The Strengthening of inclusive education in Germany

- A Japanese researcher’s challenge with I-KASA and IINA project for inclusive computer science in Schools -

Abstract

An invited lecture with the same title was given at the Research Center for Computing and Multimedia Studies Symposium 2025 held at Hosei University on 25 February 2025. The lecture discussed the attractiveness and difficulties of developing a global career as an academic researcher for Japanese people, based on the experience of moving to Germany and research reports there. To be successful overseas, it is important that we have the profile required by the country we are moving to. In the case of research, one approach might be to identify research gaps specific to this region by using our Japanese background. By focusing on cultural differences, we can make a social contribution if we can find antitheses that local people tend to overlook as indifferent or taken for granted. Therefore, it would be better to focus first on the people who use educational media (cognifacts, e.g., teachers’ or learners’ knowledge and ways of thinking) and the situations in which educational media are used (sociofacts, e.g., compulsory education or curriculum) rather than on the specific educational media technology (artefacts) that are currently booming. As examples, the talk presented the two research projects we are currently working on to strengthen inclusive computing education in Germany, Project IINA and Project I-KASA. This short article covers the content of the talk.