Game as a pop culture medium? Yup. Game as a learning medium? Why not.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/16/new-game-industry-stats-straight-from-the-esa/
If we believe ESA (Entertainment Software Association, whose members are mostly game software developers), there shouldn’t be any doubt that game itself is no longer a niche and that most gamers are not teenage boys.  Instead, it is now a mass medium.

65 percent of American households play computer and video games;
38 percent of American homes [...]