I previously posted about the NESTA Futurelab studies on introducing computer games as learning aids. For example, car racing games to teach physics principles.

In this BBC article, I just read that four UK secondary schools will be involved in the test, and that Electronic Arts (EA) is backing the project.

Claus Due, market development manager for EA Europe, said the time was right for this study.

“Computer games engage the brain like no other media,” he said. “We believe that children can and already do learn a lot through them.”

Well of course he’s going say that! It’s his job to develop the market!

But what exactly is he trying to say? We’ve all seen kids in front of computer or video games — tuned out of the real world, and so tuned into the game that they appear to be hypnotized into a trance-like state. There is no question that the brain and the computer game are engaged. The question to be asked is whether or not that is a good thing; is the brain engaged in a positive way?

Claus Due’s point is also being made relative to what he refers to as “other media“. We don’t know what that other media that he refers to is.

For this to be a success, what we need to see is that the new methods or learning aids they are going to do as good a job, or better, than reading books, or doing hands on physics, art, or biology labs, for example. Will the information truly be conveyed into the minds of the students in an effective manner, or will they just be happier students because they’re having more fun.

Futurelab’s goal seems reasonable enough and I was encouraged to see it explained here:

Futurelab, which is leading the research, hopes that the study will contribute to a move “away from the bland edutainment games that are currently on offer towards genuinely compelling games that support learning.”

Good: genuinely compelling games that support learning — I think that’s a laudible goal. But I was really let down with the next point in the article:

Likely candidates for use in the classroom include … those which model real life in some way, like The Sims.

The skeptic in me can’t help but think that The Sims has very little to teach, and that it’s hardly the most effective way of teaching whatever lessons it has to offer. The best way for kids to learn about the real world is to get them out in the real world.

What do you think would be an effective use of computers in the school system? What do you think about the EA connection with NESTA/Futurelab?