Aim to improve artistic sensibility and basic education while learning STEM education "Aim! Creator Course" Report (2)

STELABO, a STEM and programming school, is offering a 2-day intensive course "STEAM," which incorporates a wide range of basic education (Arts and Liberal Arts), including arts, into STEM* education! Creator Course" at "STELABO" programming school.last timeThis report is a continuation of the one in the previous section.

STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

Feel like a creator! Scratch Jr" to create original commercial videos!

The theme of the second day of the "Aim! The theme of the second day of the "Creator Course" was "Let's make a commercial for a store. The commercial was created using "Scratch Jr," an application for tablets that allows students to learn the basics of programming through a game-like experience, and the children tried their hand at making a video while keeping in mind the basics of design they learned on the first day. What kind of works were created by the children's fingertips?

What is programming anyway? Ryohei Hayasaka, an instructor at Sterilab, tells children that programming is used in unexpected and familiar ways.

Most of the students were children who had never touched programming software before. They were thrilled and excited to try Scratch Jr. for the first time.

After quickly becoming familiar with Scratch Jr, the children will now move on to the biggest mission of the lesson, creating their own commercials by following the four rules. Of course, don't forget the basics of design that they learned on the first day!

The time limit is approximately 90 minutes. Repeated trials and errors were made to create the product, with attention to detail while worrying about the details. Fine adjustments were made until the very last minute.

Each creator created his or her own commercial video with a different theme and message to convey. The commercials, which were born from the flexible ideas of the children, were all outstanding works of art.

<After the lesson

(We spoke to...)
SB C&S Corporation Ryohei Hayasaka, STEM Business Promotion Office, IoT Business Promotion Division, New Business Headquarters

Editorial:What were your impressions after the two-week "Aim! How did you feel after completing the lessons of the "Creator Course" held over two weeks?

Hayasaka:This was the first time for us to hold this event, and it was amazing to see how much knowledge the children were able to absorb. I was also amazed at how well the children absorbed the knowledge. The finished works, both posters and commercials, were far better than we had imagined.

Editorial:The lesson was practical, including the basics of design, and yet fun for the children. Through the lessons at Sterilabo, it seems that children will come to recognize programming as something fun rather than something difficult.

Hayasaka:Yes, I am. It is surprisingly rare to learn about the fundamentals of design. Knowing this kind of know-how will help them in the future. And I hope that children will solve the problems they face and open up the future by honing their "STEM" and "STEAM" abilities.

Editorial:Do you plan to hold more lessons like this one dealing with "STEAM" in the future?

Hayasaka:We have not decided on this as a regular annual curriculum at this time, but we hope to add more courses in the future.

<After the interview

When you hear the word "art," you may think of innovative designs and forms that no one else has thought of, but the most important thing is that when you are trying to communicate something, it must be conveyed correctly to others. Design thinking that is intuitively understandable and enjoyable to the viewer may be an important skill for surviving in the age of AI. I was made to realize that learning and refining "STEAM" is something that will be useful for children in the future.