The Effect of the use instructional computer games on cognitive emotion regulation and students' Mindfulness

The rapid penetration of intelligent technologies has changed many aspects of social life and has led to significant changes in the way, time and place of learning. Educational computer games, which in turn are one of the manifestations of technological progress in the contemporary era, will be an important part of the future education. To this end, educational systems have decided to change their teaching methods and have thought about how to teach and learn and how to prepare the digital generation to live in this culture. To improve and make education effective for today's digital learners, considering the features and capabilities of educational computer games, it seems that one of these methods is to use educational computer games as an educational strategy in educational systems. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the use instructional computer games on cognitive emotion regulation and students' mindfulness.

The research method is Quantitative and semi-experimental method of pre-test-post-test design with control group. The statistical population is all elementary students of Shahriar In the academic year 2017-2016. The sample consisted of 60 students (30 in the control group and 30 in the experimental group) who were selected through targeted sampling. Research tools included Garnefski et al cognitive emotion regulation and Baer et al mindfulness questionnaires.

The research findings show that the use of instructional computergames effects on cognitive emotion regulation and students' mindfulness (p < 0.01). There is a significant difference in the components cognitive emotion regulation and mindfulness between the two groups (experiment and control) (p < 0.01). In positive strategies of cognitive emotion regulation and mindfulness, the moderated mean of the experimental group is more than that of the control group and in negative strategies of cognitive emotion regulation. The moderated mean of the experimental group is less than that of the control group. This shows that the use of instructional computergames effects on the improvement the components of cognitive emotion regulation and mindfulness in students (p < 0.01).

Because learners engage in interactions in the educational computer game environment that use working memory cognitive resources for meaningful learning, direct instruction and guidance can play an executive role by providing minor alternatives to compensate for the lack of knowledge-based guidance for the learner by accurately retelling a management example and solving a problem. Of course, educational computer games in certain applications such as navigation tasks, reviewing and processing implicit gestures or processing complex narratives and background information can impose heavy requirements on our cognitive system according to the personal resources needed, here significant player involvement with the game or automating a player's computer skills due to intensive training can help the player solve this problem. During games, especially educational computer games, students gain access to new mental concepts, gain more and better skills, and use positive emotion regulation strategies while playing. The results of the research show that instructional computer games improve the cognitive emotion regulation and Mindfulness in students, it is suggested to use instructional computer games in classrooms.