A public high school in Norway will be offering its students the option to take eSports classes instead of more traditional PE courses. It looks like video game culture is now officially making its way into the school system.
A high school in Bergen, Norway, will begin offering an eSports elective that can take the place of PE. Now, it won't simply be a bunch of kids playing video games for the five hours each week the class meets. According to Ars Technica, "the classes will include 90 minutes of physical training optimized for the games in question, with work on reflexes, strength, and endurance." Some of the students will be playing the games while the others focus on the actual physical side of gaming.
Yes, there is an actual physical aspect to video games. Reflexes, finger agility, and vision are all important aspects to video games. Tech Times talks about "a team at the University of Toronto suggests that playing action video games regularly helps gamers learn new sensorimotor skills, especially eye and hand coordination." National Geographic also mentions a study on another visual benefit from video games: "The ability, called contrast sensitivity function, allows people to discern even subtle changes in shades of gray against a uniformly colored backdrop." And a more well-known evidence for video game benefits is hand-to-eye coordination.
It's fascinating to see how video games are becoming more and more a part of global culture. There are many eSports leagues covering a wide variety of games from shooters to MOBA's (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) to RPG's. Now that gaming is becoming more widely accepted as a legitimate sport, it will be interesting to see what comes next. Shoot, even ESPN is getting in on the action.
So what do you think about video games in school? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below!
