Seminar members conducting a special lesson
On March 10 and 17, the YORK James Seminar from the School of Political Science and Economics gave special lessons for fourth graders at Minami-Nagareyama Daini Elementary School, using a Kanji learning game Kanji Domino.
The YORK Seminar is conducting research on the potential of games and play in educational contexts and society. Kanji Domino was developed by a team of seminar students based on an idea from fourth-year student KAWAGOE Hiroki. The game features two modes that help players learn kanji radicals and compound words.
During the first visit, members conducted a 40-minute lesson in each of four classes. Since the students in the first class needed time to grasp the game rules, the rules were revised for the second class, which helped students understand more easily and allowed the lesson to run more smoothly. The students showed interest as soon as the game rules were explained and actively participated once the game began. After the classes were over, the game set was made available at the elementary school, allowing students to play voluntarily until the seminar’s second visit a week later.
Teachers at the elementary school shared feedback such as: “Children in special education classes, who usually have difficulty learning in regular classrooms, were actively engaged,” and “Even students who usually struggle with their studies spoke up positively, with significant changes observed particularly in the second lesson.” One teacher also said, “I hope to incorporate this game into our future lessons.”
Comments from seminar members who participated include: “We observed that the game we developed successfully captured children’s interest and had a positive impact,” and “While students’ progress should be evaluated through kanji quiz results, a comparison of the first and second game sessions indicates that our efforts had a positive impact to some extent.”
Elementary school students playing a kanji compound word learning game