NASEF Japan Esports Summit #3: “STEAM Education x Esports Possibilities to Create the Future”

This event was held July 1 (US) / July 2 (Japan) at Dalton High School in Tokyo, and it was streamed live. It was one of a series of similar events that are being formalized as regular calendared events produced by NASEF Japan, Thirdwave and other supporters. The first one was held in March 2021, with the second in October of the same year. Following is a summary of the content of the summit.

KEYNOTE

Speaker: North American Educational Esports Federation Japan Headquarters, President, Akihiro Matsubara

The U.S. headquarters combines Esports and STEAM education to promote new next-generation education initiatives that utilize games. Matsubara’s speech focused on how will NASEF JAPAN utilize Esports while incorporating the STEAM educational perspective in Japan as well, and what is the future that NASEF JAPAN is aiming for.

"Esports Tournament 2.0" where "learning × competition" is integrated, "NASEF JAPAN MAJOR" and "NASEF Farmcraft™", while bringing in case studies such as the "Esports Creative Challenge," they will convey the vision of NASEF JAPAN.

Joint Research Presentation: "Actual Situation and Issues of Esports Activities at Japan High Schools"

Speaker: University of Tsukuba Associate Professor Yoshio Takahashi

With the growing popularity of Esports, in 2022, the number of high schools that introduce esports as club activities and clubs is increasing nationwide. On the other hand, teachers and educators who face students on the front lines of education have raised their voices regarding the merits and challenges of introducing Esports, etc. In this research, with the aim of constructing issues and solutions through Esports activities in educational settings, we will present our research on "Actual Situation and Issues of Esports Activities in the Educational Scene of High Schools in Japan Today".

We held the "eSports Creative Challenge," a contest to encourage high school students to demonstrate their creativity and creative talents through esports. This time, which will be held for the second time, with the flexible minds of young people, under the theme of "esports × SDGs (UN “Sustainable Development Goals”)", we will face social issues with ideas that adults do not have, and build solutions that are possible only because of esports. At the summit, students from schools selected for the top prize among 9 schools nationwide presented a new idea that multiplied the possibilities of high school students with the appeal of esports on the agenda of "esports ×SDGs"! A crew of seven students from Mito Keimei High School presented their SDG project, which included actual work and learning at a local farm, which they then took back into their Farmcraft build to experiment with improvements to their plant-growing strategy. Students commented on how their hands-on experience not only helped them understand the requirements in the game world, but how they began to see how the real-world application of what they learned through Farmcraft could benefit their local community and their nation.

Activity Presentation: NASEF Farmcraft™ 2022 to Create the Future of Agriculture

Speakers: Students and advisor of Risyukan Koutousensyugakkou

NASEF and the U.S. State Department collaborated to create a creative challenge using Minecraft called "NASEF Farmcraft™ 2022." Aiming to create the optimal agricultural land based on the issues of modern society in the game space, this contest allows schools and students from around the world to build various ideas for various situations including environmental changes, while distributing the contents online.

Last year, about 700 teams from 36 countries from the third grade to juniors in high school participated in this event, demonstrating their creativity in the process of creating each team farm. Teachers and boards of education who participated as judges also reported that esports have grown in terms of "stability in students' mental health care" and "continuation of challenges toward the next goal."

This year, four schools including "Risyukan Koutousensyugakkou" (a high school) participated for the first time from Japan and got #3 at senior division. At the Summit, students and advisors of Risyukan Koutousensyugakkou will present their efforts on "NASEF Farmcraft™ 2022," which has climate change as a major theme.

Crosstalk Panel Session: "For Young People Responsible for the Future: Initiatives for STEAM & Global Education"

Speakers:

1. Intel Corporation Executive Officer Teruya Ida;

2. Dalton Tokyo Gakuen Junior and Senior High School Computer Science Teacher / Esports Club Supervisor Ramzi Ramzi;

3. North American Educational eSports Federation Japan Headquarters Chairman Akihiro Matsubara

Facilitator: Hiroyuki Naito, General Director, NASEF Japan

They discussed what kind of educational programs should be provided to the students who will lead the future with Mr. Teruya Ida, Executive Officer of Intel Corporation, which is already developing an advanced STEAM program. Ramzi Ramzi, a computer science supervisor at Dalton Tokyo Gakuen Junior and Senior High School, is making advanced efforts in the field of education. In addition, they discussed what kind of activities are expected from students in the future of STEAM education and global education, and announced what kinds of approach will be taken from the different standpoints of esports federations, companies / allied industries and schools.

The session wrapped up with Naito-san giving an update on future planned activities with NASEF Japan.

<Archived video>

See the time stamps below for specific content.

00:00:26 Opening

00:02:21 Keynote [NASEF JAPAN aims development of the next generation]

00:13:28 Joint research between Tsukuba University x NASEF JAPAN

[The situation and challenges of esports activities at Japanese high school]

00:28:22 2^nd Esports Creative Challenges (ECC)
Theme [ esports x SDGs ]

00:31:43 Winners of 2^nd Esports Creative Challenges
[Mito Keimei High School : How to make actions]

00:48:32 NASEF Farmcraft™2022
[Risyukan Koutousensyugakkou: Future agricultures]

01:01:10 Panel discussion

[ STEAM & Global education for the next generations ]

01:28:17 Wrap up
[Next action plans by NASEF JAPAN]

About NASEF

The North America Scholastic Esports Federation (NASEF) is on a mission to provide opportunities for all students to use esports as a platform to acquire STEM/STEAM-based skills and critical communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills needed to thrive in work and in life. NASEF operates under the umbrella of the World Wide Scholastic Esports Foundation (WWSEF). Find NASEF at NASEF.org and on Twitch, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram

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Media Contact:
Claire LaBeaux
[email protected]
925-337-0244