Education: Videogames as a Learning Tool

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By Newsweek Editors

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Alex Brayman, 14, likes sports. But when it comes to reading and writing? "I just don't have time," he says. But he does have time for CarbonAde, a videogame assignment in his high-school technology class. As a virtual intern for a game-design firm, Alex reads memos from his digital boss and writes notes to colleagues, learning plenty along the way.

It's been 10 years since the Department of Defense pioneered the use of sophisticated simulation games as a training tool. But in the last year, schools have finally plugged in to the phenomenon. Teachers in Texas, California, Washington, Maryland and New York are building lesson plans around complicated videogames, on topics ranging from basic reading to biology. "Videogames let us design obstacles that give kids a chance to learn things we value," says David Williamson Shaffer, associate professor of learning science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Plus, they provide kids with the motivation to do it." Not everyone is sold on the games' effectiveness as a learning tool. "What we really need to focus on is how to teach higher-order thinking and encourage creativity and imagination in the classroom," says Edward Miller, a senior researcher at the Alliance for Childhood.

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