The effectiveness of video games on the executive functions of primary school students

Background and purpose: Today, improving the living conditions of students is one of the basic goals of any educationsystem. Elementary school students are also considered one of these groups. The aim of the present study was to investigatethe effectiveness of video games (Tetris and Lemocity) on the executive functions of elementary school children.Research method: In terms of the type of data, the present research is quantitative, based on the purpose, applied, andbased on the method of data collection, it is a causal-comparative descriptive research. Among the statistical population,۱۶ people were selected as available sampling and randomly assigned to three experimental groups and one control group.The research tools included the Wisconsin card sorting test, the children's progressive matrices test, and two video gamescalled Tetris and Lemocity. In order to analyze the data, SPSS software version ۲۶ and statistical tests were used in thedescriptive and inferential part, such as the one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) test.Findings: The results of covariance analysis indicated that Tetris and Lemocity video games are effective on the executivefunctions of primary school children (P=۰.۰۳۴). It was found that playing Lemocity as a video game is effective on theexecutive functions of primary school children (P=۰.۰۱۹). It was found that the Tetris game as a video game is effectiveon the executive functions of primary school children (P=۰.۰۰۱). Also, the results showed that there is no differencebetween the effect of Lemocity and Tetris game on the executive functions of primary school children (P=۰.۶۹۲).Conclusion: The results of this research showed that video games (Tetris and Lemocity) are effective on the executivefunctions of primary school children. In other words, the level of executive functions of elementary school children can beimproved by using the mentioned games.

کلیدواژه ها:

students ، elementary school ، school ، video game ، Tetris ، Lemocity