Academy Camp 2016 Summer "Study in the Future" Camp Report August, 2016
Academy Camp 2016 Summer "Study in the Future" Camp Report
Introduction
It is said that many of children living today will have professions that do not exist today. It is children themselves who will realize such a future. With that in mind, we designed this camp with these objectives: 1) children to acquire viewpoints towards future through communicating with researchers and students doing research with their own viewpoints about the future, and 2) children to realize that the future is what they will make, not what they will be given, through positively and actively engaging themselves in camp activities with their new friends. We hoped that this camp would be a nice opportunity for the children to think about their future. With your supports and strengths of student volunteers, we think the children had wonderful 5 days each, which we hope that you will witness with us through this camp report. Academy Camp as an organization We are a group of university faculty members, camp instructors and members of non-profits for supporting children, having been continuing camps for extreme playing and learning mainly for children in Fukushima since the summer of year 2011.
Camp Chairs - Kenji Saito - Representative Director, Academy Camp - Senior Researcher, Keio Research Institute at SFC - Masaki Minami - Director, Academy Camp - Project Assistant Professor, Keio University
Basics Dates Venue
Term 2 : Aug. 18 (Thu.) - Aug. 22 (Mon.), 2016 (4 nights and 5 days) Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC), Keio University (Fujisawa City) Lodging : Residential House 1, Student-Built Campus (SBC), SFC
Targets/
Targets : Elementary to high school students in Fukushima, etc.
Participants
Term 1 particiapants : 22 Term 2 participants : 21
Staff Hosts Grant
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Term 1 : Aug. 5 (Fri.) - Aug. 9 (Tue.), 2016 (4 nights and 5 days)
24 volunteer staff members (students and others) 2 directors of Academy Camp Academy Camp (as an organization) Digital Civil Society Design Consortium, Keio Research Institute at SFC
"Children's Dream Fund", National Institution For Youth Education
Term 1
DAY 1 Aug.5
22 members (participants) gathered at Fukushima, Koriyama and Tokyo stations travelled with leaders (student volunteers), and arrived at SFC (Shonan Fujisawa Campus), Keio University, in the afternoon. As if they never get tired, the members enjoyed playing icebreaking games at the orientation of the camp, and then drew their images of the future on the walls that work as a set of big whiteboards. They moved to the residential house where they would stay and also participate in most of the workshops throughout the camp, had their first dinner, and took their first "Zumba" dance fitness lesson that they will continue to take throughout the camp in the morning.
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Academy Camp 2016 Summer "Study in the Future" Camp Report
Term 1
A leading game AI (Artificial Intelligence) researcher, Yoichiro Miyake-san (Square Enix)
DAY 2
gave "Artificial Intelligence Wrokshop" where we learnt about game AI through experiences,
Aug.6
and even had our algorithms fight against one another on paper-based computers. A human interface researcher, Shingo Moriisan (INTEC), who himself is visually impaired, gave "Let's Become Interpreters of Various Information" where we tried to figure out how to communicate leaders' facial features, for example, to visually impaired people using words and the sense of touch. An improvisational comedy performance group 6-dim+-san gave a live improvisational comedy play where members also took part, resulting in a sequence of hilarious moments.
Yoichiro Miyake-san Shingo Morii-san (center)
6-dim+-san
Improvising with 6-dim+-san
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Term 1
DAY 3 Aug.7
After learning the background of a popular game "PokĂŠmon GO", we started "Catch'em All! Enoshima Digital Orienteering" where we tried to find interesting Pokestops and to tweet why they are interesting on Twitter. There are a lot of Pokestops in Enoshima and its vicinity! With help from leaders, members proactively played the game, not only finding Pokestops but also finding other interesting spots in Enoshima and interviewing other travelers who were playing PokĂŠmon GO. Because the residential house provides showers only, we visited the community bathhouse on the way back, and had a lot of fun taking a bath together.
