Our Philosophy
Our beliefs and
educational philosophy
Founder’s
message
A place ever-evolving with the times
I created TECH PARK to be the kind of place I wanted as a working mother. Rather than being influenced by the forces of business or society, we’re creating TECH PARK from the perspective of parents and children.
The rapid advancement of technology has changed the world around us. Has there ever been a time when so many people have lived in such a dizzying environment?
Our lives now extend beyond regions, national borders, languages, and cultures, and are affected by events all around the world. As more people understand the importance of this, there are more opportunities to work on and accomplish what each of us can do.
Similarly, nurturing each child’s individual personality is becoming more important in our rapidly changing society. That's why TECH PARK is constantly evolving to search for the essence of child-rearing in this era. We’ll continue to progress towards a learning and play environment that meets the needs of each parent’s way of life, children’s growth, and teaches those skills necessary for the future.
As parents, we want our children to be able to use their own experiences to make choices and find happiness even if we aren’t around. We believe that TECH PARK is a unique space unlike the home, school, or community, that can provide this kind of rich child-rearing environment.
Teaching that we’re all connected
Kids are geniuses at finding fun. They grow as they constantly focus on playing, having fun, and following the feelings of happiness in their hearts. However, we’ll always run into things in life that we don’t like, aren’t good at, or even seem unreasonable. But if we want to achieve something, we can’t just do the things we like.
By considering things deeply and working through with trial and error, we can find a greater sense of accomplishment and happiness than ever before. Children gain courage and feel empowered to push beyond boundaries to greater heights as they have these kinds of experiences.
As we learn our own own limits, we also come to learn the importance of needing others and the importance of being needed by others.
In society, people are always supported by other people. We are unique creatures within nature, with each of us having our own will, emotion, and purpose. That's why I want kids to actively engage with their family and friends at TECH PARK, and feel the importance of valuing others and being valued by others. From this, they’ll start to feel a desire to want to help people, which is the same as the “trust” that is important in adult society. My hope is that kids will learn through many experiences that there are things which cannot be done alone, and that great accomplishments can only be realized through working together.
Groovenauts exists as a tech company to support and enrich people’s lives by seeking to use the best technology where it’s needed most.
How should we use technology for the situation we find ourselves in? Not because human resources are becoming more limited, but for ourselves and the important people close to us. I hope we can raise children who will work together with us to help implement solutions into our society.
Chairwoman
, Groovenauts, Inc.
Our promises
As well as playing and learning with tech in their own way, kids
learn essential life habits. As a third learning place outside of home and school, we’re committed to the following:
1. Nurture each child’s unique personality
Our goal at TECH PARK isn’t to teach kids to program well or follow a prescribed pattern for completing tasks. More than anything else, we pay attention to whether each child can spend their time at TECH PARK in their own, unique way, and we plan all of our daily activities and management accordingly.
Imagine there are several kids looking at the same apple. One child might be moved by the beauty of its shape and red color, while another might think more about the apple’s delicious taste. Another might recall a book they read about the physics and speed of an apple falling. Individuality is a vibrant thing that grows and can change greatly according to the different people, words, and knowledge that kids encounter.
Of course, you can’t get caught up in preconceived prejudices. Boys may love handicrafts, and girls may get excited by robotics. We can’t put the children into boxes according to their hobbies, interests, or individuality. Instead, we believe it’s important to teach kids about technology in a manner that is best for each child, as carefree and fun as possible, and according to their developmental stage.
2. Tech education that encourages self-expression through creating
TECH PARK is not a programming school. Of course, we may teach programming during activities, but that isn’t the main point. The things you love or dream about constantly change according to your daily experiences, and no one has a clear idea of what they’ll like or what will hook them from the beginning. It’s as we get our hands on things, try things out, and gain experience that we come to discover what our real interests are.
People who are called fickle may actually be quickly finding interesting things, exploring them, gaining something new in themselves, and looking for a new thing to get hooked on. In other words, they create a continuity of experiences that can take them across a wide world. On the other hand, a person called stiff or rigid might become obsessed with one thing, but explore their passion in a variety of ever-changing ways as they explore a deep world.
Our goal is to help kids learn to use technology to express their current interests, passions, thoughts, and ideas to others.
Even if you get a flash of inspiration about a wonderful idea, if it stays in your own head and you never learn how to express it to others, then the idea will never take shape. There are many different methods to expressing your ideas, but the important thing is to build and give shape to ideas while working and interacting with others.
If we think about it, we’re surrounded by people’s ideas and inspiration all the time. From the moment you wake up and go to brush your teeth, the sink, the toothbrush, the design on the toothpaste tube, the handle of the cup you use to rinse your mouth, everything has been thought up, sketched, designed, and gone through an entire process toward becoming a finished product.
There are countless, wonderful forms of expression—words, music, art, and the like—and we hope to by teaching kids how to use technology, they can also use programming, digital art, digital fab, and more as new tools to share their ideas.
3. Respect differences and learn to work together with others
When they think of programming, many people have an image of people working silently while staring at computer screens. However, you’ll notice that all of the software and games you love require people with an amazing variety of ideas, backgrounds, and skills to come together.
Even if one person programmed an app you use, countless other people were involved in creating things like the development environment and network infrastructure required to make that app work. There’s no way for one person to create all of those things. If we want to make something new or express some big idea, we’ll always need to discuss, share, and work with other people.
We actively use group activities to cultivate the ability to engage with people with different ideas and backgrounds to create a shared work. The important thing is to learn first-hand that you can cooperate with others. And conversely, to learn that you can interact with others without feeling isolated, even if your thoughts and values are different from everyone else’s.
Each of us has our own personality, views, and way of thinking. These will never overlap perfectly, no matter how much time we spend together or discuss things. If you can internalize the seemingly obvious idea that other people can be different from yourself, then you can build deep relationships even with those with vastly different values or backgrounds.
By recognizing and overcoming our differences, we can build a future together beyond our imaginations. We believe that the ability to interact with different ideas and the courage to overcome boundaries are the most important skills required for building this future.
4. Not just learning for the future
We often hear about “preparing to enter society,” but a child is already a member of society from the moment they’re born. If a baby cries, a parent is likely to give them milk, change a diaper, or otherwise comfort them. Perhaps the scope is limited, but that small action certainly affects their little society. As they learn to walk and speak, they can greet neighbors, play with similarly-aged kids, and gain greater ability to influence their ever-expanding society.
While a school education is often described as a time to prepare for entering society, we strongly believe that we engage with others as part of society throughout our lives.
At TECH PARK, we try to help children realize that their actions—the things that they create and express—are connected to a larger society. To do this, we actively include all sorts of collaborations with various industries, encourage kids to enter their projects into contests, and much more.
In fact, one student entered a 3D printer contest to create a musical instrument of the future and won the right to skip the first-round of examinations for a prestigious university. Another student won a special prize for a film she made at a national competition. A student also took part in an AI project along with us and presented her work to the heads of world-leading companies. We want kids to realize that they don’t have to wait to be adults. They can already influence society by trying out new challenges.
Age, gender, nationality, and the like can become borders and gaps that separate people. However, a feeling of “I want to try” can sprout and grow within those gaps without regard to borders, limits, or the like. We want to help kids try to give shape to those feelings and help them grow into people who can create things of substance for society.