Using video games in the classroom isn't just a way to keep students awake, according to David Williamson Shaffer, an associate professor of education science at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. It's also a necessity for training a skilled work force, he says.
In a new book, How Computer Games Help Children Learn, Mr. Shaffer argues that gaming — and even Web surfing and instant messaging — helps teach students to think on the fly and to move fluidly among disparate tools and concepts. Since nations like Britain and Singapore have already supported programs that put games in the hands of teachers and schoolchildren, American schools must learn that "we can't simply 'skill and drill' our way to innovation," Mr. Shaffer tells Reuters. –Brock Read
