This paper reports on the outcomes of the engineering workshops and presents the current status and future prospects of regional community-building through community-linked teaching material development. In a society where the birthrate is declining and the population is aging, local industries face a serious labor shortage. Reports also show that many young people lose interest in science and engineering, take less part in local communities, and feel a low sense of belonging. These trends highlight a lack of educational approaches that build engineering skills and support regional community building by linking young people with regional industries. To address such challenges, we developed Exclamatone, an original electronic musical instrument teaching material, and implemented engineering workshops for young learners. The workshops provided hands-on, cross-disciplinary learning experiences in electronic circuits, programming, and design. Its goal was to cultivate engineering thinking skills, creativity, and sustain interest in engineering. Based on these outcomes, we are now expanding Exclamatone into a community-based engineering teaching material through industry-academia-government collaboration with local industries and municipalities. This initiative seeks to enhance young people’s place engagement, defined as interest in local industries and technical careers, and willingness to support the local community by creating meaningful opportunities to engage with engineering in a regional context.
ARAKAWA et al. (Thu,) studied this question.