Jessica Berlinski, Chief Impact Officer of 3C Institute partner organization Personalized Learning Games (formerly Adaptive Health Systems), and Dr. Jeremy Richman, father of Avielle Rose who was tragically killed in Newtown, CT in 2012, have published an article titled “On Newtown Anniversary, a Call to Use Video Games to Encourage Empathy” on Games and Learning.
Jessica and Jeremy detail what makes games uniquely suited and effective platforms for teaching social-emotional skills as well as the research that supports their use in social-emotional learning. The article cites Zoo U and S.S.GRIN as examples of valuable social-emotional learning games capable of helping children and preventing aggression.
The article also calls on consumers and game companies to realize the need for social-emotional learning games in preventing violence:
We believe technology can and should be leveraged to build social and emotional skills in youth and games provide powerful opportunities to build these skills, both for our childrens’ success and their safety. We also believe game companies should be making more of these games, particularly when first person shooter games currently represent 20% of the 6.1 billion dollar video game industry. Yet they are not. It is time that we, as consumers, incite the industry to make more of these games as a means to prevent violence and increase empathy.
The article is currently featured on Games and Learning’s home page.
