Educational Support on Computing and Informatics as Means of Empowering Disadvantaged Young People in Developed Countries

摘要

The paper discusses a research into civil empowerment in a developed country through promoting learning opportunities of computing and informatics based on a question as follows: What kind of possibility and limitation can be found in educational support on computing and informatics as a means of empowerment and social inclusion of socially disadvantaged youths in developed countries? For the question, following action research methodology, the author had joined a group's activity of helping social participation of disadvantaged youths in a mid-sized city in Japan and engaged in supporting learning computing. We found that creative aspects of computing had involved the youths into autonomous learning of computing; however, their expanded capacities of computing hadn't obviously been converted into their motivation for social participation. It suggests that more holistic support enabling them to find the meaning of learning computing in context should be designed and practiced for their further empowerment.