What is the classroom lesson "Game of Seven Mysteries" that enhances students' "inquiry skills," "metacognitive skills," and "discussion skills"? Introducing an example of design based on inquiry-based learning and the application of gamification.
Note: the original Japanese article can be found at:
https://www.4gamer.net/games/991/G999104/20250930052/
Writer: New Continental Order | 2025/10/06 04:23 (UTC)
The Japanese Society for Digital Games held its “2025 Summer Research Presentation Conference” on September 12 and 13 at the Tochigi Prefectural Comprehensive Cultural Center. The event featured various sessions centered around the theme of “Media Technology Development,” focusing on games.
This article presents a report from a session led by Dr. Yoshihiro Kishimoto, Director of the Research Institute for Play and Learning, titled “Five Years of Practice with ‘The Seven Mysteries of Games’: Classroom Design Based on Inquiry-Based Learning and the Use of Gamification.”
In this session, Dr. Kishimoto presented the implementation of “The Seven Mysteries of Games,” a teaching practice conducted at BanTAN Game Academy High School as part of his classroom instruction. This approach fosters inquiry-based learning within lecture-style classes by encouraging students to formulate questions, conduct research, reflect critically, and present and share their findings—deepening their understanding through active engagement. Furthermore, gamification is employed to promote student agency, metacognition, and collaborative learning.
The purpose and positioning of “The Seven Mysteries of Games” were also introduced Thumbnail image No. 003 / The classroom “Seven Mysteries of Games” that enhances students’ inquiry skills, metacognitive abilities, and discussion skills—introducing examples of design based on inquiry-based learning and gamification
Since 2019, Dr. Kishimoto has taught “Game Inquiry” to first-year students in the Game Programmer Program at BanTAN Game Academy High School, Tokyo Campus. The course aims to help students explore games from multiple angles—covering game industry dynamics, production processes, and cultural contexts—in an inquiry-driven manner.
In 2020, due to the impact of the pandemic, instruction shifted toward segmented classes and online learning. To ensure that even new first-year students could actively participate, Dr. Kishimoto developed a “continuous theme-based inquiry course.” This initiative led directly to the creation of “The Seven Mysteries of Games.”
The core objective of “The Seven Mysteries of Games” is to strengthen three key abilities in students: First, inquiry skills, which involve consistently questioning “why?” and challenging assumptions. Second, metacognitive skills, enabling students to objectively reflect on their own game experiences. Third, discussion skills, including the ability to articulate one’s thoughts clearly and embrace diverse perspectives to broaden thinking.
To cultivate these abilities, the course adopts a format where students select mysteries related to games they are personally interested in, then discuss and investigate them within small groups.
An example from the PH25A class in 2025 was also presented. The seven mysteries raised by this class were as follows: For instance, “The Mystery of Time Perception” refers to why time seems to pass quickly when playing games; “The Mystery of Emotional Manipulation” involves how players feel frustrated during gameplay but experience great joy upon completion. These themes vary from class to class and year to year.
Each of the seven mysteries is explored through a 50-minute class session. Students themselves select which mystery to focus on in advance.
At the conference, an example discussion centered around “The Mystery of Time Perception” was presented. First, students were encouraged to conduct independent preliminary research based on their own interests—highlighting the emphasis placed on individual autonomy.
On the day of class, students first complete a personal reflection task—summarizing their own experience and opinions related to the theme in about three minutes. This is followed by group discussions. Because of the nature of these themes, there are no definitive “correct answers.” Each group presents its findings, which are then shared with the entire class. The session concludes with students submitting individual reports.
A distinctive feature is that student reports are processed through generative AI to aggregate the top five responses per student’s perspective. These results are shared in a live classroom chat on the same day, and Dr. Kishimoto refrains from commenting directly on them—except possibly to add clarifying remarks. He avoids providing explanations such as “perhaps this means…” or suggesting alternative interpretations.
Illustrations for class materials are also generated using AI Thumbnail image No. 006 / The classroom “Seven Mysteries of Games” that enhances students’ inquiry skills, metacognitive abilities, and discussion skills—introducing examples of design based on inquiry-based learning and gamification
The session also presented outcomes and reflections from “The Seven Mysteries of Games.” Survey results indicated a measurable improvement in students’ inquiry skills, metacognitive abilities, and discussion capabilities. In particular, several students reported feeling “like I’ve taken one step forward—from being a player to becoming a creator,” confirming that Dr. Kishimoto’s goal of fostering autonomous learning had been achieved.
On the other hand, some first-year high school students found this discussion-based format challenging and expressed discomfort with it.
The session also highlighted the relationship between student interests and broader social contexts. During the pandemic era and post-pandemic period (2020–2022), students showed strong interest in topics like “industry structure” and “behind-the-scenes production.” However, as daily life gradually returned to normal from 2023 onward, there was a noticeable increase in more introspective and emotionally driven questions. Dr. Kishimoto analyzed this shift as possibly influenced by social factors and the impact of his metacognition-focused course design.
The session also introduced the use of Dr. Kishimoto’s six gamification elements (see related link) in classroom practice.
Dr. Kishimoto also teaches a course called “Game Exploration” at the university level, which remains highly popular—often ranking among students’ top favorite classes each year. He attributes this to university students having more experience with discussion-based learning, making them better prepared for diverse exchanges.
Looking ahead, future directions include applying the approach to other inquiry themes and expanding it across different grades and school types.
Additionally, further integration of generative AI with gamification was discussed. Dr. Kishimoto has already implemented generative AI tools to summarize reports and generate illustrations, achieving significant effectiveness in lowering class barriers. Moving forward, he plans to introduce an AI character named “Chappy,” a knowledgeable transfer student, during discussions that lack momentum. He intends to create interactive prompts enabling students to ask questions or engage in conversation with Chappy to stimulate discussion. Furthermore, he is exploring the idea of having the AI automatically generate quiz questions for reviewing lesson content and summarizing key points from group discussions.