NewTechKids is proud to officially launch Mokum Maakcoalitie activities along with our partners: the Amsterdam Public Library/Maakplaats021, de Waag, Pakhuis de Zwijger, Hogeschool van Amsterdam. NEMO Science Museum, Cinekid, The Beach, Designathon Works, Lekkersamenklooien, Cultura Nederland, Next Nature Network en de W&T kennismakelaars (Science & Technology knowledge brokers) from the City of Amsterdam. Our joint mission is to accelerate the spread of Maker education in the City of Amsterdam through in-school and extracurricular activities for

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NewTechKids has wrapped up our computer science and robotics bootcamp for high-potential teens from Amsterdam southeast, a low-income, largely immigrant community. According to one of our teachers, it was "one of the best classes" he's taught over his seven year career at NewTechKids. The magic ingredient? The kids themselves. Every Sunday, these kids rode the subway for 25 minutes to the Library, often accompanied by their parents and group mentor. Many came early and they

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NewTechKids is teaching another cohort of 'Rising Technologists', kids from low-income communities in Amsterdam who have the potential to pursue study and career paths related to technology if they are given exposure and access to technology education. The odds are stacked against them but we have confidence that they will overcome the conditions they face in Amsterdam: Highest number of single parent households Highest number of households which earn less than welfare-level income 10-year old

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We often tell our students that technology, whether devices or software, wasn't invented in a day. The phone, TV or gaming console that they use was developed over years by multiple people and is still being improved upon now. All invention processes start with protototyping. Inventors create a quick and dirty object and then test and refine it. There's often a lot of failure involved and inventors need to develop resilience to keep trying and

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NewTechKids is teaching a 10-week bootcamp in partnership with Dynamo Amsterdam and the Amsterdam Public Library. Dynamo organizes activities for children in different neighbourhoods through its Talententent program. The bootcamp for kids ages 8-12 is being held at the Library's Ijburg branch. Kids are inventing a series of robots and tech prototypes based on popular children's books and films. So far, they've designed robot snails based on the "Turbo" film and chocolate factory robots based

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The best, most future-proof skill that parents, caregivers and teachers can impart to kids is "learning how to learn" and mastering different ways of learning. As such, NewTechKids is organizing 'Try It Out' workshops on Saturday, January 15th and Sunday, January 16th for kids ages 8-12 at the Amsterdam Public Library. The workshops will take place each day from 13:00 - 14:30 and 15:00 - 16:30. Spaces are limited. Register here. During these workshops, we'll

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Playing to boys' interests starts early, sadly often in coding and computer science classes at the primary school level. The temptation is to focus on diving into the ultra-geeky, more masculine activities to showcase all of the cool stuff you can do with tech. Race car robots. Monster robots. Space warrior robots. Etcetera. But that's exactly when teachers make the biggest mistakes in terms of excluding many girls who are yet to discover the magic

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Music is the universal language for everyone, including kids. Which is why NewTechKids is excited to continue our ongoing collaboration with IT company Schuberg Philis by being one of program partners for an event this weekend designed for the children of colleagues. We'll be teaching workshops which introduce kids 8-12 to computer science, coding and robotics. Kids will explore how robots can perform music by inventing their very own robot orchestra. Other workshops given by

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Starting this week, NewTechKids will be bringing technology education via music, art and culture to students at the Cornelis Vrijschool in Amsterdam. We are teaching a customized, after-school program which aligns with the school's focus on the arts, music and culture. Students in groups 6,7 and 8 will discuss how technology is transforming the arts before inventing a series of robot prototypes. In the process, they'll learn about computer science, programming, robotics and design. It

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This summer, kids ages 8-12 have been participating in NewTechKids' bootcamps and acquiring the knowledge and skills needed to be inventors, innovators and technologists. Every week, we use a different theme as the context for teaching kids how to think critically about the technology around them and to learn how to design, build and program robots and tech prototypes. Below are some highlights of some of our classes. There are still spaces available in our

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