Development of “Saiban-in Saiban Game for Elementary School Student”

Abstract

Partly due to the establishment of the Saiban-in system (the Japanese mixed jury system) in 2009, law-related education, especially Saiban-in education, has attracted much attention. We developed an educational game for elementary students called the Saiban-in-Saiban game. In this game, groups of four students select cases in three different rounds, and each player decides whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty and gives a reason. The group completes a round by considering at least six reasons for guilt or no guilt and deciding whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty as a group. We tested the game in an elementary school class without any difficulties. The participants had a chance to verbalize their opinions, listen actively to other players, apply the law to each case, and think about whether there were gaps between the party’s intentions and the consequence of an action.