Namco Integrating RPG Elements in Textbooks for Japanese Classrooms

Andriasang is reporting that Namco Bandai is working with Gakko Tosho, a textbook publisher, to bring elementary schools in Japan textbooks with RPG elements–complete with unique characters and storylines. Students will solve math problems and earn keys for some sort of treasure. Next Spring classrooms in Japan may see these textbooks for not only math, but also science and language arts. Gakko Tosho currently owns between 10-20% of the textbook marketshare, and are hoping to set themselves apart from the competition through a new approach to education.

Frankly this is way more exciting and probably more productive than a school installing a Wii in gym class. We’ll look forward to seeing the results from this social experiment–I fully expect to see some crazy turnarounds in the absorption of material because of these methods. Kids may not want to spend hours doing long division, but they’ll spend an infinitude longer figuring out the complex formulas in Pokemon. At the very least, it’ll make some subjects interesting for apathetic students.