The Impact of Game Shows on Students' Academic Performance

Edutainment is gaining a lot of importance in education today. The term edutainment encompasses a wide array of activities such as videos, movies, games and game shows, yet the one that is gaining most in popularity is online video games. While online games have been shown to have definite advantages, they tend to promote individual learning or at the most, competing with other students in cyberspace. However, they lack direct, human, physical student-student or student-teacher interaction. Game shows on the other hand present an opportunity for learning as well as a lot of interaction which in turn has many benefits. At Integrated Sciences Department, College of Health Sciences, game shows were introduced as an optional pre-examination review activity and the impact of the game show on the students' academic performance for 130 students was studied. Grades of tests administered before the game show were compared with grades of exams conducted after the game show for the same topics. Grades were also compared for students who attended the game show and those who did not attend. Game shows seem to have had a positive impact on improving the students' academic performance.