In this article, a design method of gaming instructional materials is discussed to provide informed instructions based on cognitivism. First, the “Warp and Woof model” of problem-solving is explained to clarify the mechanism of a learner’s cognitive process and knowledge acquisition. Next, the differences between the designs of ad hoc computer assisted instruction (CAI) and intelligent CAI are discussed in order to clarify the differences between the principles of instructions in behaviorism and cognitivism and to propose an appropriate method to apply the model. Moreover, an outline of the master’s course classes teaching a method of developing gaming instructional materials and conducting practical research on education using the developed materials is presented. In these classes, in order to help students to develop more appropriate materials within the limited time, techniques to develop gaming instructional materials are proposed and useful templates are provided to the students to create their game boards. Furthermore, the development of an e-portfolio system is proposed to improve the quality of gaming instructional materials and to cultivate the students’ problem-solving abilities by offering more effective and supplementary assistance to the students.

In this study, we developed a prototype of simulated instructional materials for social skills education. The targets of the instructional materials were university students. We considered situations in which an interpersonal conflict could occur as problem-solving situations. First, we designed a model of the knowledge and ways of viewing and thinking that we aim to train in social skills education, according to Warp and Woof Model of problem solving （Matsuda 2016a）. Next, we developed the prototype of simulated instructional materials based on this model. Finally, we piloted our simulated instructional materials with 22 university students and evaluated it. The results showed that it was useful to think about situations with an interpersonal conflict in accordance with the problem-solving framework. However, this was an effect of combining lecture and use of teaching materials. The limitations of this research are described and future tasks are presented. From the free descriptions of the students, result of the questionnaire, and activity records, improvement of the interface of the simulated instructional materials and addition of the collaborative learning function were shown as issues for future consideration.

In this study, for the purpose of teaching the composition to foreign students, we developed gaming materials aiming at creating Warp and Woof model of problem-solving for Japanese writing and framing a schema for writing sentences for Japanese learners. As our research, we introduced this material to 12 Japanese language learners in a university in Japan, and we verified the effect of supporting schema formation by explicit guidance of the relevance of the goodness of sentences and the method of realization. Regarding the level to form the schema, we made a rubric evaluation criteria and evaluated it. The verification of the effect of forming sentence making schema is to realize the sentences of the two tasks created before and after the use of the teaching materials we carried out analysis using comment data of question paper survey, log of teaching materials. As a result, it was possible to obtain suggestions on the relevance of the goodness of sentences and the cognitive level of the instantiation method to success in forming the schema.

In this study, the design, implementation, and evaluation of a card game was undertaken, and its transferability as a learning system was examined in the results. The given game includes the rules of the game, the contents of the cards used, and the system used by the study; considerations corresponding to each aspect were taken into account. The subject of the dissemination of energy-saving behavior was selected from among social concerns, and the contents of the card game were devised accordingly. The game Fan-tan was used as a model for the rules of the card game, and the understanding of the content and the context of the content were placed in perspective in its role of the design and practice of an energy-saving behavior card game, putting cards in order. The evaluation of this game was conducted through a workshop for parents and children. Moreover, the relation between gaming and actual energy-saving behavior was made to form part of the curriculum of a university education. The variation that we implemented was presented at a workshop as a learning program. The transferability of this case as a learning system was examined using both the design of the rules of the game on energy-saving behavior and the contents that were intended to be learned, as well as the learning and understanding of the contents and the rules of the designed game.

This paper discusses role-playing simulations, as a pedagogical tool to promote active learning and to encourage student participation in group discussions. In particular, the paper focuses on an aspect of simulations in which individual participants play assigned roles. The study analyzes a series of classroom simulations wherein students respond to challenges in a multicultural society. No matter how many active learning activities are brought into university classrooms, if students remain passive, these activities do not necessarily lead to their active engagement. However, in role-playing simulations, where students are divided into small groups and assigned unique roles, they are less likely to shirk their responsibilities in the group discussions. In addition, identifying with each role facilitates students to take on their characters, and encourages them to voice the role’s viewpoint in the group, thus contributing to animated discussions. Overall, students recognized that the classroom simulations improved their motivation to learn. Simulations have great potential to guide passive students to become active learners and to play an increasingly important role in Japan, where educational reform has emphasized active learning.

There is a teaching method by the “three kinds of knowledge” (Tamada et al., 2004) in the guidance of information moral. The previous research explained the method to the morally lower person to think of his/her own actions from the victim’s point of view and described this effectiveness. And the previous research was suggested mirror utilization method of VR from mirror utilization method of VTR in the educational engineering field. In this research, we aimed to develop a new system combining mirror utilization method and virtual reality (VR) technology to verify its effectiveness. Specifically, the act of the learner is carried out in a VR, in which they look back at the experience from the perspective of the victim. This method involves attaching a facial photograph of the learner to the face of an avatar that becomes the perpetrator in the VR, thus making the perpetrator experience what it is like to be the victim. As a result, when comparing learners who did not use the mirror utilization method with those who did use it, there was an increase of information morals and a decrease in acts contrary to information morality.