Contributing to Society with Education Solutions
Casio’s education solutions statement is “Boost Your Curiosity.” Curiosity is the starting point for learning. Curiosity generates interest. Casio believes that these are important elements that enrich people’s lives. Based on this statement, Casio is developing and supplying education tools that meet the needs of the classroom and support modern education.
GAKUHAN Activities — Supporting Math Education with Scientific Calculators
Casio supplies scientific calculators for use in education settings in some 100 countries and regions worldwide. The mission is not just to supply calculators, but to support teachers and students, who are the end users in education settings. In addition to fostering human resources who are needed by the governments of these countries, we hope to help children realize their dreams of attending university and becoming a doctor, engineer, or whatever else they want to be.
In Japan, scientific calculators are largely seen as tools for university students in science and mathematics, whereas many countries incorporate scientific calculators into their junior and senior high school education. In the U.S., Europe, Australia, and other countries, scientific calculators are used by nearly all students at those earlier levels. Their use is being driven by changes in mathematics education around the world. There is growing recognition that the power of technology is essential to the study of statistics and programming in an IT-driven world. For example, leveraging technology to perform complex calculations enables a greater focus on nurturing problem-solving and thinking skills.
It is one thing to purchase a scientific calculator, but teachers and students need to know how to use scientific calculators properly for classes and exams. For more than 30 years, Casio has been actively supporting teachers and students around the world with its GAKUHAN activities. In addition to providing training and teaching materials for educators, Casio is implementing a pilot project aimed at improving academic skills, as a way to support better education and build optimal learning environments.
Anchoring these activities is Casio product development, which provides customization according to government course guidelines, languages, and curricula in each region. With the aim of developing true educational tools that support learning, Casio engineers visit schools and join classes to grasp the needs in education settings, which are reflected in the product specifications. In this way, Casio develops localized models that are tailored to national and regional requirements, currently offering 72 models in 19 regions*. Casio can customize scientific calculators in short cycles to rapidly reflect the needs of education settings, utilizing large-scale integration (LSI) and automated assembly suited for high-mix low-volume production.
GAKUHAN activities also facilitate product development that reflects the needs of education settings and support learning environments that foster thinking skills. In Europe and the U.S., students and teachers already know how to operate scientific calculators, and in recent years the axis has begun to shift to emerging economies including ASEAN countries.
* Scientific calculators with natural display only (as of June 30, 2024)
“Casio Teacher Training System” for people who teach in countries around the world
Casio is engaged in initiatives around the world to advance curricular reforms focusing on mathematics and science education, which are fundamental to technology. One of the things that support these efforts is Casio’s teacher training. Casio provides comprehensive support, from dispatching “master trainers” (teachers working with Casio), who are responsible for developing regional trainers, to ensuring that every teacher is able to provide classes that use scientific calculators.
Casio Essential Materials: Original teaching materials that support mathematics classes that use scientific calculators
The status of usage of scientific calculators varies by country and region. In order to improve situations where scientific calculators have never been used before, where usage was subject to restrictions, and where usage was not appropriate, Casio developed original teaching materials.
These materials encompass all teaching modules for higher secondary level mathematics, and support the introduction and usage of scientific calculators. When students are able to achieve a suitable and sufficient understanding and usage of scientific calculators, they are able to deepen their understanding of and interest in mathematics.
As for teachers, they are able to learn the required usage of scientific calculators for the lesson as supplemental materials.
Casio engaged in promoting projects linked to the future of learners through coordination with national and regional governments
Casio helps to build a comprehensive learning environment tailored to each country’s specific circumstances in order to meet the challenges of the country and deliver the optimal, highest quality mathematics education environment for its children.
EDU-Port Japan
Mathematics education business in Egypt and Bangladesh as a project by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
EDU-Port Japan is a public-private partnership focused on promoting the development of Japanese-style education outside Japan. In addition to ongoing projects in Indonesia and Thailand, Casio GAKUHAN activities in Egypt and Bangladesh have been praised and newly selected as an EDU-Port Japan platform project. In coordination with the ministries of education and education officials in both countries, Casio will provide classroom support by developing mathematics classes that utilize scientific calculators, providing teacher training, and conducting pilot classes.
Key Project Initiatives in Egypt
In 2016, Egypt announced its sustainable development strategy Egypt Vision 2030 and launched a new education reform project called Education 2.0, which aims to shift the educational focus from rote learning to inquiry-based learning. In conjunction with the revised curriculum for the first semester of grade 7 (equivalent to the first year of junior high school in Japan) implemented in September 2024, Casio has offered a mathematics instruction package with the new curriculum in mind, which allows teachers and students to explore inquiry-based learning. In the first year, the program is providing educational materials that utilize scientific calculators, training mathematics teachers, conducting pilot classes, and monitoring lessons and assessing their effectiveness, for two private schools, on a trial basis. Plans are in place to expand the regions in which classroom support is provided, beginning in October 2024.
Key Project Initiatives in Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, although scientific calculators are in common use in mathematics classes beginning in grades 8 and 9, teacher and student classroom usage has suggested that these calculators could be utilized more efficiently.
