{"id":478,"date":"2025-07-13T00:45:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T00:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yorkgamelab.com\/?p=478"},"modified":"2025-07-17T00:11:27","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T00:11:27","slug":"kei-go-in-the-classroom-early-results-from-a-lesson-at-moriya-elementary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yorkgamelab.com\/ja\/2025\/07\/13\/kei-go-in-the-classroom-early-results-from-a-lesson-at-moriya-elementary\/","title":{"rendered":"KEI-GO! in the Classroom: Early Results from a Lesson at Moriya Elementary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Earlier this year, I was given the opportunity to conduct a lesson to teach a lesson at Moriya Elementary School<\/a> (the school that my son goes to) and in this post I’ll outline the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, if you don’t want to read all the text here, then jump down to the presentations below where you can see photos of the event and the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The lesson was the results of speaking to the Moriya City Board of Education<\/a> about conducting a lesson on keigo with KEI-GO!, and though it took longer than I expected, I’m glad to have been given the opportunity. They allowed me to teach a single class at Moriya Elementary School to all the fifth graders (a total of four classes, and around 100 students).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research aims<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The aim of the research was to see if the game helped students understand how to use keigo through practically using it as part of play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The class was only 40 minutes long, including time to introduce the game and how to play, so there was not much time. Additionally, I was speaking to all classes at once remotely from a separate classroom, so I had to rely on the home room teachers to make sure everything was conducted according to my explanations. The lesson\/experiment plan is as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. I conducted a simple explanation of keigo, then had them complete the pre-test and pre-play questionnaire.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Then I introduced how to play the game.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Students played the game in small groups of 4-5. Most groups got to play two times.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Students completed the post-test and post-play questionnaires.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    During the play session, I got to go around the classrooms and observe game play. It was great to see the students having fun with the game and fun with keigo! A big thanks to the teachers that helped facilitate the set-up process. Photos of gameplay can be seen in the below presentations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Results<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    I only had one session to run this activity (originally, I had hoped for two sessions and a delayed post-test, but that wasn\u2019t possible this time around). Still, the results were promising: students’ scores increased by an average of 2.76 points from pre- to post-test. This improvement was statistically significant (p < 0.0001) and came with a medium effect size (0.54).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    With a small average increase in scores from the pre- to post-test level (2.76 points). This was statistically significant (p<0.0001) with a medium effect size (0.54).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    So, a win, right?! Well, there is no control group, so I can’t say that this game is a better tool than other, more traditional approaches. And without a delayed post-test, we don\u2019t know if the learning stuck. That said, it\u2019s an encouraging result for a single-session intervention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I think it’s safe to say, however provisionally, that: KEI-GO! WORKS!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    Grab a copy here \ud83d\udc47<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \t\t
    \n\t\t\t