The origin point of my activities of helping young kids for coding is the TEDx talk by Dr. Mitchel Resnick who is the father of Scratch. ( At that time, the words I was thinking were "programming education in direct teaching", though.)
"Let's teach kids to code" Mitchel Resnick @TEDxBeaconStreet November 2012
All is in this talk. I remember and look back this from time to time. It is just my origin point.
He said, "If you learn to code, you can code to learn." You can learn many things thru coding. Coding is a new tool to learn.
Another point is in the phrase, "express one's ideas, express oneself", which appears many times in various styles. Coding is a new tool of self-expression.
On August 20, 2013, I heard his talk in person at the Hongo Campus, University of Tokyo's Fukutake Hall.
I could talk with him and Abe-sensei for the first time, and it was a really dense experience. It was the moment when the large switch turned on in mind.
Then, in four years, the inspiration of these ideas and concepts have been glowing and constructing in my mind, and I gained deeper understandings.
Now, why not "programming" but "coding"?
To be continued…