CANVAS Mail No. 158 Special Issue
△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△

On sale today!
“A Declaration on Digital Education: The Future of Children Who Play and Learn on Smartphones”
(Written by Nanako Ishido, Representative of CANVAS)

▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽

On Wednesday, December 10, 2014, Kadokawa EPUB Selection will release the book by CANVAS CEO Nanako Ishido,
“The Digital Education Manifesto: The Future of Children Who Play and Learn on Smartphones.”
We hope as many people as possible will pick up a copy.
http://amzn.to/12rlCLD

As mentioned in this book,
programming education is currently gaining momentum nationwide,
and December is packed with related symposiums!
With support from Google,
CANVAS is carrying out the “PEG Programming Education Gathering”—a nationwide project to promote programming education—with support from Google.
In collaboration with schools and education-related organizations across the country, we have brought programming education to 20,000 children this past year.
Currently, more than 30 schools have introduced programming education as part of PEG’s activities.
(6 elementary schools, 23 junior high and high schools, 9 universities, and 23 education-related organizations and companies)

Starting with the “PEG” 1st Anniversary Event for the Programming Education Promotion Project on December 23 (Tue, holiday),
at the “Tech Institute Programming Day 2014” held on Sunday, December 7,
Norio Murakami, former CEO of Google Japan, and
at the “2014 TRON Symposium” taking place this week on Thursday, December 11,
Professor Ken Sakamura of the University of Tokyo and Tomoko Minaba, Director of DeNA, will join Chairwoman Nanako Ishido for a discussion on the theme of programming education.
Please visit the official pages below for details.

▼ December 7 (Sun) “Tech Institute Programming Day 2014”
http://techinstitute.jp/event/programing_day.php

▼Thursday, December 11: “2014 TRON Symposium”
http://www.tronshow.org/

▼December 23 (Tue, Holiday) “Children and Programming—PEG’s Past and Future”
http://pegpeg.jp/news/2014/11/30/801

****************************************************************
Below is a reprint of the book summary provided by the editor.

[Book Summary]

▼ In a few years, your child will be attending a school like this

“Is it okay to give my child a smartphone…?”
　Should I let my child use one? At what age should they start? How many hours a day is acceptable?—
　How children interact with digital devices is a topic that causes many parents
　.
　However, the author of this book, Nanako Ishido—herself a mother of one—drew on her experience of providing “learning opportunities” to a total of 300,000 children to state with confidence: “Digital devices foster children’s creativity.”
　
　With the future development of artificial intelligence and robotics, shocking predictions have been made, such as: “Humans will be left with only creative
jobs or low-wage manual labor,” and “65 percent of American
elementary school students who entered school in the 2011 academic year will hold jobs that do not yet exist by the time they graduate from college.”
　such shocking predictions have been made.
For children living in this era, it is precisely “abilities unique to humans”—such as creativity and communication skills—
that cannot be replaced by computers that will be in high demand.
Video, sound, and text come together to stimulate curiosity, and rather than simply imparting knowledge in a one-way manner, children engage in “teaching and learning from one another.”
Programming helps cultivate logical thinking and problem-solving skills. — Today, by effectively using networked tablets and smartphones, all of this becomes possible.
　This book highlights children who are developing their critical thinking and creativity while having fun through digital “making” and programming, while also featuring examples from the forefront of digital education—both in Japan and abroad—such as Takeo City in Saga Prefecture, which has garnered attention for its initiative to “distribute one tablet per student to all elementary and junior high school students in the city,”
　—which has garnered attention for its “one tablet per student” initiative for all elementary and junior high school students in the city—as well as Gakushuin Girls’ High School and Kyoyo Elementary School in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, among other examples of cutting-edge digital education initiatives underway both in Japan and abroad.
Having engaged with global intellectual leaders at institutions such as the MIT Media Lab and gained an in-depth understanding of educational practices both in Japan and abroad,
　settings, teaches “How to Foster Children’s Creativity Through Digital Technology.”
　A must-read for everyone from parents to education professionals.

▼Table of Contents

Introduction: Do Children Need “Digital Toys”?
　・When Should Children Start Using Smartphones or Cell Phones?
　・Media Education for Children Learned at the MIT Media Lab, and more

Chapter 1: “Making Things” in the Digital Age
　・Children Who Will Work in “Jobs That Don’t Exist Yet”
　・Learning Knowledge Through Play by Making Things, and more

Chapter 2: How Programming Fosters Children’s Imagination
　• From “Playing Games” to “Creating Games to Play”
　• The Hero Is a Fifth-Grader: A Programming Battle and more

Chapter 3: In Just a Few Years, Schools in Your Town Will Have Changed Like This
　• Inspiring Lessons Using Digital Technology
　・What Digital Technology Excels At. What Only Analog Can Do—and more

[Appendix] Recommended Digital Ehon

▼About the Author

Nanako Ishido (Ishido Nanako)
Chairperson, NPO CANVAS / Representative Director, Digital Ehon Co., Ltd. / Associate Professor, Keio University

After graduating from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tokyo and serving as a visiting researcher at the MIT Media Lab, she
founded the NPO “CANVAS,” which promotes creative and expressive activities for children.
To date, she has held 2,000 workshops, with approximately 300,000 children participating.
The “Workshop Collection,” an exhibition of children’s creative activities for which she serves as Executive Committee Chair,
draws 100,000 visitors over two days. She subsequently launched Digital Ehon, Inc.,
and is currently developing picture book apps. She also serves as a member of the Information and Communications Council of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, among other roles.
Her published works include *“Turning On Children’s Creativity! The Secret Base for Play and Learning: CANVAS in Practice”* and
*“The Digital Textbook Revolution”*.

▼Book Details

Title: *“Declaration on Digital Education: The Future of Children Who Play and Learn on Smartphones”*
Author: Nanako Ishido(Chairperson, NPO CANVAS)
Price: 1,400 yen (excluding tax)
Release Date: December 10, 2014
Publisher: KADOKAWA / Chukei Publishing
For more details, click here >> http://kadokawa-epub.jp/
*This book is also available as an e-book.
The complete three-volume series “Do Children Dream of Electronic Sheep?” (Kadokawa Minutes
Book) is also available as e-books.
http://minutesbook.jp/

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
CANVAS MAIL 158 Special Issue (December 10, 2014)
Publisher: CANVAS, Specified Nonprofit Corporation
Editor-in-Chief: Nanako Ishido
Editor: Chigusa Kobayashi
URL: http://www.canvas.ws
Address: 2F BAUHAUS, 1-11-13 Honjo, Sumida-ku, Tokyo 130-0004
E-mail:mm@canvas.ws
TEL: 03-6456-1929 FAX: 03-6456-1926
============================================