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Academy Camp 2016 Summer "Study in the Future" Camp Report
Term 1
A blockchain architect Masanobu Takagisan (IBM Japan) gave "Cognitive Technology"
DAY 4
where we learnt differences between "cognitive technology" that pursues advanced
Aug.8
information processing in a human-centric way and "artificial intelligence" that pursues understanding of human intelligence and reproducing it. We also learnt about "deep learning" for advancing automation. We considered applying cognitive technology to our daily lives. An Academy Camp director Masaki Minami (Keio University) gave "Drones: Secrets of Flying Robots" where we understood the mechanisms of flying and control, saw some applications, and then competed in relay racing with running and flying drones.
Masanobu Takagi-san Masaki Minami
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Term 1
DAY 5 Aug.9
In the final program "Future-Creating Presentations", we thought of "what we will be able to do 10 years later, when achievements of our dreams will be assisted by robots and artificial intelligences", and we all shared our thoughts, including both members and leaders. We had lunch and the closing session, and members went back home safely to conclude the 4-night, 5-day camp.
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Academy Camp 2016 Summer "Study in the Future" Camp Report
Term 1
Student Staff
- From Staff Reflection Sheet "Treasure Every Encounter" What gave me the strongest impression in the camp was communication with other travellers during the orienteering in Enoshima. We didn't know what would happen until we started, but with all that, I think members had a chance to know how fun it is to communicate with people. If I must name the episode, you know, I would say "Treasure Every Encounter". ── Ryota Morikawa (Faculty of Education, Shizuoka University)
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Term 2
Again, 21 members gathered at Fukushima and Koriyama stations travelled with
DAY 1
leaders, and arrived at SFC in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa, in the afternoon.
Aug.18
After playing some icebreaking games at the orientation, members drew their images of 20 years later (year 2036) and what they will become by then on the walls that work as a set of big whiteboards. They moved to the residential house where they would stay and participate in most of the workshops, and had their first dinner at the camp, made deliciously by students who learn
Very late that night, unfortunately, a member
nutrition in universities.
fell off from the bunk bed, and broke her clavicle. After immediately visiting hospitals and getting dianosed and treated, the injured member were taken back home with a leader before conclusion of the camp (she is recovering well according to her family). Academy Camp takes this accident seriously, and will continue to work hard with the university to prevent such accidents from happening again.
Residential House 1, Student-Built Campus, SFC
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Academy Camp 2016 Summer "Study in the Future" Camp Report
Term 2
Academy Camp representative director, Kenji Saito (Keio University) gave "Declaration of
DAY 2
Human Rights for Robots Workshop" where we each represented a country or region,
Aug.19
and simulated a meeting of a committee in United Nations in year 2036 to discuss "whether robots need to have human rights or not", which can be a real problem in a future society. With SONY MESH tags, Olympus Air and lots of lenses, Arata Shinozaki-san, Saori Shimizu-san and Kensuke Ishii-san (Olympus) helped "Cameras and the Internet of Things" where we played with programming things to react sensory information, and considered real-life applications of MESH tags, which some of us would propose to SONY later.
Kenji Saito
Arata Shinozaki-san
Kensuke Ishii-san Saori Shimizu-san
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Term 2
DAY 3
Aug.20
In the mornings of day 2, 3 and 4 (and 5 if it were not for a typhoon), we invited "10-minute Lunch Fitness" Rikako Sanui-san (Partners Japan Yamate) for exercises and stretching. With that activity, many of us could comfortably spend our lives in the camp with good physical conditions.
Again, after learning the background of a popular game "PokĂŠmon GO", we started "Catch'em All! Enoshima Digital Orienteering" where we tried to find
Rikako Sanui-san
interesting Pokestops and to tweet why they are interesting on Twitter. It rained in the morning, so we went to Enoshima Aquarium (known as Eno-Sui) as the common first checkpoint. After that, we enjoyed exploring Enoshima and Shonan in different ways according to the plans of the groups. We visited the community bathhouse on the way back, and had a lot of fun.
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Academy Camp 2016 Summer "Study in the Future" Camp Report
Term 2
DAY 4
Aug.21
This summer again, Prof. Kaoru Sumi and her students (Future University Hakodate) came to give "Game de Education" where we played 5 different games designed by the students, using IBM Watson, for example. A g a i n , a n A c a d e m y C a m p d i r e c t o r, Masaki Minami (Keio University) gave "Drones: Secrets of Flying Robots" where we understood the mechanisms of flying and control, and then went outside to have ourselves taken pictures from the sky, and then competed in relay racing with flying drones. At "Night Orienteering" we explored the campus of SFC at night. Members had some chances to communicate with university
Students from Future University Hakodate
Prof. Kaoru Sumi
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students who were doing their work there despite Sunday night.
