One of the first statements people make when they hear about the concept of Unschooling or Self-Directed Education is that their child would “just play video games” all day. When pressed about “why is that so bad?,” they answer with a variety of objections to video games from grouchiness after playing, to violence to addiction. All of these concerns are addressed in Chapter Video games, computer games and board games are not bad in of themselves. Played in moderation, they add social, emotional and academic value in learning in many topics. Besides learning content, they promote skills such as team-building, critical thinking under time pressures, problem-solving skills, patience in moving up levels, people-skills, anger-management skills, executive function development and creativity.
Here is the presentation from AEROx Conference on Unschooling STEM
Here are some articles supporting the benefits of gaming:
http://unschoolingcanada.ca/articles/scottgilmore.pdf
Scott Gilmore’s Article on the Upside of Video Games in Macleans Magazine.
Unschooling To University (And College Too) 