We’re quick to label certain things in the classroom as distractions. Phones. Games. Anything that pulls attention away from the task at hand.

But this week’s research suggests one of those “distractions” might actually be doing something useful, if we understand it properly.

This week’s Tech Tool shows how fast lesson planning is about to change. And this week’s Brainy Bit study takes a second look at how students think, imagine, and create.

You’re about to become an even better teacher in the next 7 minutes.

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And now, back to making you an even better teacher. ⬇️ 

BRAINY BIT

Gaming Might Boost Creativity

We know video game addiction can be a massive distraction in the classroom. But what if there was a positive angle to responsible gaming?

TLDR: A study of over 200 students found that gaming can increase creativity—but only when it boosts imagination and motivation. In other words, it’s not the game. It’s how the brain engages with it.

The Study: Gaming vs. Creative Development in students

Researchers ran a mixed study with 202 students plus a smaller experiment of 12 participants who played either Roblox (open-ended) or Genshin Impact (story-driven) over four weeks. 

They tracked motivation, imagination, and creativity using surveys and even brainwave scans.

Participants played about 20 hours total, and researchers compared pre- and post-results to see what actually changed. 

The goal was simple: does gaming build creativity - and how?

The Results:

Motivation mattered a lot. 

In one group, motivation accounted for over 83% of the differences in students’ creativity scores.  Students who were more motivated while gaming showed stronger imagination and more creative thinking in other tasks.

Even more interesting, imagination acted like a bridge. Motivation → imagination → creativity. When imagination increased, creativity followed.

Different games helped in different ways. Open-world games (like Roblox) encouraged freedom and exploration, while story-based games built imaginative thinking through narrative.

In YOUR Classroom:

If motivation drives imagination, and imagination drives creativity, then how we design learning might matter more than what we teach. 

Here’s how these results should impact your classroom approach this week:

Strategies That Work:

1. Start with imagination, not answers: Open lessons with “what if” prompts to activate creative thinking first.

2. Build in choice like a game: Let students pick topics, formats, or paths to increase motivation.

3. Design for exploration: Include tasks with no single right answer to mirror open-world thinking.

Gaming isn’t always just a distraction - it can be a creativity engine. The real takeaway? When students care enough to imagine, creativity follows.

🚀 Noteworthy News

TECH TOOL

Canva Just Made Lesson Planning Embarrassingly Easy

Canva already lives in our browser tabs like a fifth family member. Now it's gone full teacher-mode. Learn Grid is Canva's brand-new AI feature that generates curriculum-aligned lessons, activities, and assessments right inside the tool we're already using. Hot off the press, as in this week hot.

The Solution: Learn Grid by Canva

Tell Learn Grid your country, subject, grade, and sometimes the specific curriculum strand, then chat with it like any AI assistant. It builds custom resources mapped to your actual curriculum. No copy-pasting from Google. No reformatting afterward. It's already in Canva.

It's included with most Canva for Education plans. A built-in library of thousands of ready-to-use activities also means even your "no brain cells left" Friday is covered and more curriculum aligned compared to the random emergency worksheet downloads we’re all guilty of grabbing.

Is This For YOUR Classroom?

Learn Grid isn't available everywhere yet - Canadian teachers, we see you waving sadly - and vague prompts produce vague results, so knowing your specific curriculum strand before diving in makes a real difference. 

Strategies That Work:

1. Instant Warm-Up Generator: Type your strand and grade, ask for a five-minute opener — done before your coffee cools.

2. Assessment Builder: Request a quiz on your current unit and customize it inside Canva immediately — no extra steps.

3. Student Choice Menus: Generate a differentiated activity menu for a unit and let students own their path.

Learn Grid is quietly rewriting what lesson prep looks like - and not in a way that reduces what us teachers can do. Get in early; this one's going places. 

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

We would LOVE to hear from you!

Reply to this email, or send us a message on Instagram! We’re here to walk with you in these crazy times!

Part of what makes The PEN Weekly community so special is the fact that our readers are teachers from around the world! We’re not going to lie, we think that’s pretty darn cool!

We’ll see you again on Monday 🍎

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