The kind of questioning, collaborative, active, lateral rather than hierarchical pedagogy that participatory media both forces and enables is not the kind of change that takes place quickly or at all in public schools.
Several educators suggest in the newest issue of Science that schools use video games to simulate the real-world situations in the classroom to help students develop critical-thinking skills and enhance their understanding of science and math and, perhaps, even encourage them to pursue careers in those and related fields such as technology and engineering.
'The duration of these activities may range from days to weeks, or longer. The teacher acts as a facilitator of the exercise, as students work together usually in pairs or small groups. The students may have different roles to fill and gain specific expertise in these team building events. Social interactions plays an important part. '