Building Human Infrastructure through Programming and English Education in Rural Japan

Abstract

As Japanese Ministry of Education educational mandates for implementation by 2020 press on public school administrators, teachers, students, and communities, the Sustainable Programming Education proposes strategies for addressing English and programming education curricula in the elementary and middle schools. Sustainability resides in the retraining of teachers, working with university undergraduates who can be technologically savvy as they network in the rural community, and using existing resources wisely. Over a period of two years, the Sustainable Programming Education (SPE) model has emerged based on a community action model with university administration support in the northern rural Japanese prefecture of Akita.