Term 2
DAY 5
Aug.22
Again in the final program "Future-Creating Presentations", we thought of "what we will be able to do 10 years later, when achievements of our dreams will be assisted by robots and artificial intelligences", and we all shared our thoughts, including both members and leaders. We had lunch, played some games to earn time because of the typhoon, and then had a closing session and members went back home safely to conclude the 4-night, 5-day camp.
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Academy Camp 2016 Summer "Study in the Future" Camp Report
Term 2
Student Staff
- From Staff Reflection Sheet "Presents from the Children" I myself could learn a lot of stuff during the camp, including the fun of playing with children and responsibility of looking after them. I have become to like children more. It was interesting to see the differences of children's attitudes and what they would talk about depending on their ages. In this camp, a girl was injured at the first night, which made me feel insecure first, but I could apply what I learned in the Pediatric Nursing class in reality, and I thanked that I learned in the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care here in this university. A girl stayed in the same room with me game me a matching bracelet. I would like to name the collection of all these episodes "Presents from the Children". Because I received many, including a real present. ── Reina Sakuma (Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care, Keio University)
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Afterword In conclusion of Academy Camp 2016 Summer Kenji Saito Representative Director, Academy Camp With all your support and hard work by our volunteer friends including students of colleges and universities, although we had an injury and typhoon-related delays and a cancellation, overall, this camp was positively recognized by the children participated and their families. Let me introduce an episode of Draemon, a popular animated series in Japan, in relation to the theme of this camp "Study in the Future" (the episode as I remember, and not necessarily a faithful reproduction). I told the story to the children at the end of each term of the camp. Nobita, an elementary school boy, was taken to the 22nd century by his descendant, Sewashi, by a time machine, to substitute the descendant's presence at a school excursion to the Moon. After having fun at the Moon, they found that the computer of the spaceship to return home was out of order. The future children told Nobita as they cry that they could not go back to the Earth unless they give an answer to a mathematical problem to the computer, but the problem could not possibly be solved by any human being by hand. Nobita, being bad at math, had no hope of course, but wanted to see the problem before they would all die on the surface of the Moon after using up oxygen. The problem, Nobita found out, was a double-digit multiplication. He thought, "I might be able to solve this", and did his best solving it, double-checked, and then doublechecked, and had the answer input to the computer. His answer was right, and they could safely go back home. I like this episode not because the future people are so weak and Nobita find himself useful in the area he never thought he was good at. The people today must seem very weak according to the primitive people anyway. I like this episode because it is clear from the story that "in the future schools, double-digit multiplication is not taught". "Well then, what do future schools teach instead?" This question is at the foundation of the theme of this camp "Study in the Future". What are the essential strengths of people in the future where we will be assisted by artificial intelligences and robots in many ways? I would like to seek answers to the question through continuing efforts to create Academy Camp with our friends and with your supports. I would like to thank everyone who supported Academy Camp 2016 Summer "Study in the Future". Thank you for all you have done and all you will do for the children in Fukushima and Academy Camp.
Kenji Saito - Words from Parents ─ Thank you very much. Before saying "I'm home", my son said "I'm going to the winter camp, too". I felt that he had grown, having listened to him expressing different thoughts about the camp than before. Inspite of the typhoon, children were brought back safely with fun memory, because of the efforts of your staff. Thank you very much again. ─ To my surprise, when my son was back, he said "Let me go again!!" instead of "I'm home". But I figured that it was no surprise after all, having looked at the photographs shared afterwards. I think my son must have a wonderful memory of this summer vacation, because I could see a lot of faces that looked like they were really enjoying the camp. We hope that we can again participate in the next camp. Thank you very much for the five days.
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- On Donation Academy Camp is funded and supported by participation fees from participants and staff, contributions from lecturers, grants, and your precious donations. We really appreciate your support. To donate : GlobalGiving (US) - https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/academy-camp/ GlobalGiving (UK) - https://www.globalgiving.co.uk/projects/academy-camp/
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