NewTechKids hosted a teacher training workshop on June 6th, 2017 as part of the 'Learning Fair' event organised by Projectenbureau Primair Onderwijs Zuidoost (PPOZO). Projectenbureau Primair Onderwijs Zuidoost (PPOZO) is the organization which coordinates after-school activities for primary schLearnool students in Amsterdam Southeast, one of the city's most economically-disadvantaged communities. It works with 10 school boards representing 29 schools in the area and 7017 students. Scrum: an important teaching tool to help students develop 21st century skills Scrum

Read more

NewTechKids has recently returned from the United Arab Emirates where our teachers (and one child assistant) taught computer science bootcamps during the Sharjah Children's Reading Festival (April 19-29, 2017). Everyday, we taught children ages 7-12 about systems thinking (computers, their main parts and how these parts work together) and technology design (function, requirements and user interface). The children who attended were very enthusiastic and engaged. The United Arab Emirates is a fascinating country, with innovation and technology everywhere, from

Read more

In our quest to introduce computer science and technological literacy education in primary school, we often hear the same excuse as to why this is difficult to impossible: teachers already have enough on their plate. Introducing a new subject will overwhelm them, causing their overall teaching to decline in quality. So many countries find themselves in the same position: we know that we need to prepare children to function in a world filled with technology

Read more

In December 2016, the European Union published the report “Developing Computational Thinking in Compulsory Education: Implications for policy and practice”. The report is long, detailed and provides a solid overview of how different European Union countries are integrating computational thinking into compulsory education, either via coding, programming and computer science education or via other subjects such as mathematics. Click here for a definition of computational thinking and how it helps students solve problems, understand the world around them and

Read more

Wil je leerlingen wegwijs maken in de wereld van coderen, algoritmes en commando’s? Leer het in deze workshop. Daag leerlingen uit om laptops uit elkaar weer in elkaar zitten. Verander ze in robots, of stuur ze op een te gekke speurtocht over hoe computers data en informatie verwerken. Inhoud van de training De onderwerpen die aan bod komen zijn onder andere coderen, basiskennis informatie algoritmisch en berekenend denken, hardware- en systeemdenken. Maar ook informaticapedagogiek, onderwijsmethoden

Read more

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'

Read more

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 arts education. We'll

Read more

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 partnerships. The initiative places

Read more

NewTechKids is happy to be featured in the January edition of PrimaOnderwijs, one of the Netherlands's leading magazines on education trends servicing school directors and teachers. The feature article focuses on our teacher training programs and how we prepare teachers to teach computer science, programming and technological literacy in the context of 21st century skills development: problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication. The article outlines NewTechKids' pedagogy, teaching approaches, classroom management strategies and our use

Read more

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

Read more