Computer games giant Electronic Arts and education IT researcher NESTA Futurelab, are to conduct trials to see how computer games can be used as educational tools in schools.

The £300,000 project will initially be rolled out to four schools in the UK, but could be extended to other parts of Europe.

'The focus of the first few weeks will be in selecting the games,' said NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) managing director Annika Small.

'We're very keen to look right across the genres and not rule out the education benefits of any of the different styles out there.

'We're looking at developing some of the softer skills that are needed for the 21st century, such as problem-solving, resilience, persistence and collaboration.'

James Adams, education IT analyst at researcher Datamonitor, says the idea of using computer games may not be popular with teachers.

'While computers are increasingly being used to prep materials, the average classroom is not IT-intensive enough for this kind of thing,' he said. 'To be honest, the applications more likely to take off are ones where students can file homework online.'