REPORT

Student Report １ [Urawa High School] March 30, 2015

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　On March 30, 2015, I participated in the Boeing Higher Education Program hosted by the University of Tokyo. This program truly encouraged us to understand the importance and joy of learning in a collaborative way.
　The program was on information engineering. I did not know much about it, but through this program I realized how important it is to utilize a huge amount of information in today’s world.
　At the beginning of the one-day program, we listened to two different lectures on the basics of information engineering and data analysis. Those lectures, given by Associate Professor Yamazaki and Associate Professor Toriumi, were extremely interesting and thought-provoking.
　In the afternoon session, we had a two-hour workshop on data mining. In this workshop, the participants were divided into small groups and were, then, given the task of coming up with a one-day excursion plan. Each group consisted of four people, two from my male-only school, and two from Urawa Daiichi Girls’ High School. By analyzing the GPS data gathered in Kyoto and the downtown area of Tokyo, we calculated the difference of walking speed between boys and girls. Working on this task together improved our teamwork and helped work out a good travel plan. This workshop was so exciting that I felt our time passed very quickly.
At the end of the session, we made a presentation on our travel plan. I was too nervous to do well in the presentation, but I was happy when we received the Special Recognition Award.
　I was not particularly interested in information engineering at first, but I now find this field very exciting. Also, I came to understand that one effective way of learning something deeply is to work on a complex problem in a collaborative way.
　Through this program, I’m now aware of a new way of learning. This experience is a priceless asset for me. I hope to have more opportunities like this in the future.

Sakichi Baba, Urawa High School

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