe to engineering st!dents and treating video games as an e+trac!rric!aractivity can %rovide advantages to engineering st!dents in their res%ective fieds"

#ario!s inteect!a abiities that are reevant to engineering can be increased by%aying com%!ter games" -rom the research by .ackson et a" (2), creativity 'asincreased d!e to %aying a forms of video games b!t not beca!se of !sing otherinformation technoogy" Atho!gh engineering seems to be a %rofession that re/!iresno creativity, since engineers need to a%%y b!t not create s%ecific kno'edge todeveo% 'ays to !tiie materias and forces of nat!re (), creativity can increase

engineering st!dents ca%abiity to generate innovative ideas to sove %robems"Atho!gh most %robems that engineer enco!nter ony re/!ire one right ans'er,traditiona methods may fai and re/!ire a creative engineer to come !% 'ith adifferent a%%roach to sove the iss!e (4)" -or e+am%e, civi engineering cannota'ays foo' od mode to constr!ct ne' infrastr!ct!re since different constr!ctiona%%roach is needed for vario!s terrain and s!rro!nding" 3ost of the time creativity isneeded to t'eak the conventiona mode so it can s!it the c!rrent sit!ation"

Another inteect!a ski that co!d be im%roved by %aying video game is s%atiaabiity, according to a research by kagaki (5), s%atia vis!aiation of !ndergrad!ateand grad!ate st!dents increase after %aying video games" S%atia abiity is the skiinked to the !se of s%ace (6) and is re/!ired in different areas that are essentia to

engineer s!ch as %robems soving, design, %hysics and mathematics (7)" *o cite ane+am%e, 'ith higher s%atia abiity com%!ter engineer can better design cabebet'een com%!ters and create a more efficient com%!ter net'ork" *herefore,engineering st!dents can enhance inteect!a skis s!ch as creativity and s%atiaabiity thro!gh %aying video games"

Engineer is re/!ired to have high %ractica skis to %erform different task (8) andsome of them can be trained by video game %aying" #ideo game %ayers 'as testedto have significant better eyehand motor coordination than non%ayers regardess ofthe amo!nt of time s%ent on %aying games (9), and aso according to :an et a"st!dy (10), m!titasking abiity can be im%roved by %aying action video games"Sodering in Eectronic Engineering, controing robot in Com%!ter Engineering

,%erforming e+%eriments in Chemica Engineering and n!mero!s other %ractica tasksassigned to engineer need to !se either or both eyehand coordination skis andm!titasking abiity" *herefore, the %ractica skis coege st!dents earn 'hie %ayinggame co!d ao' them to have a better engineering techni/!e"

;aying video games is mis!nderstood to red!ce comm!nication skis of !niversityst!dents" According to Lo,


2/3


rea'ord socia reationshi%" =o'ever, virt!a comm!nity and reaife comm!nity donot neaty se%arate (12), and virt!a comm!nity from onine games may %rovide inne' ro!te for st!dents to interact 'ith different strangers both in virt!a and in rea'ord th!s decrease their socia an+iety in both %atform" As mentioned by 3addockset a" (8), a grad!ating engineer sho!d be abe to 'ork in m!tidisci%inary team, andmoderate amo!nt of onine game %aying can s!%%y coege st!dents the e+%erienceto better engage 'ith %rofessiona in vario!s fieds b!t %otentiay decrease st!dentsinter%ersona reationshi%s /!aity 'hich is ess cr!cia"

*his essay has e+amined the benefits of dedicating engineering st!dents eis!retime for video game %aying" ;artici%ating in video games co!d im%rove severainteect!a skis s!ch as creativity and s%atia abiity, 'hich are im%ortant in certain%arts of engineering ike %robem soving and design" In addition, certain %racticaskis s!ch as eyehand motor coordination and m!titasking skis that can he%engineering reated tasks co!d be trained by %aying video games" :es%ite the factthat %aying video game may o'er st!dents inter%ersona reationshi%s /!aity,%artici%ating in video game co!d aso decrease engineering st!dents socia an+iety

'hich is more vita for their f!t!re career" *herefore, %aying video game is most ikeyto im%rove engineering st!dents inteect!a, %ractica and comm!nication skis"Instead of s%ending eis!re time on 'riting essay, reciting form!as or cac!atinge/!ations, engineering st!dents co!d synchronie entertainment and training by%aying video games"

>eference ist?

(1)S" .ones et a", @Let the games begin Baming *echnoogy and Entertainmentamong coege st!dents,& ;e' Internet American Life ;ro$ect, e%", .!y 200(2) L"A" .ackson et a", DInformation technoogy !se and creativity? -indings from the

Chidren and *echnoogy ;ro$ect,D Computers in Human Behavior, vo" 28, no" 2, %%"7076, 3ar" 2012"() Nationa >esearch Co!nci, Engineering Infrastructure Diagramming andModeling., "3" -eder, DCreativity in Engineering Ed!cation,D Chemical Eng. Education, vo"22, no" , %%" 120125, 1988"(5) L" kagaki, DEffects of video game %aying on meas!res of s%atia %erformance?Bender effects in ate adoescence,DJ. Applied Developmental Psychology, vo" 15,no" 1, %%" 58, 3ar" 1994"(6) S" k!n, D3aking Connections? Im%roving S%atia Abiities 'ith Engineering:ra'ing Activities,D Int. J. Mathematics eaching !earning, vo" 17, %%" 110, A%r"201"

(7) ."" Cra'ford, he "#ills$ Attri%utes and &ualitiesof an Engineer., 3anchester? ICEE, 2002, %%" 1822"(9) ."L" Briffith, ;" #ooschin, B":" Bibb et a", D:ifferences in eyehand motorcoordination of videogame !sers and non!sers,D Percept Mot "#ills, vo" 57, no" 1,%%" 155158, A!g" 198"(10) :" Chia%%e, 3" Conger, ."Liao et a", DIm%roving m!titasking abiity thro!ghaction videogames,DApplied Ergonomics, vo" 44, no" 2, %%" 278284, 3ar" 201"(11) S"F" Lo, C"C" o!teedge,1999, %%" 167184"


3/3


elc handin

Documents