NewTechKids teachers recently had a wake up call when we gave primary school students ages 8 and 9 MacBooks instead of tablets to use for a class which involved connecting a mini computer to a laptop. This is not the first time we were surprised by how primary school students in this age bracket struggle with the transition from tablets to laptops and computers. Tablets are a great device and very appropriate for younger students.
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This past week, NewTechKids taught a class about interactivity. Students created interactive systems using the Makey Makey learning tool. This meant that the students had Internet access and had to navigate to Makey Makey's Web site to access the coding apps. Unfortunately, one student figured out a way to play games without coding the Makey Makey microcomputer. We observed a physical shift in him during which he went from being immersed in the Makey Makey
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Parents, caregivers and educators, if you haven't already done so, please pick up Jonathan Haidt's book "The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness". Jonathan is a social pyschologist and in his book, he raises the alarm on the mental health crisis amongst teens. He traces the roots of the problems back to major factors, including: - the switch form flip phones to smartphones - the inclusion
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NewTechKids is returning to Wereldwijs primary school in Amsterdam southeast for the third year in a row. We'll be teaching digital literacy programs to all classes in the entire school over the 2024-2025 school year. We'll be teaching an 'Intro to Technology and Responsible Usage' to the youngest students which covers topics such as online safety, responsible usage, being creative with tech (not only passive consumption) and coding. Our teaching team is testing the limits
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Are you a qualified teacher who wants to transform the way technology education is delivered to primary school students? Do you believe that technology education includes both computer science and the ability to think critically and ethically about technology? Are you committed to creating great, in-person learning experiences between kids and between kids and their teacher? NewTechKids is looking for freelance student teachers or qualified teachers to join our team. The most important requirements are
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Post by Deborah Carter, NewTechKids' Founder and Managing Director This summer, my son and I travelled to North America, in part to visit several university campuses and learn about programs which combine design, engineering and technology. We visited McGill University in Montreal, University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, Stanford University in Palo Alto, University of California, Berkeley and University of California, Los Angeles. It was a fascinating peak inside some highly-ranked universities in Canada and
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NewTechKids is extremely proud of one of our students: Christiaan J. who was chosen to be a member of LEGOLAND Discovery Center Scheveningen's Kids Crew. Christiaan has attended 13 NewTechKids bootcamps in the last two years! The Kids Crew is a group of six children who promote LEGO amongst their peers for a one-year term, helping out with difficult building challenges and attending LEGO events. Christiaan competed with 12 children during a day which included two
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If it were up to students at the 7e Montessori School in Amsterdam, robot manufacturers and AI engineers would be in the hot seat if the robots they used to produce food made people sick. On June 28th, NewTechKids taught a special robotics and coding and robotics workshop to help celebrate the end of the school year. Students ages 9-12 discussed the key role that the Netherlands plays in global food production and then designed, built
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Do you know of any schools or after-school clubs in the Amsterdam area looking to integrate technology lessons during the 2024-2025 school year? If so, NewTechKids has time slots open for Fall 2024. NewTechKids is expanding the number of classes it teaches in Amsterdam during the 2024-2025 school year. Our teaching team is available to teach during school hours (our preference) or after school. We can teach children ages 4-12 in Dutch, English or a
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'Inspire inclusion' is the theme of this year's International Women's Day and Deborah Carter, our Founder and MD, spoke about this at the celebration breakfast held at Adyen, one of our corporate supporters. NewTechKids likes to think that we inspire inclusion every day. Since October 2014, we been bringing tech education to kids in the Netherlands and abroad through our programs which teach tech invention, computer science, coding, robotics, digital literacy and critical thinking about
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