This is a personal blog post written by Deborah Carter, Founder and Managing Director of NewTechKids. Feeling proud but a bit apprehensive. I just sent my high schooler son off to a pre-university course which happens to be in COMPUTER SCIENCE đ! (Students in the final three years of his high school can take courses at Dutch universities alongside their regular subjects.) I'm proud because he and his peers were largely the reason why I
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Yesterday, NewTechKids kicked off a very exciting project: teaching digital literacy to all 475 students at the Wereldwijs Primary School in Amsterdam southeast. We'll be teaching students in groups 1 - 8. Older students will be taught in a combination of Dutch and English since the language of technology is English. Wereldwijs has been designated an 'Excellent School 2022-2025' for primary education by the Dutch Ministry of Education in 2019 and 2022. Led by a
Read moreCan computers and AI create original art? What is better: art made by humans or art made by machines? Why? These are some questions you can discuss with your child(ren) while teaching them about Artificial Intelligence (AI) found in real life. To give a specific context to the discussion, play around with some of the free AI art generators which are available online. An AI art generator is a computer program which generates images based
Read moreNew year, new opportunity to broaden the scope of our technology education programs. While we can't announce the full details, we'll let you in on a secret. NewTechKids will be teaching a new digital literacy program to all classes at an Amsterdam primary school next year: groeps 1 to 8 (kids ages 4-12). Digital literacy is an important part of a solid primary school education. We love the definition of digital literacy given by Hiller Spires,
Read moreThe COVID-19 pandemic stressed the central role that parents and caregivers play in the education of children. Virtual homeschooling forced these adults into the roles of informal teachers and task masters. The rapid transformation of education (pedagogies, subject matter, teaching environments, technology, etc.) means that the formal school system is largely outdated and struggling to align itself with 21st century reality. No more so than preparing kids and teens for a world of constant technological
Read moreThis summer, don't allow your kids to only spend their time watching TikTok videos and WhatsApping their friends. Get them expressing themselves, creating digital content, and developing important critical thinking and technical skills in the process! NewTechKids has compiled this list of creativity-focused activities to give your child's screen time a more active element. At the end of the summer, they will have a nice digital content porfolio and new skills. All of the creativity
Read moreSuper excited to welcome Carol Yarbrough as NewTechKids' latest teacher advisor. A high school computer science teacher, Carol is currently Computer Science Content Director at A+ College Ready in Alabama. She is also a College Board consultant who organises professional development for AP teachers through workshops and AP Summer Institutes. Before all this, she taught at the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham for 11 years. Carol graduated with a degree in Computational Mathematics
Read moreNewTechKids works with a variety of primary schools to help them integrate computer science and technological literacy into their curriculum. While all of the schools are enthusiastic, each school is different in terms of understanding, commitment level and available resources. NewTechKids has prepared this list of suggested steps for primary schools which are interested in introducing computer science education. It's a big undertaking and success will eventually come down to recognising the need for this
Read moreComputer science is all around us through our use of technology: systems, devices, software, etc. Unfortunately, we often take technology for granted and don't think about it until it doesn't work or it causes serious headaches. NewTechKids has compiled these three tips to help parents encourage their children to become more aware of the technology around them to think like technologists in creative ways. By discussing technology on a daily basis, parents can start helping
Read moreStarting today, 75 primary school teachers in Amsterdam and Delft will teach NewTechKids âintro to codingâ lesson to their students as part of EU Code Week celebrations (October 10-18). The teachers participated in NewTechKidsâ 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
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