Rewired Brains and Gaming in Higher Ed.

This article would provoke a strong reaction from my husband, the old-school college math teacher with a couple of engineering degrees. (If he had time to read it). The intro:

"At some point, engineering professor Brianno Coller realized he didn't like slogging through dry math problems as an instructor any more than he had as a student. So he thought about what could liven things up — animation! interactivity! —and it hit him: video games.

He designed one, and now his third-year students at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb build virtual race cars, complete with roaring engines and screeching tires, that must maneuver an increasingly challenging course. Along the way, they're exposed to computational math, a basic building block of engineering.

'I use games to, in some sense, throw away the textbook,' says Coller, 42, who played Lunar Lander and other video games as a kid. 'My philosophy is that learning can be a burdensome chore or it can be an interesting journey.' "

The burdensome chore can become the interesting journey, Mr. Coller.

Thanks to Mrs. Santana for sending this article.