For High School Informatics Teachers and Self-Learning Students

Why

I did not want learning to stop.

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic began, students could no longer come to school.
“Please read the textbook.”
“Please work through the exercises.”
I felt that simply saying this would not be enough to support meaningful learning in informatics.
Informatics is not only a subject for understanding knowledge.
It is a subject in which students learn by actually trying things, working with their own hands, and thinking through the process.
That is why I created video lessons and worksheets, so that students could continue hands-on practice even from home.
Even through a screen, I wanted to remain a teacher who walked alongside students in their learning.
That is what kept me creating these materials.

How to Use

Using These Materials

The videos and worksheets published here are made freely available for teachers who are struggling with lesson design in informatics, and for students who want to learn at their own pace.

You are welcome to use them in the following ways.

In class
You may print and distribute the worksheets as they are, or show the videos to students during class.

As teaching references
You may use the lesson flow, questions, exercises, and classroom activities as hints for your own teaching.

Adaptation and editing
You may freely modify the worksheets and tasks according to your school context and your students’ needs.

Self-study
Students may use the materials for preparation for the Common University Entrance Test subject “Informatics I,” or as learning materials for study at home.

No special permission is required to use these materials. You also do not need to include credit. Please feel free to use them.

However, please do not redistribute or sell the materials themselves as paid educational products. For example, please do not include them in paid reference books, workbooks, or commercial collections of teaching materials.

Other than that, I welcome free use for educational purposes.
Some materials reflect the context and content at the time they were created. Please adjust them as needed to fit current curricula and the learning environment at your school.

Questions and inquiries are welcome through the contact page.

To Teachers

To Teachers Struggling with Lesson Design for Informatics

After graduating from university, I first worked in the private sector.
Later, I became deeply interested in the fact that Informatics was becoming a compulsory subject in Japanese high schools. While working as a teacher at a vocational school specializing in information technology, I used correspondence coursework and other routes to obtain a teaching license in Informatics.
From there, I taught at a private high school and then became an Informatics teacher at a Tokyo metropolitan high school. I worked as a high school Informatics teacher in Tokyo for 17 years. I am now involved in teacher education and research in Informatics education at the University of Yamanashi.

I have continued this work with one wish: to share the fascination of informatics with students.

At one school, I also had the experience of teaching another subject in addition to Informatics. The way Informatics is assigned and taught varies greatly from school to school.
Across Japan, many teachers are still facing the subject of Informatics from many different positions.
Some teachers mainly teach Informatics while also taking on another subject. Others mainly teach another subject while also being asked to teach Informatics.
Whatever position you are in, the weight is real: the anxiety of teaching areas outside your specialty, the difficulty of preparing for multiple subjects, and the burden of continuing to create lessons with few colleagues to consult.
I have experienced that weight myself. In my current work in teacher education and in-service teacher training, I have also heard the same concerns from many teachers.

If you are reading this and are in that kind of situation, please use these materials without hesitation.

You may use them as they are in your classes.
You may use them as references for your own teaching.
You may adapt them to fit your school and your students.

I would be truly glad if they are of any help to you.
Questions about the materials and questions such as “How did you handle this situation?” are always welcome.
I, too, was once a teacher who stood in front of students while carrying the same anxieties and preparing as best I could. I may not always be able to reply immediately, but I will respond as much as I can.

To Students

To Students Studying Informatics
on Their Own

Perhaps you came here because you want to learn more beyond your regular school lessons.
That attitude is truly admirable.

Please use the videos and worksheets here at your own pace.
You may use them to prepare for the Common University Entrance Test subject “Informatics I,” to review your daily classes, or to think about your future path.

The subject of informatics can be difficult.
At the same time, it is deeply connected to the society around us and to the ways we will learn and work in the future.

I would be very happy if these materials help you experience even a little of the fascination of informatics, the enjoyment of thinking, and the meaning of learning by actually trying things yourself.

I am rooting for you.