Teaching Material Imitating the Advanced Driver-Assistance System for Measurement and Control Education

Abstract

The rapid growth of the information technology industry in recent decades requires an increasing number of programmers and engineers, as well as an excellent training environment for relevant human resources. Currently, school curricula promote information education and, since 2012, “measurement and control by programs” have become compulsory topics of study in the technology and home economics (technological field) class in junior high schools. In addition, it has been determined that programming education will be made a compulsory topic in elementary schools from 2020 onward. Thus, programming education is included in the mandatory education program and, accordingly, various associated teaching materials have been developed and distributed to date. However, adequate steps have not been taken to improve the information education skill of the teachers who use the aforementioned teaching materials. In particular, only very few teachers understand the essence of programming control, such as the role played by a program in measurement and control. Hence, there is an urgent need to train teachers to make them capable of providing programming education in school settings. Hence, in this study, we develop a teaching material that helps teachers understand the flow of measurement and control by program using an optical distance sensor and an actuator and design a class practice for the students in the faculty of education. Finally, based on this education practice, we discuss an educational effect of the aforementioned teaching material and its applicability in junior high school settings.