New Tech Kids | technology

4 Mar 2016

NewTechKids teaching about smart energy technology

Computers and digital technology systems are embedded in all kinds of devices around us. Last week, Quby, an Amsterdam-based company, helped NewTechKids demonstrate this to students in our 'Systems Thinking and Hardware' bootcamp. Quby has developed Toon, a smart thermostat that enables consumers to manage their energy consumption more efficiently. Toon was developed for Eneco, a Dutch energy company. Working with NewTechKids, Dimitris Stafylarakis and Vassilis Aretakis (Quby developers) co-developed a lesson focused on the concept of feedback and its importance for technology systems which process data. Students learned

24 Feb 2016

NewTechKids Teacher Training for MOCCA

By NewTechKids

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

13 Feb 2016

Brainstorm at Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum

By NewTechKids

On Monday, February 8th, NewTechKids co-hosted a brainstorm session with Amsterdam's new Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. Still under construction, the museum provided the ideal blank slate for re-imagining how primary school students engage with museum content. Participants developed ideas on how to develop school programs for museums which leverage technology to create engaging experiences. The goal was to develop ideas for experiences which encourage students (8-12 years) to discover new information, think critically, and

15 Dec 2015

2016: Computer science education rising

By NewTechKids

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

14 Dec 2015

New Advisor

By NewTechKids

Dimitris Stafylarakis Joins NewTechKids as an Advisor We are pleased as punch to announce that Dimitris Stafylarakis has joined NewTechKids' team of advisors. Read his bio. Dimitris is a DevOps Engineer at Quby, an Amsterdam-based company focused on smart home energy management. He is collaborating with NewTechKids to help us identify key concepts to integrate into our curricula and lessons as well best practices in the technology industry which can be translated into learning experience for children. He has

12 Oct 2015

Teachers in Amsterdam and Delft will give coding lessons to 2000 students

By NewTechKids

Starting today, 75 primary school teachers in Amsterdam and Delft will teach NewTechKids ‘intro to coding’ lesson to their students as part of EU Code Week celebrations (October 10-18). The teachers participated in NewTechKids’ 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

23 Sep 2015

Slowing down the learning process for tech ed

By NewTechKids

Parents are often shocked when we tell them that during our programs, we teach core technology, programming and computer science concepts through pen and paper exercises, role-play games, and design and prototyping activities using simple materials such as cardboard boxes and blocks. Others wonder why, in an era of computers and gadgets, apps and programming languages made especially for kids, we teach many no tech lessons. We’ve developed our pedagogy and teaching approaches based on the

22 Sep 2015

EU Code Week 2015: Training the Trainers

By NewTechKids

NewTechKids achieved a major milestone last week. Over the course of five training sessions, we trained 75 primary school teachers in Amsterdam and Delft to teach our 'intro to coding' lesson to students aged 4-8 during EU Code Week 2015 (October 10-18). Our lesson doesn't focus on technical coding skills. Instead, we focus on exposing young kids to concepts such as coding, commands, algorithms and automation. It was so encouraging to see teachers from Dutch and international

17 Sep 2015

NewTechKids: a research platform

By NewTechKids

NewTechKids is happy to announce an academic research partnership with Leiden University. Under the partnership, NewTechKids' programs will become a platform where quality control research will be conducted on our pedagogy, teaching approaches, curricula and lesson plans. Tessa Slim, a Master's of Education student at the University, will conduct the research to assess whether NewTechKids' technology, programming and computer science programs for primary school aged children help kids improve their higher order thinking and problem-solving

25 Aug 2015

EU Code Week 2015 for teachers

By NewTechKids

(Informatie in het Nederlands.) EU Code Week 2015 will take place from 10-18 October. Code Week was launched as a way to encourage children and adults in the European Union to discover programming and learn to code. NewTechKids is pleased to partner with TomTom, a Dutch technology company, to provide primary school teachers in Amsterdam and other locations in the Netherlands with special training to teach an ‘Introduction to Coding’ lesson to children in groups