$1.5M Grant to Study Educational Video Games Awarded to Bruce Homer

Professor Bruce Homer (Educational Psychology), director of the GC's Child Interactive Learning and Development (CHILD) Lab, is one of three researchers recently awarded a $1.5 million grant to study how video games can help students develop cognitive skills.

The three-year project, 'Focused Computer Games that Promote Specific Cognitive Skills,' will explore how to design computer games targeted at improving students' learning skills from middle school through the early college years. It will be funded by the Institute of Educational Sciences.

Homer, who is also a member of the Center for Advanced Studies in Education (CASE) at the Graduate Center, will work with Jan L. Plass of New York University and Richard Mayer of the University of California Santa Barbara.

Homer's interest in video games dates to his own childhood, when he wrote games in BASIC for the Commodore VIC-20 computer. He has worked on research projects involving video games and education for the last decade.

"Virtually all teenagers in America, both boys and girls, play video games," he says. "So it's great to take an advantage of that interest to improve education."