computer-science-curriculum-japan

English translation of the “Informatics I” curriculum

original: 高等学校学習指導要領

Objectives

Through learning activities that foster a scientific way of viewing and thinking about information and that involve discovering and solving problems by utilizing information technology, students aim to develop the following qualities and abilities necessary to appropriately and effectively use information and information technology for problem discovery and resolution, and to participate proactively in the information society.

  1. To deepen understanding and acquire skills related to the realization of effective communication and the utilization of computers and data, and to deepen understanding of the relationship between the information society and human beings.
  2. To cultivate the ability to perceive various phenomena as information and its interconnections, and to appropriately and effectively utilize information and information technology for discovering and solving problems.
  3. To foster an attitude of appropriately utilizing information and information technology and of proactively participating in the information society.

Content

(1) Problem Solving in the Information Society

Focusing on methods of discovering and solving problems through the use of information and information technology, instruction should enable students to acquire the following through activities that address problem discovery and resolution in the information society.

A. Knowledge and Skills

  1. To acquire methods of discovering and solving problems through the use of information and information technology, based on an understanding of the characteristics of information and media.
  2. To understand laws and systems related to information, the importance of information security, individual responsibility in the information society, and information ethics.
  3. To understand the roles and impacts of information technology on individuals and society.

B. Thinking, Judgment, and Expression

  1. To consider methods for discovering and solving problems by appropriately and effectively utilizing information and information technology according to purpose and context.
  2. To scientifically examine and consider the significance of laws, systems, and manners related to information, the roles and responsibilities of individuals in the information society, and information ethics, including their background.
  3. To consider the appropriate and effective use of information and information technology and the construction of a desirable information society.

(2) Communication and Information Design

Focusing on media, means of communication, and information design, instruction should enable students to acquire the following through activities that convey information clearly to recipients according to purpose and context.

A. Knowledge and Skills

  1. To scientifically understand the characteristics of media and the features of communication methods, including their historical development.
  2. To understand the roles that information design plays in individuals and society.
  3. To understand the concepts and methods of information design for effective communication and to acquire skills for expressing them.

B. Thinking, Judgment, and Expression

  1. To scientifically grasp the relationship between media and communication methods and appropriately select them according to purpose and context.
  2. To clarify the purpose of communication and consider appropriate and effective information design.
  3. To express, evaluate, and improve communication based on the concepts and methods of information design for effective communication.

(3) Computers and Programming

Focusing on the mechanisms by which information is processed in computers, instruction should enable students to acquire the following through activities that discover and solve problems by means of programming and simulation.

A. Knowledge and Skills

  1. To understand the mechanisms and characteristics of computers and peripheral devices, as well as the internal representation of information in computers and the limitations of computation.
  2. To understand means of expressing algorithms and methods of utilizing computers and information and communication networks through programming, and to acquire related skills.
  3. To understand methods of modeling phenomena in society and nature, and methods of evaluating and improving models through simulation.

B. Thinking, Judgment, and Expression

  1. To consider the relationship between the characteristics of information handled by computers and the capabilities of computers.
  2. To devise algorithms appropriate to a given purpose, express them appropriately, utilize computers and information and communication networks through programming, and evaluate and improve the process.
  3. To appropriately conduct modeling and simulation according to purpose and, based on the results, consider appropriate solutions to problems.

(4) Information and Communication Networks and the Use of Data

Focusing on data distributed via information and communication networks, instruction should enable students to acquire the following through activities that utilize services provided by information and communication networks and information systems to discover and solve problems.

A. Knowledge and Skills

  1. To understand the mechanisms and components of information and communication networks, the roles of protocols, and methods and technologies for ensuring information security.
  2. To understand methods of storing, managing, and providing data, as well as the mechanisms and characteristics by which information systems provide services via information and communication networks.
  3. To understand methods of representing and storing data, and to understand and acquire skills for collecting, organizing, and analyzing data.

B. Thinking, Judgment, and Expression

  1. To select necessary components in information and communication networks according to purpose and context and consider methods for ensuring information security.
  2. To consider the effective utilization of services provided by information systems.
  3. To appropriately select, implement, evaluate, and improve methods for collecting, organizing, analyzing, and presenting data.

Handling of Content

  1. In addressing content (1) through (4), consideration should be given to their relationship with prior learning up to lower secondary school concerning information and information technology, the information society, problem discovery and resolution, and the use of data.
  2. Content (1) should be positioned as the introduction to this subject, with consideration given to its relationship with content (2) through (4). For A(b) and (c) and B(b) and (c), activities should be incorporated in which students proactively discover and clarify problems in the information society and consider solutions.
  3. In content (2) A(b), examples of familiar and concrete information design should be used, including efforts to enable simple operation of computers and other devices, and efforts to make them accessible to all people regardless of age, disability, or language.
  4. In content (3) A(b) and B(b), programs should be structured through the definition and use of functions, and the necessity of devising improvements in performance should also be addressed. In A(c) and B(c), students should experience both cases of using and not using computers, and attention should be given to how differences in models lead to differences in results.
  5. In content (4) A(a) and B(a), activities involving the design of small-scale networks should be incorporated. In A(b) and B(b), activities such as presentations and discussions evaluating and improving one’s own use of information should be incorporated. In A(c) and B(c), it should also be addressed that there are analytical methods appropriate to purposes such as comparison, association, change, and classification.

