The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and Federation of American Scientists (FAS) today announced an action plan calling for the use of video games in education across the U.S. The plan, which is based on deliberations from video game executives, researchers, teachers, government policy makers, the military and others at last October's National Summit on Educational Games, recommends a "fix to the digital disconnect in U.S. education and workforce training."

The ESA and FAS believe that by incorporating video games into schools' curriculum, learning can be made more effective, particularly in skills such as strategic thinking, interpretative analysis, problem solving, plan formulation and execution, and adaptation to rapid change. These are all skills very much in demand by today's employers, and it's believed that using certain features of videogames can help today's students become more competitive in the global workforce.

"Many recent reports warning about declining U.S. competitiveness point to an urgent need to improve workforce skills and our system of education," commented Henry Kelly, FAS President. "Video games are engaging and can teach higher order skills, and they are especially attractive to today's young digital natives who have grown up with digital technology. This plan outlines concrete actions we can take to put powerful tools for teaching and learning in the hands of educators and students at a time when the need for education improvement is great."

"These findings communicate what we in the video game industry have known for years - that video games are powerful teaching tools integral to the education and training of our workforce," added Doug Lowenstein, president of the ESA. "Games are now being used to teach surgeons how to perform surgery, train military personnel, help individuals understand and treat potentially life-threatening diseases more efficiently - all in a way that encourages continual engagement and rewards and motivates the player to learn. We are grateful to the Federation of American Scientists for conducting this important study and look forward to working with them to help improve the education of America's workforce."

According to the ESA and FAS, the U.S. currently spends about $700 billion on elementary through post-secondary education, and several more billion on workforce training. The FAS would like to see more money invested into the actual R&D to improve the productivity and effectiveness of learning.

"... despite the potential of educational games, the digital technology has not been adopted by mainstream education or training industries," FAS said in the release. "FAS calls for government research dollars to stimulate the experiments and developments needed to make breakthroughs in educational games and simulations, and to support meaningful evaluations of their efficacy."