Video Games as teaching tools?

      As a mother of two boys who love to play video games, I am constantly facing an internal conflict on whether or not video games are of any real use. Today however, I read an article that helped me to see that although games have the reputation for not having any educational value, they indeed offer tools that are sometimes not blatantly obvious. For instance, one wouldn't have thought that the game Zoo Tycoon would offer anything other than entertainment value, when indeed it promotes critical thinking and math skills. Zoo Tycoon is one of many 'management games', where the purpose is to create a business and stimulating environment. Other management games can also help teach science, social studies, and language arts while still entertaining those who play them.
      Other games encourage strategy while learning or conducting experiments to find out how things work (or don't work). Such games are "Model Trains 3D", and Microsoft's "Flight Simulator X".  While video games have the widespread reputation of not promoting any learning, the above games mentioned are only a few of the tools offered that do more than just occupy time; they also encourage thinking skills that can help in the real world while also stimulating their minds. While many games do not promote any learning of any kind, there are several others that can be used as teaching tools that can enable our children and students to reach beyond Mario and Luigi, and begin looking at the world in a different light. Utilizing particular video games in the classroom can give our children an opportunity to learn these thinking skills without even realizing it, while making us teachers look like the coolest ones around. Besides, isn't teaching about promoting learning while having fun?