A recently released study by Learning and Teaching Scotland suggests that children who use Brain Age have better performance in math classes. In addition, kids who use the games were found to have improved concentration and behavior.

The study was performed with over six hundred students over a nine week period. Each day, children were given a math test, followed by twenty minutes with the brain training game at the start of their lessons. Meanwhile, a control group took the same test and continued with their cirriculum as normal. 

At the conclusion of the research, the students who had been working with Brain Age showed 50% higher aptitude than their peers who simply studied the material. Test-taking time also improved across the board with players of the game demonstrating twice the time reduction as the control group. They were also found to be better behaved and more punctual.

I'd always wondered about the effectiveness of these games. I'm aware that there's a small but growing community of educators who feel that games should be a part of their toolkit when teaching students. Hopefully, more study into the matter will yield similar results and some movement can occur in that direction.

[Via Gamasutra]