"We don't want help. We can do it on our own." During a recent NewTechKids computer science class at an Amsterdam primary school, we challenged students to design robots which can play musical instrument toys. Our collection of toy instruments includes a plastic didgeridoo which has never been used. When I mentioned this and challenged students to choose it, a pair of girls grabbed it. Not just any girls: a pair that loves building, figuring
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Register here. NewTechKids is conducting a research study about our past 10 years of teaching computer science with the University of Amsterdam and Vrije University. When asked what we should teach more of, many parents mentioned art and digital creativity. So we are chuffed to announce that NewTechKids is introducing a new, after-school bootcamp with classes aimed at fighting kids' passive tech consumption by helping them use technology to explore new forms of art, design
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It's hard to believe but we're 10 years old! From our scrappy beginnings in Fall 2014 teaching in a co-working space, we've taught thousands of primary, middle and high school kids in Amsterdam, other Dutch cities and in places like Dubai and Switzerland about computer science and digital literacy. We've also trained hundreds of primary school teachers on how to introduce technology education in their classrooms. Our very first students are now finishing high school
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Parents, caregivers and educators, if you haven't already done so, please pick up Jonathan Haidt's book "The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness". Jonathan is a social pyschologist and in his book, he raises the alarm on the mental health crisis amongst teens. He traces the roots of the problems back to major factors, including: - the switch form flip phones to smartphones - the inclusion
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NewTechKids is returning to Wereldwijs primary school in Amsterdam southeast for the third year in a row. We'll be teaching digital literacy programs to all classes in the entire school over the 2024-2025 school year. We'll be teaching an 'Intro to Technology and Responsible Usage' to the youngest students which covers topics such as online safety, responsible usage, being creative with tech (not only passive consumption) and coding. Our teaching team is testing the limits
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Post by Deborah Carter, NewTechKids' Founder and Managing Director This summer, my son and I travelled to North America, in part to visit several university campuses and learn about programs which combine design, engineering and technology. We visited McGill University in Montreal, University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, Stanford University in Palo Alto, University of California, Berkeley and University of California, Los Angeles. It was a fascinating peak inside some highly-ranked universities in Canada and
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Parents, teachers and caregivers often ask NewTechKids' team members how they can prepare kids for a world of pervasive technology which is shaping almost every facet of life. They want to give their kids the best opportunities for success yet are overwhelmed, confused and don't feel well-equipped because they did not grow up in a tech-driven world. This causes a lot of anxiety so here are our top four tips for preparing kids for an
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NewTechKids has taught thousands of primary school aged children about computer science, coding, robotics, design and critical thinking about technology. What we've found is that while enrolling kids in computer science programs is a great first step, it's only one of the factors which influence the likelihood that kids will choose a tech-related study, training or career path down the line. In order to imprint the importance of tech and reinforce the desire to master
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This week, NewTechKids continued with our digital literacy lessons for kindergarten students at Wereldwijs primary school. The last few lessons have been about self-directed learning and how technology enables us to learn on our own, without teachers, parents or adults directing the process. We started the lesson off by talking about the fact that not all children have the same abilities as they do. We talked about how some children can't hear and this requires
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NewTechKids has taught tech education and computer science classes for more than nine years and we've taught kids from all types of backgrounds with differing exposure to tech. Based on our observations, there are some key factors which increase the likelihood that kids will take an interest in tech beyond just using it and actually want to invent, create, make, experiment and prototype with it. These factors considerably increase the likelihood that they will choose
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