D&D: A Learning Experience

So I was talking to my mother, a 5th grade teacher, and prepping for one of the regular D&D games that I play in, when suddenly an old thought hit me. It was something I'd read before in one of the Dragon Magazine (published by Wizards of the Coast, the guys who make D&D): playing D&D with school age kids as a creative and imaginative learning experience. This will be one of my odder posts and I'm curious what you have to say about it but stick to the end before you throw one of the "D&D is the Devil's plaything" tracts at me.