AN ATTEMPT AT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LEVEL PROGRAMMING EDUCATION UTILIZING WASAN, TRADITIONAL JAPANESE MATHEMATICS

Tatsuhiro Tamaki; Atsushi Onishi; Yasuo Uchida; Hironori Kobayashi

Tatsuhiro Tamaki Department of Media Information Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Okinawa College, Nago, JAPAN
Atsushi Onishi Department of Integrated Science and Technology, National Institute of Technology, Tsuyama College, Tsuyama, JAPAN
Yasuo Uchida Department of Business Administration, Miyazaki Sangyo-keiei University, Miyazaki, JAPAN
Hironori Kobayashi Faculty of Education Center for Collaboration and Development in Educational Practice and Management, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki, JAPAN

Abstract

In September 2020, the Subcommittee on Mathematics Education of the Science Council of Japan released a report entitled “Guidelines for Information Technology Education Curriculum Design: From Elementary to Higher Education”. This report discussed and outlined what should be studied in informatics at each level of primary, secondary, and higher education, from general subjects to specialized basic subjects. Regarding programming, it is expected that students gain basic programming experience in elementary schools, progress to logical thinking and code building in junior high schools, and learn problem-solving, systems, and other practical aspects of programming in high schools. We previously proposed and tried to establish a six-step method, a method of learning programming for a high school level. Based on the findings and awareness of the issues raised in our previous study, this study aims to develop a teaching and learning method that focuses on Japan’s outstanding wasan (traditional Japanese mathematics) culture and combines it with programming for primary education. As a first step, we held a programming experience session using wasan as a theme and conducted a questionnaire survey of the participants to discuss issues for future development.

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