Nowadays, children's programming is attracting attention. In some countries, programming education from elementary school is mandatory, and it seems that some dads and moms in the world are considering learning from early childhood. However, many parents may not be sure what their children really need or what they will learn. So, this time, I would like to introduce what kind of programming education for children is and its merits.What is programming education?Looking around the world, many countries have already introduced programming education, including the United Kingdom, Israel, Estonia, South Korea and China. Especially in Israel, an advanced IT country, it became a compulsory subject for high schools in 2000.I'm sure some of you may be wondering what programming education is all about. When you hear the word programming education, you may think that it is difficult, but even in the countries and schools where it is actually introduced, it is not possible to create a new subject called "programming". It means that learning that incorporates programming will be carried out in existing subjects such as math, Japanese, and science. Most elementary school programming education is not aimed at learning programming knowledge or coding, but at learning "programming thinking" through learning through programming.Purpose of introducing programming educationThe purpose of programming education is for children living in the future society to live happily in an unpredictable society that is becoming globalized and IT-oriented. It doesn't mean that kids have to learn computer programming for their future work. What is emphasized in programming education is the ability to think logically and the ability to think programming, which is acquired by learning programming.What is the content of the lesson that incorporates programming?What is meant by "programming thinking" is the idea of ​​thinking things in order to achieve what you intend, drawing conclusions from them, and executing them systematically. In other words, "the ability to think logically" becomes important. ..Specifically, while experiencing the fact that you can instruct a computer to work the way you want, you will learn how it works and how to handle it, and learn how to make the work of a computer useful in your life. For example, in a music course, using ICT tools such as her tablet and digital teaching materials, based on the given conditions, a lesson in which long sounds and combinations of high and low sounds are tried and errored to make music. It will be considered.Programming education in elementary school does not always use a computer or tablet. There is also a technique called "unplugged" that does not use a computer, and you can develop logical thinking skills by using paper and pencils and moving your body. Each country and school decides which subject in which grade and how long it will take.Three benefits of learning programming educationLogical thinking abilityTo create a program, you need the ability to think logically. For example, you have to think about what kind of processing you want to do, put that idea into practice, and accumulate the necessary processing one by one. At that time, it is also necessary to consider conditional branching and repetition so that there is no omission or cover in the processing. Through this series of experiences, we will gain experience and develop the ability to think logically so that it can be used in society. It is thought that the ability to clarify the purpose other than programming and to cover the process up to that point without omission is valid.Problem-solving abilityProgramming is fraught with failure. It often happens that the progress is inevitably stopped when an error occurs, such as when it does not work as intended or when the cause is not immediately known. Even for such troubles, it is a valuable experience for children to think for themselves and make trial and error to find out the cause and countermeasures.Imagination and self-actualizationProgramming has the potential to easily realize what you envision. For example, you can give shape to ideas that come to your mind, such as "automatically order when the eraser in the pencil case is low" and "scoring the results of your daily homework to give it a game-like feel." It's the power of programming. The more you can do, the more you will inevitably see the spread of your creations. Programming education may be a driver who develops creativity and self-actualization as a set.