Russell Hunter sent me a link to this article about using games in the classroom. As I mentioned earlier, this is an issue that I've grown a little concerned about.

In the article David McDivitt, a high school teacher from Indiana, talks about a controlled experiment he did with his 20th century history class. 65 students were taught a subject (status of Europe prior to WWII) using classroom discussions and video games and 45 were taught the same subject using traditional methods including a textbook and classroom discussions. All were given test before and after the week-long experiment.

The results show that students learned more using the video games than they did using other methods. Not surprisingly, they were more engaged, more willing to work extra hours, and had more out-of-class discussion. They lived the history rather than merely reading about it.