As part of the master’s project seminar that started this fiscal year, “Collaborative Design Research Project” (managing professors: Professor Nobuya Suzuki, Professor Kyo Akabane), the planning, drafting, management and PR of the workshop was organized.
The basic premise of play for the workshop, “rubber band forest”, is that the children go through the rubber bands that stretch from the floor to the ceiling. As the next step, the children themselves bundle the rubber bands, and by tying up the bands with magic bundling tape the gamification of going through the rubber bands is increased.
This workshop was designed to be split into two groups: one oriented towards lower grade students (1st to 4th year elementary school students) and the other oriented towards higher grades (5th and 6th years) so that deeper learning could take place to match the grade level of participants.
The first group bundled the rubber bands and through repeated play in passing through them were able to enjoy themselves and physically experience hands-on the “planning” and “implementation” aspects of thinking in programming. The second group, in addition to having the same hands-on experience as the first group, also programmed a microcomputer board (micro:bit) for educational purposes and by tying it to the “rubber band forest” they enhanced their game experience.
Furthermore, at the time when the “rubber band forest” was being held, there were also lectures by IAMAS students integrated for the children to allow them to learn and shift their mindset. In reality, the “thought process for programming” is nothing special, and in fact is all around them. A plan was also made to continue supporting their interest in programming after the workshop.