wise Integration’s Tamiya Robot School Sendagaya Classroom Opens! Teaching Programming to Children in an Office-Based Classroom

wise Integration, a member of the SUNNY SIDE UP GROUP, has been offering the Tamiya Robot School Sendagaya Classroom for elementary school students since April 7, 2010, using a conference room in the office. The school started as part of the Education ICT Team’s project, and currently has four students enrolled.

We would like to introduce to you what the children are learning at the Tamiya Robot School, how the classes are going, and what we have felt since we started operating the school as a company.

What is Tamiya Robot School?

Tamiya Robot School started in 2018 as a joint venture between TAMIYA, INC. and Natural Style Co, Ltd. We provide opportunities for children across the country to create and challenge themselves, and nurture their motivation and curiosity to “want to make things!” and nurturing their curiosity, the program aims to help children acquire the ability to realize their own ideas through independent trial and error.

Currently, 62 schools in 27 prefectures are franchised, and we have become a member of this franchise.

At the school, students learn full-scale programming to move robots by entering program codes using a keyboard. For example, the code “OUT1” is set to “rotate the left tire forward,” and each movement has a specific code.

If the code is incorrect, an error will occur or the robot will move in a way that you do not intend, so you program while checking that you have entered the code correctly on a small monitor.

Why did you start Tamiya Robot School?

We had a relationship with Natural Style, which operates the Tamiya Robot School, through the joint development of our programming material “sovigo,” and we were approached by them.

*Programming materials provided by wise Integration: sovigo Apps teaching materials

And as a manufacturer of children’s programming materials, we are adjusting to the development of learning classrooms with the following two major objectives in order to enhance our corporate (business) value.

• To communicate the fact that we are operating classes for the purpose of improving children’s programming learning.
• To test our know-how in the classroom business and use it to build up our know-how.

I myself was a member of the education department during my university days and obtained an elementary school teaching license, so one of the reasons for my interest in this project was to be able to stand in front of children as an instructor.

Trial Session

Prior to the opening of the first class, we held a free trial session for parents and children from March, one month before the first class. This was also my debut as a teacher.

At the beginning, we checked the basic movements of the robot one by one. The children were very serious as they experienced programming for the first time.

After that, they tried their hand at a programming game. The children programmed the robot to advance through 1pt, 2pt, and 3pt on the ground in order. The children who really wanted to advance to the 3rd point were so enthusiastic that they begged their parents, “I still want to program the robot!” and begged their parents to let them continue programming even after the game was over.

After this trial session, four students decided to join the program, and we were able to start classes in April!

Classes finally started!

In the memorable first class of the Tamiya Robot School Sendagaya Class, we did not use the robot used in the trial session, but challenged the students to program a simple game using a small computer called “ichigojam(Strawberry Jam)” built into the robot.

*Small computer: ichigojam

Unlike the hands-on experience, the children were a bit nervous at first, but once they actually started programming, their nervousness quickly disappeared and they enjoyed themselves, saying, “Teacher, I did it!” and they enjoyed working on it.

The reason why we challenged the children, who were beginners in programming, to create a game, which was a bit more challenging, was not only to have them enjoy programming, but also to show them that the games they are familiar with are also made of programs, and that creating games is not something outside their realm of expertise, but something that they can realize through programming. I wanted them to realize that they can realize many things through programming.

In the second class, the students will create by themselves the same robot that they moved in the hands-on class. The children were given the opportunity to use nippers and grease, which are not used in arts and crafts classes at school, so there was a lot of new material for them to work with.

At Tamiya Robot School, we value not only the learning of programming, but also the experience of making things. For children who will live in an era when robots and AI technology are more advanced than now when they become adults, it will be a valuable experience for them to program and operate things they have made with their own hands.

In the following three and four classes, the robot building will be completed, and from the fifth class, full-scale programming learning using the robot is scheduled to start.

After two months from the trial session

At Tamiya Robot School Sendagaya, I myself teach classes as an instructor and manage the school as the head of the school, and I am also responsible for dealing with parents and ordering teaching materials.

My experience of teaching elementary school children during my university days has come in handy, so I am naturally not nervous about teaching classes as an instructor, and in fact, I am even looking forward to it.

Of course, there are many challenges. In particular, since many of the students in our classes are in the lower grades of elementary school, I have to be creative in my teaching methods, such as choosing simple and easy-to-understand words, the order of delivery, and preparing images for easy visual comprehension. Some children are too quiet to express their difficulties, while others do not read the text carefully and make mistakes.

The conference room where our classes are held is designed so that we can see what is going on inside the room from the outside, so if you are interested, please come and see what the children are doing!