LG2G News

The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) recently released a report, "Harnessing the Power of Video Games for Learning," which is garnering quite a bit of national media attention. And interestingly enough, the document has some direct ties to and some important potential implications for LG2G.

The report's findings are largely based on last October's National Summit on Educational Games, which was sponsored by the FSA, ESA and the National Science Foundation. The summit brought together representatives from the game industry, the government and the world of education to discuss how video games can be used to improve learning in the United States. Gail Long and Carol Jackson from MPT's LG2G team attended this meeting and were part of the group whose recommendations have now been incorporated into the report’s findings.

One exciting element of the report is that it has the potential to help bring initiatives like LG2G into the mainstream of American education. The researchers found that while the U.S. spends nearly $700 billion annually on K-12 education, very little is spent on looking for ways to "improve the productivity and effectiveness of learning." To help address this problem, the FAS is asking the federal government to assume a much larger role in funding research and development specifically around creating and implementing educational games and simulations. That could mean LG2G will have a lot more company in the coming years as we work to bring learning games into the classroom.

"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," said FAS president Henry Kelly. "If we can't make this connection [between games and learning], shame on us."

It sounds like these folks mean business, doesn’t it?

Learn more about the report at the FAS website.

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