NewTechKids has been invited to be one of the workshop organisers for Theo Thijssenschool’s Kunstweken 2018 (Arts Weeks 2018) which runs from March 5 - 16. Theo Thijssenschool is a primary school in Amsterdam. Under the theme ‘Make Your Own City’, students are exploring various themes: What does the ideal city look like? How do students experience their city? What inspires them? What would they like to see changed in their city? Parents and teachers
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Last week, I had the privilege of giving one of the keynote talks at IPON 2018. IPON is the Netherlands’ leading conference/trade show devoted to innovation in education and ICT applications and services. The event showcases teaching methods, learning materials and tools, hardware and software. During my talk, I renewed my call for computer science to become a mandatory subject, starting in primary school and continuing through secondary school. Here are some of my thoughts
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NewTechKids is proud to be supporting our non-profit counterpart, Stichting NewTechKids, to kick off a teacher training program which begins on Wednesday, January 17th. Twenty-five teachers from Dutch and international primary schools in the Netherlands have been carefully vetted and selected to participate in this program aimed at helping schools introduce computer science, technological literacy and computational thinking to their students. Designed for teachers who have never taught technology or coding-related classes before, this training
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Deborah Carter, NewTechKids’ Co-founder, will give one of the keynote talks at IPON 2018 on February 7th. IPON is the Netherlands’ leading conference/trade show devoted to innovation in education and ICT applications and services. The event showcases teaching methods, learning materials and tools, hardware and software. In 2015, Deborah gave a widely-acclaimed TED talk about the importance of introducing computer science and technology education as mandatory subjects, beginning in primary school. At the time, a documentary
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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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Calling all trailblazer teachers! Do you want to join a community of primary school teachers from Dutch and international primary schools who will be among the first in the Netherlands to introduce computer science and computational thinking lessons in their schools? Stichting NewTechKids (NewTechKids' non-profit counterpart) is offering a select group of teachers the opportunity to attend a FREE teacher training program. (Normal price: 2000 euro plus 21% BTW per teacher.) Designed for teachers who
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NewTechKids is excited to announce our first collaboration with Maakplaats 021, the Amsterdam Municipal Library's maker space initiative: a 10-week computer science bootcamp for kids ages 8-12 which will take place in the Maakplaats 021 Reigersbos location in Amsterdam Southeast. Set to begin in January 2018, the bootcamp will be for kids ages 8-12 and provide an introduction to computer science, programming and computational thinking. Our partnership with the Library is strategic and we'll use
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Tomorrow, EU Code Week 2017 kicks off! From October 7-22, organisations across Europe will be organising activities which bring coding and digital literacy to children and adults. Many are free so please get involved! See the EU Code Week 2017 Events Calendar for activities taking place across Europe. Another great source of coding-related activities is Codestarter, a joint venture between Google Netherlands and NEMO Science Center, which provides a list covering the entire Netherlands. Every
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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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NewTechKids works with primary schools in the Amsterdam area to help introduce computational thinking and computer science programs as part of formal school curriculum. Our programs integrate pedagogy, didactics, teaching approaches and classroom management and are based on the curriculum, lesson plans and teaching materials that we've developed, tested and taught over the last three years. Below are some of the schools where we've taught: Leonardo da Vinci School, Amsterdam NewTechKids teaches computer science programs
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