Starting today, 75 primary school teachers in Amsterdam and Delft will teach NewTechKids ‘intro to coding’ lesson to their students as part of EU Code Week celebrations (October 10-18).
The teachers participated in NewTechKids’ special training sessions which took place between 10-17 September. During the sessions, NewTechKids shared its pedagogy and teaching approaches and trained teachers to give the lesson while adjusting it to their teaching style.
NewTechKids partnered with TomTom, the global technology company founded in the Netherlands, to organize these sessions which were free of charge. Together they focused on training teachers in order to reach a larger amount of children during EU Code Week.
Approximately 2000 schoolchildren in Amsterdam and Delft will be reached during this pilot program.
‘Intro to Coding’ Lesson
During EU Code Week, teachers will introduce students to concepts such as coding, design, commands, algorithms and automation through design and play. The kids will design robot heads out of cardboard boxes and then play games focused on following commands and exploring algorithms.
Deborah Carter, NewTechKids’ Co-founder, says “Many teachers think they need technical skills to teach coding. Our approach is to train teachers to introduce kids to the concepts behind coding through arts, crafts and play which is a great way to help kids understand how coding works.”
“We are proud to support NewTechKids”, said Corinne Vigreux, Co-Founder of TomTom. “Getting more kids excited about technology is something we feel very passionate about. NewTechKids is a great way to train teachers, and help prepare the next generation of kids for a career in technology.”
EU Code Week 2015
EU Code Week was launched as a way to encourage children and adults in the European Union to discover programming and learn to code.