EFFECTS OF PLAYING VIDEO GAMES ON STUDENTS’ SELECTION TEST RESULTS TO ENTER NAZARBAYEV INTELLECTUAL SCHOOLS

Abstract

These days children spend a lot of time playing a variety of video games, created for different ages, devices and preferences. This makes their parents worry about their academic achievements, especially if they plan to compete for placement in a selective school. To address this issue the present study aimed to determine whether playing video games affected students’ performance in high-stake standardised entrance tests. For this purpose, 255 students’ self-reported video game behaviour and their selection test results to enter Grade 7 of Nazarbayev Intellectual schools were analysed making use of multiple regression modelling. Students’ video gaming behaviour were represented by their favourite video game, genre and their playing habits during weekdays and weekends. NIS selection test results included the students’ scores in 7 academic domains - Mathematics, Quantitative Reasoning, Kazakh as the first and second, Russian as the first and second, and English languages. The present study established significant positive effects of playing video games of Sandbox, Strategy and Simulation genres on Mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning scores, Strategy genres on Kazakh as the first language, Action and Sports genres on Russian as the first language. A significant negative association was also found between playing games during weekdays and Mathematics, Quantitative Reasoning, and Language tests for students with Russian as the first language as well as significant positive effect between these subjects and playing during weekends. These findings suggest that playing video games of specific genres may enhance students’ complex cognitive abilities, for instance spatial reasoning skills, computational thinking, problem-solving skills, as well as provide necessary relaxation and motivation for further studying. These scientific research findings enrich existing literature on the influence of playing video games on students’ performance in high-stake standardised tests and contribute to the knowledge of interested stakeholders, especially parents, teachers, psychologists and students.