Ten days left until NewTechKids' 'How to Raise a Tech Innovator' evening class for parents on January 30th. The class takes place from 19:00 - 21:00 at the central branch of the Amsterdam Public Library. Register now! We thought we'd share some interesting findings from the registration information provided by parents who will attend the class. 100%: parents of boys (The fact that no parents of girls have signed up for the class is unfortunate.
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Register here. (Class to be taught in English.) NewTechKids is organising a special evening class for parents under the theme 'How to Raise a Tech Innovator'. Parents are playing an increasingly important role in making sure that their children have a solid foundation to understand technology: how it works, why it works and how to create technological solutions. NewTechKids invites parents of children ages four to 12 to join this class on Wednesday, January 30th
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More attention is being given to the harmful effects of staring at device screens for prolonged periods of time. According to a recently-published article on the Popular Science Web site, researchers are connecting screen exposure to sleep disruption and eye problems. "Researchers have connected the high-energy visible light, which emanates from both the sun and your cell phone (and just about every other digital device in our hands and on our bedside tables), to disruptions
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Parents and teachers often ask us how to they can move kids beyond just using technology. They ask us what they can do to how to encourage kids to think about how technology works, the implications of technology on humans, and the computer science knowledge and skills they will need to become technologists. This summer, we've launched a feature via LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to help parents and teachers who don't have a background in
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NewTechKids 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
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Recently, we heard the story of a first-year Architecture student at a Dutch university being surprised at the novelty of 3D printing in construction projects. This despite the fact that since 2013, the Dutch architectural firm DUS Architects has been 3D printing a canal house in Amsterdam which is scheduled for completion in 2018. The project has received significant media coverage in both the Dutch and international media and President Barack Obama visited the site during a visit to
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Preparing children, starting in primary school, to be successful technologists requires parents and teachers to make them aware of the benefit of studying computer science, programming, technology systems and design. Case in point: any child interested in working in a sports-related profession. Technology is transforming the sports industry. Examples include: Web sites which provide stats, stream live games and competitions and provide the latest news; Online games which enable players to play sports virtually and
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Computer 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
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Like most technology education academies, NewTechKids struggles to attract equal numbers of girls and boys to our programs. There are a lot of reasons for this. Most of the time, parents don't even present computer science and programming activities as options for their daughters. They conclude that computer science 'isn’t a fit' for their daughters although it's often 'perfect' for their sons. Girls themselves have told us that learning about technology is hard and often
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Education systems around the world are lagging behind in integrating technology education into their curriculum and teaching approaches. This is forcing proactive schools, teachers and parents to take matters into their own hands and seek out educational activities for children which are related to computer science, programming and technological literacy. NewTechKids should know! Here are some tips for deciding what types of computer science activities to consider: Tip: Know the difference between coding and programming
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