New Tech Kids | computer science

6 Apr 2016

Arts Education + Computer Science

NewTechKids believes that it's important to find new ways to teach computer science which bring out the creativity in children. That's why we love to integrate arts education into our computer science programs. We were super thrilled to teach two teacher training workshops today as part of the cultural education event organised by MOCCA, an education advisory organization based in Amsterdam. During the workshops held at Theater Meervaart, we taught our 'Intro to Coding and Computational Thinking'

4 Mar 2016

NewTechKids teaching about smart energy technology

By NewTechKids

Computers and digital technology systems are embedded in all kinds of devices around us. Last week, Quby, an Amsterdam-based company, helped NewTechKids demonstrate this to students in our 'Systems Thinking and Hardware' bootcamp. Quby has developed Toon, a smart thermostat that enables consumers to manage their energy consumption more efficiently. Toon was developed for Eneco, a Dutch energy company. Working with NewTechKids, Dimitris Stafylarakis and Vassilis Aretakis (Quby developers) co-developed a lesson focused on the concept of feedback and its importance for technology systems which process data. Students learned

24 Feb 2016

NewTechKids Teacher Training for MOCCA

By NewTechKids

NewTechKids has been invited by MOCCA to host two teacher training sessions during its Cultural Education Conference on April 6th at the Meervaart Theatre in Amsterdam. The conference is part of MOCCA's 2016 Month of Cultural Education. MOCCA is an Amsterdam organization which advises schools and cultural institutions in the design and implementation of cultural education. During the sessions, NewTechKids will train primary school teachers to give one of its lessons which combines technology and computer science education with

30 Jan 2016

Announcing US ‘Computer Science for All’ Initiative

By NewTechKids

Today was a historic day for computer science education and a huge validation for NewTechKids. President Obama announced the 'Computer Science for All' initiative which will bring computer science education to all students in America, beginning in primary school. President Obama is calling for US$4 billion to be allocated in the 2017 budget to Congress to significantly increase the teaching of computer science, namely by developing teaching materials, providing teacher training and building effective regional

15 Dec 2015

2016: Computer science education rising

By NewTechKids

On January 7, 2016, a major announcement was made in the U.S. Leading computer science experts and organisations are co-developing a framework to identify key computer science concepts and practices that all primary and secondary school students should learn. This comes after President Obama signed "Every Student Succeeds", a new U.S. education law, in early December 2015 which recognizes computer science as a ‘critical academic field’. Combined with the STEM Act of 2015, this new law will make federal funding

12 Oct 2015

Teachers in Amsterdam and Delft will give coding lessons to 2000 students

By NewTechKids

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

23 Sep 2015

Slowing down the learning process for tech ed

By NewTechKids

Parents are often shocked when we tell them that during our programs, we teach core technology, programming and computer science concepts through pen and paper exercises, role-play games, and design and prototyping activities using simple materials such as cardboard boxes and blocks. Others wonder why, in an era of computers and gadgets, apps and programming languages made especially for kids, we teach many no tech lessons. We’ve developed our pedagogy and teaching approaches based on the

22 Sep 2015

EU Code Week 2015: Training the Trainers

By NewTechKids

NewTechKids achieved a major milestone last week. Over the course of five training sessions, we trained 75 primary school teachers in Amsterdam and Delft to teach our 'intro to coding' lesson to students aged 4-8 during EU Code Week 2015 (October 10-18). Our lesson doesn't focus on technical coding skills. Instead, we focus on exposing young kids to concepts such as coding, commands, algorithms and automation. It was so encouraging to see teachers from Dutch and international

17 Sep 2015

NewTechKids: a research platform

By NewTechKids

NewTechKids is happy to announce an academic research partnership with Leiden University. Under the partnership, NewTechKids' programs will become a platform where quality control research will be conducted on our pedagogy, teaching approaches, curricula and lesson plans. Tessa Slim, a Master's of Education student at the University, will conduct the research to assess whether NewTechKids' technology, programming and computer science programs for primary school aged children help kids improve their higher order thinking and problem-solving

19 Aug 2015

Technology education by age

By NewTechKids

NewTechKids sees technology education as a means to help kids develop 21st century skills: problem-solving, critical thinking, logic, pattern recognition, creativity and communication. It doesn't matter if children don't create the perfect code, design a popular app or create a beautiful 3D printed product. We are happy as long as it's obvious they are thinking, experimenting, designing, failing, collaborating and learning. Most kids don't receive any technology, programming or computer science education in primary school. This is