Everyone knows how Nintendo's DS (and probably the Wii too) has managed to tap into a new market. Well, trials in Japan to include the DS in lessons continues with 4 junior high schools in Kyoto, Yawata City. On Monday, 550 Year 2 students were given a DS to try out English edutainment software for 15 minutes.

Results of the last trial that lasted for 5 months showed that the average vocabulary each student learned increased from 360 to 420 words. They found that before the test took place only 19% of the students knew around 1300 words but afterwards, the rate went up to 79%.

A questionnaire was also given out to students to see how effective they thought the new teaching method was. Over 70% of them said that they could remember the pronunciation of words more easily while over 50% of them said the same thing about spelling. On the other hand, over 30% of them said they couldn't remember the meaning of the words.

Taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of including game consoles from these trials, The Board of Education will be continuing to try and raise the learning abilities of students.

Should work for lessons but definitely not for tests... I guess they'll finally have a use for Pictochat at least, though.

Source:
• Kyoto News

Related Links:
• DS Used to Teach English in Japanese Schools