My comment

In Japanese high school Informatics, strong emphasis is placed on problem solving. Information design, programming, and data utilization are positioned as tools for solving problems.

In Japanese high schools, one class period is typically 50 minutes. By law, one credit consists of 35 class periods, and since Informatics I is a two-credit subject, 70 class periods are required. In practice, however, it is common for schools to implement around 50 class periods. An example of how 50 class periods might be allocated is as follows:

(1)-a Information and Media [3 class periods]

  1. What is information? (persistence, replicability, transmissibility, etc.)
  2. Information sources and verification (primary sources, secondary sources, cross-checking, etc.)
  3. The problem-solving process (PDCA cycle, brainstorming, KJ method, etc.)

(1)-b Law and Information Security in the Information Society [5 class periods]

  1. Personal information (Act on the Protection of Personal Information, right to privacy, portrait rights, etc.)
  2. Intellectual property rights (industrial property rights, copyright, etc.)
  3. Copyright (open licenses, copyright infringement, quotation, etc.)
  4. Information security (confidentiality, integrity, availability, malware, cyberattacks, social engineering, etc.)
  5. Technologies for information security measures (user authentication, passwords, biometric authentication, access control, firewalls, etc.)

(1)-c Impact of Information Technology on Society [2 class periods]

  1. The positive aspects of IT development (artificial intelligence, IoT, digital transformation, etc.)
  2. The negative aspects of IT development (digital divide, internet addiction, etc.)

(2)-a Digital Representation of Information [7 class periods]

  1. Communication and its development (Morse code, wireless communication, mobile phones, etc.)
  2. Analog and digital (continuous vs. discrete, resistance to degradation, ease of transmission, etc.)
  3. Representation of digital information (bits, binary numbers, etc.)
  4. Digital representation of text (character codes, etc.)
  5. Digital representation of sound (sampling, quantization, encoding, etc.)
  6. Digital representation of images and video (resolution, RGB color model, raster format, vector format, frames, etc.)
  7. Data compression (compression ratio, lossless compression, lossy compression, file extensions, etc.)

(2)-b Information Design [2 class periods]

  1. Methods of representing information (color schemes, abstraction, structuring, visualization, etc.)
  2. Universal design (UI, usability, accessibility, barrier-free design, universal design, etc.)

(2)-c Information Design for Effective Communication [4 class periods]

  1. Designing, producing, implementing, evaluating, and improving content (presentations, posters, web pages, application UIs, etc.)
    • Approximately 3 class periods?

(3)-a Mechanisms of Computers [6 class periods]

  1. Numerical representation in computers (two’s complement, overflow, floating-point numbers, rounding errors, etc.)
    • Approximately 4 class periods?
  2. Logic circuits (AND, OR, NOT)
  3. Structure of computers (CPU, memory, OS, etc.)

(3)-b Programming [10 class periods]

  1. Programming languages (compilers, interpreters, procedural languages, etc.)
  2. Programming (variables, assignment, arithmetic operations, etc.)
  3. Programming (conditional branching)
  4. Programming (iteration)
  5. Programming (arrays)
  6. Programming (functions)
  7. Project development
    • Approximately 3 class periods?

(3)-c Modeling and Simulation [2 class periods]

  1. Modeling (physical models, logical models, etc.)
  2. Physical models and logical models (including simulations using random numbers)

(4)-a Mechanisms of Information and Communication Networks [4 class periods]

  1. Computer networks (Internet, LAN, WAN, hubs, routers, etc.)
  2. Communication protocols (application layer, transport layer, internet layer, network interface layer, etc.)
  3. Mechanisms of the WWW and email (HTTP, URL, HTML, SMTP, IMAP, etc.)
  4. Encryption of information (plaintext, keys, symmetric-key encryption, public-key encryption, digital signatures, digital certificates, etc.)

(4)-b Databases [2 class periods]

  1. Databases
  2. Various information systems (POS, GPS, big data, etc.)

(4)-c Data Utilization [5 class periods]

  1. Data formats and collection (CSV, markup, binary, missing values, outliers, etc.)
  2. Types of data and levels of measurement (qualitative, quantitative, nominal scale, ordinal scale, interval scale, ratio scale, etc.)
  3. Data analysis (frequency distribution tables, histograms, measures of central tendency, variance, standard deviation, etc.)
  4. Data analysis (scatter plots, correlation coefficients, regression analysis, etc.)
  5. Text mining