There's a subtle but serious movement afoot in elementary and middle schools across the country that may soon reach enormous proportions: teachers are finding a way to successfully integrate the playing of video games into the classroom curriculum. It began slowly - there's been some resistance from teachers, parents and school districts and the budgetary constraints can be hard to overcome - but now that more teachers are growing up in the technology generation, video games in the classroom are becoming less of an unusual occurrence and more of a natural option for teachers.

Kurt Squire showed the positive impact of video games in the classroom when he began using Sid Meier's Civilization III to teach an after-school Western Civilization class to middle and high school students who had previously failed the course. At first, he noticed a general lack of interest in the subject but once he introduced the video game into the curriculum, the students became enthusiastic about the subject as they armed themselves with strategies on how to conquer the Roman Empire. These kids, who were unmotivated and lackluster about the subject, were suddenly keen on learning about geography and national economies. To Squire, this was proof positive that video games have the ability to reach students who have shunned conventional teaching methods and have languished as underachievers. In addition, these same games can encourage gifted students to deepen their critical thinking and problem solving skills and to develop other high-level skills as they study those subjects with which they are already familiar. He adds, "The biggest thing we found in pre- and post-interviews was that these kids hate school-based history. The game really gave many of them a different way to learn it."

Squire is an associate professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a co-director of The Education Arcade, a games and learning research group based at MIT. The Education Arcade brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars, game designers and publishers to "assess the effects of game playing and disseminate the technology." This grant-funded initiative "hopes to raise teacher awareness of the effectiveness of game-playing in education, encourage software developers to come up with new educational games and build markets for their products," wrote Dennis Chapman for the Wisconsin Technology Network.

Since children typically spend more time playing games than watching TV, Squire would like this program to "help teachers, parents and policymakers understand the role of games in education." Because, as many teachers would like you to know, incorporating video games into the classroom curriculum can be even more effective than traditional methods of teaching. Squire says, "Well-designed educational games, far from being simple diversions, are challenging and thought-provoking for students [because] these games tend to require more thought than students are used to." For instance, Squire and his colleagues at MIT developed a classroom game called Supercharged! This is an electromagnetic simulation game that asks players to navigate through magnetically charged mazes. In order to succeed at the game, students must first know and understand the science of atomic particles. The game was recently incorporated into the science curriculum at a Massachusetts middle school and the game's success cannot be denied: when a final test on the subject's main concepts was administered, the students who played Supercharged! as part of their science curriculum outperformed - by 20%! - those who were taught the same material in a traditional curriculum.

Yasmin Kafai had a different approach when she received a grant from Nintendo to develop an educational video game at MIT. Rather than strive to develop the perfect educational game, she decided - after speaking with gamers ranging from 6 years old to adults - that the best educational experience would be for the students to design their own games. For example, she utilized the brainpower of a fourth grade math class in Boston to teach math to third graders. First, she designed some basic software for them to use. Then, she instructed them to design a game that would teach fractions to third graders. Finally, she let them go off and create. She saw for herself how successful this kind of "stealth learning" could be. (Stealth learning combines two different learning experiences, one without the students realizing they are being taught; in this case, she combined learning math with developing computer skills.) The students who created the games concurrently learned fractions and computer skills while having fun in the process! And, the third graders learned fractions!

Katie Salen loved the idea of integrating video games into the classroom and widened the idea's scope by creating a school called Quest to Learn that offers a game-centered curriculum. "The school is designed around the way games work," Salen explains. Traditional learning units are now designed as "quests" that are part of a larger game that could last days or weeks until completion. "Kids are challenged to step into identities - mathematicians, scientists," she says. "They are immersed in an interdisciplinary [setting] and instead of completing units, they go on a series of missions or quests, each of which has a goal." The nonprofit organization Institute of Play, which combines gaming industry professionals and educators, helped her design the school's game-centered curriculum.

Despite all this excitement about using video games in school, Scot Osterwell, the creative director of The Education Arcade, believes that video games need to be introduced into the classroom in a "manageable way," that they have to be more than just "automated tests tricked out as games." Meanwhile, Eric Klopfer, director of MIT's Teacher Education Program, believes video games in the classroom will be more accepting by the teachers if they are "casual games designed for play in those interstitial spaces between school and life - on the bus, in the cafeteria...[because they] fit better with the way teachers think about teaching and kids approach games."

The most difficult aspect of incorporating video games into school curricula is getting educators, parents and students to acknowledge that "something fun can be serious." This is exhibited by the fact that only a small percentage of schools in America teach through video games. But, Marc Prensky, author of Don't Bother Me, Mom - I'm Learning, says that those teachers who do incorporate video games into their curriculum are very happy with the process and, particularly, with the end result. In addition to learning the subject, playing video games allows students to develop 21st century skills such as problem solving, multitasking, networking, and critical thinking.

As more individuals who have grown up as gamers pick up the chalk to become teachers, it's my guess that video games will become a stronger presence in the classroom. I wish I had had the benefit of learning American History through a video game like Civilization IV: Colonization. I would've learned so much more...and had more fun in the process.