In order to help students become more familiar with social phenomena through mathematics, Casio is running a trial program that includes providing teaching materials that utilize scientific calculators to solve a wide range of problems familiar in daily life. The program also trains mathematics teachers, conducts pilot classes, and monitors lessons and assesses their effectiveness. Plans are in place to subsequently expand the number of schools and regions covered by the program.
Presentation on Scientific Calculators Customized for Nigeria
Results of public-private partnership GAKUHAN activities in Lagos State, Nigeria
In collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Education in Nigeria, Casio has been engaged in a project designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of scientific calculators in inquiry-based learning. The results of the project were presented at the Lagos State Education Conference in May 2023, and the project was lauded by the Lagos State Minister of Education as an example of a successful public-private partnership.
Based on these results, and incorporating feedback from the Ministry of Education and classroom teachers in Lagos State, Casio developed a scientific calculator specifically for Nigeria, the fx-9910NG PLUS 2nd Edition, which was launched in June 2024. This calculator has been additionally certified by the Lagos State Ministry of Education, and Casio expects the sale of this customized, difficult-to-forge device to help combat the issue of counterfeited goods.
Support for the International Physics Olympiad 2023
Supporting a dream platform for children who love physics
The International Physics Olympiad is a tournament that aims to have youth at the high school level and below compete in physics and to encourage the development of physics through international exchanges. The 2023 event was held in Tokyo, where Casio provided its ClassWiz fx-82CW scientific calculators. 392 children from 84 countries who participated in the contest were able to challenge themselves to solve difficult problems by using the fx-82CW. It is our hope that this event will serve as an impetus for the participating children to achieve even bigger dreams around the world.
Women Do Science
Making science more familiar for everyone
The number of women who are active in scientific fields remains small worldwide.
In order to make science something that feels more familiar to female students, Casio Spain and Casio France are putting the spotlight on female scientists by distributing content that introduces the personal history and areas of research of each of them.
We believe that showing good role models to younger generations is another way to support learning, and are pouring effort into such activities.
Support for Various Academic Activities
Supporting academic activities through joint industry-academia projects and participation in international academic conferences
In 2020, Casio partnered with Saitama University on the “Implementation of Scientific Calculators in Mathematics Class and Its Global Expansion” program. The 21st International Conference on Teaching Mathematical Modeling and Applications (ICTMA21) held on Awaji Island, Japan, in September 2023 provided an opportunity to present the program to conference attendees and support Casio collaborative educator Professor Barry Kissane of Murdoch University in presenting his thesis “Mathematical Modeling and Implementation of Scientific Calculators in Secondary Education.”
Global Teachers’ Meeting
Incorporating worldwide teacher and student feedback into product development
Casio invites teachers from countries around the world to its annual Global Teachers’ Meeting. In these meetings, Casio holds direct discussions with teachers on the types of product functions that would help their students learn more easily and lessons that would better motivate their students, enabling Casio to develop educational materials and services that better meet classroom needs.
Supporting ICT in Education through ClassPad.net
Alongside GAKUHAN activities, Casio also provides the ClassPad.net solution for education settings where ICT is advancing. ClassPad.net is a comprehensive ICT study platform that integrates study content such as online dictionaries and online calculator with the use of digital notes.
In the wake of the Noto Peninsula Earthquake in 2024, Casio provided support for students and teachers affected by the disaster to ensure classroom education could continue uninterrupted, offering its ClassPad.net education platform free of charge to schools that requested it.
ClassPad.net is an ICT study platform that integrates mathematics software based on technology from the equation processing system that Casio developed for scientific calculators, which has been available overseas since 2018, with study tools such as online dictionaries, workbooks, and e-books provided by education publishers, digital notes that are accessible from personal computers and tablets, as well as classroom support features. The platform can be used for ICT education and online classes on all subjects.
A beta version with limited functionality was released in April 2021, and the full version was launched in September 2021.
While past digital study tools required the use of multiple applications like dictionaries and other apps depending on how they were used, ClassPad.net fully integrates two different functions, digital notes and study tools, to support independent and inquiry-based study. In addition, cloud storage for data changes the way that teachers work by eliminating the need for classroom whiteboards or printed worksheets every time teachers use the platform. Accessible at home or at school as long as the student has a personal computer, tablet, or other device, this solution offers teachers and students an interactive learning process and allows students to review their lessons uninterrupted, since they no longer have to collect their notebooks.
In recognition of these strengths, Casio was awarded the Japan Electronic Publishing Association Chairman's Award at the 21st Japan e-Learning Awards in October 2024, marking the third consecutive year that ClassPad.net has been honored with a Japan e- Learning Award.
In March 2024, Casio acquired Libry Co. Ltd., a provider of digital educational materials and AI drills, as a subsidiary to provide users with an all-new educational experience. The two companies' complementary strengths in learning content and tools will provide widely applicable classroom services. This move aims to create new value by providing support for personalized learning and educational assessment by utilizing big data in the field of education. As of March 2024, the two services together have been introduced in more than 1,000 schools (including schools using the trial version).
Casio will continue to create services that are helpful for teachers and students and contribute to education by pursuing co-creation with schools, while listening to feedback from classrooms.
