A recent survey has indicated that not only students, but also teachers are expressing interest in the idea of videogames as tools to aid in teaching.

The Teaching with Games survey was commissioned by videogame superpublisher Electronic Arts and surveyed nearly 1,000 teachers and more than twice that number of students.

The survey was carried out at Futurelabs and presents some interesting results. A staggering 59% of teachers surveyed answered that they would consider using currently available videogames, which compares favourably to 62% of students.

While its interesting that those numbers coincide so closely, it’s also interesting that this survey shifts the emphasis slightly from other surveys with similar bases. While many teachers agree that teaching with specifically tailored games would be practical, those surveyed in this case would consider using games currently available, meaning that there would be no need to commission games specifically for the purpose.

Whether or not this will mean anyone stands up and takes note remains to be seen. Of course, surveys are notoriously easy to misrepresent and influence, and to say that EA has a vested interest in the application of videogames to learning would be a gross understatement.

Doubtless though, the students and teachers probably had very different games in mind while coming to their similar conclusions.