Yes, is the answer according to Dr. James Gee, Fulton Presidential Chair at Arizona State University. Dr. Gee shared his expertise during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on February 19.

“We tend to teach science, for example, by telling you a lot of stuff and then letting you do science. Games teach the other way. They have you do stuff, and then as you need to know information, they tell it to you,” he explains. Gee contends that games that are challenging allow for “pleasantly frustrating” experiences but are doable. “That’s a very motivating state for human beings,” he says.

I guess you have noticed in many blogs that educators are becoming more interested in the gaming industry. President Obama announced a campaign to improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Several technology companies along with the Macarthur Foundation have launched a competition to develop video games for teaching science and math as a part of this effort.

Remarks Dr. Gee, “This type of learning that games do I call ‘situated learning’ because you’re situated in an actual problem-solving space. Situated learning can be done with or without a game. Good teachers have always done it.”

Source: Science Daily, March 2, 2010