Before we knew it, half a year had passed, but on August 20, 2013, we hosted Professor Mitchell Resnick from the MIT Media Lab and held a symposium on programming education.
http://www.canvas.ws/programming/seminar/
Professor Mitchell’s talk that day was truly wonderful, and since I wrote about it in the Minutes Book, I’d like to share it here on the blog as well.

　Why do we provide opportunities for children to program? This is a question we’re often asked. The goal isn’t simply for children to learn how to write code.What we want to convey, above all, is “creating.”
　Programming has become a familiar tool for children as a means of creating and expressing themselves. Moreover, programming enables forms of expression that were previously impossible—after all, it allows them to animate three-dimensional objects. For children, programming is just as natural a tool as clay or crayons.
　The other day, we hosted a symposium to discuss children’s programming education, featuring Professor Mitchell Resnick of the MIT Media Lab, who developed Scratch, a visual programming environment for children.
　Professor Resnick gave a talk titled “Learn to Code, Code to Learn,” in which he discussed why learning to program is important.
At the beginning of his talk, Professor Resnick said, “Being able to write code is similar to being able to write a sentence.” He then pointed out:“Just because you can write doesn’t mean you’ll become a professional writer. However, the ability to write is necessary for everyday life, and it’s important that everyone can write. Through writing, you can express yourself and share that with people all over the world. Writing enables you to learn. Programming is exactly the same.”
　Being able to program is useful in daily life.It enables self-expression and opens the door to further learning.
　He then explained these benefits by citing several specific examples.

　The first example was about making and sending a Mother’s Day card. He used software called “Scratch,” which allows programming through an intuitive system of stacking blocks.
　When I looked at the Scratch website, I saw many cards created by other children. Seeing them, I felt that “these children are using the technology fluently,” he said.
　“Using it fluently doesn’t just mean being able to set up a website and read it. It means being able to express what you want to say and share it.”
　Today, many children are familiar with new technologies. But can we really say they’re using them freely and masterfully? As things stand, many children are merely playing games and aren’t yet able to use that technology to create or express themselves.
　“But the children gathering on the Scratch website are clearly expressing what they value, sharing their ideas, and using technology with real fluency.”

　The second example comes from the Computer Clubhouse, an after-school program for children from low-income families founded by Professor Resnick.This is the story of Carlos, a boy who was creating games using Scratch at this facility—which was set up specifically for children who don’t normally have access to technology.
　Carlos was having fun creating a game where one fish eats another. However, he wanted to keep score but didn’t know how. When I taught him how to use variables, he was absolutely delighted.
　“Has a math teacher ever been thanked this much for teaching algebra to children?” Professor Resnick asks. Many children do not see the math they learn in school as useful. That is why studying math has become such a bore.
　But Carlos was able to use variables in a practical way. That’s why he thanked his teacher. Finding something useful is exciting. “Children can learn a great deal by focusing on things they care about. Even if the task is difficult, they’ll be more persistent in their efforts to learn.”
　After that, Carlos learned not only about variables but also various other aspects of math, such as how to perform calculations. He also learned how to identify problems, how to break down and solve complex problems when he encountered them, and how to overcome obstacles when he hit a wall.
　Carlos may not become a programmer in the future. However, whether he becomes an auto mechanic, a politician, a marketing manager, or a designer, he will be able to apply the skills he gained through Scratch. “I didn’t learn to code; I learned to code in order to learn.”
　Carlos also says his perspective on himself has changed. He now sees himself as a creator. “It’s important to recognize that people can contribute to the world and change it.”

The third example is the story of a 12-year-old girl named Neptune. She was making a Christmas card.When you click on the reindeer, it plays a Christmas song. She also uploaded the Christmas card online so she could send it to her friends.
　Before long, she began creating animations of various characters and sharing them online with the message, “Everyone, feel free to use these!” She even started offering consulting services, saying, “If there’s anything else you want, I’ll make it!”
　Soon, people started placing orders one after another, saying things like, “I want a cheetah.” She created a cheetah animation while watching how cheetahs move on the National Geographic website.
　Next, children began asking, “Can you teach us how to make these?” So she started creating instructions on how to make them.Originally, the adults and teachers who ran Scratch had planned to provide these guides. However, the children took the initiative and started creating the tutorials themselves.
“Currently, there are thousands of tutorials on the Scratch website, and every single one was created by children.”
　Furthermore, groups of children began collaborating as teams—with some creating characters and others designing backgrounds. Eventually, they launched a website called Trunkink, where they create and share their collaborative projects.
Providing consulting services, creating instructional guides, and crowdsourcing projects—the children have built the Scratch community while connecting through social media.
　The Scratch website features children’s creations called “projects.” Every day, as many as 4,000 new projects are submitted by children from around the world, and there are currently 3.7 million registered projects.
　One-third of these are works created through remixing. In other words, children look at their friends’ projects, add their own ideas, revise them, and save them as their own. This is how the world creates new ideas—by drawing inspiration from others.
“There comes a moment when children realize that having their projects remixed is a good thing.The fact that their work has been remixed by many people is celebrated on the website as a wonderful thing!”
　They draw inspiration from others, take pride in having their work used by others, collaborate with a variety of people, and achieve things they couldn’t do before. That community is what matters.

　The children have learned a great deal from programming. They’ve learned to express themselves. They’ve learned to think systematically. They’ve learned to collaborate. They’ve learned about the learning process itself. They’ve discovered what it means to connect with others and learn from one another.
Professor Resnick says:“The ability to think creatively and come up with new solutions—there’s nothing more important than that. Programming is one of the tools that makes this possible.”

*This article is also featured in the Minutes Book.
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