• Reuters, Thursday, January 11, 2007 11 AM

Video games, once the scourge of parents everywhere, may soon be introduced in the classroom as tools to better prepare children for the real world.

University of Wisconsin-Madison professor David Williamson Shaffer, citing the success the U.S. military has had training its soldiers through video games and doctors have had instructed their teenage patients about cancer. Now, he wants to see schools adopt the same tactic to teach everyday activities.

Why video games? Because juggling different technologies has become a daily requirement in the work force, Shaffer says. He is the author of the book "How Computer Games Help Children Learn." These days, young people are being prepared for standardized jobs that require an ability to innovate.

"Skill and drill" teaching techniques, which he says were developed in the late 1800s, no longer cut it in today's technology-driven world. Shaffer believes the use of video games to teach children might help the U.S. churn out scientists and engineers at a rate more comparable to China and India.

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