NewTechKids sees technology education as a means to help kids develop 21st century skills: problem-solving, critical thinking, logic, pattern recognition, creativity and communication. It doesn't matter if children don't create the perfect code, design a popular app or create a beautiful 3D printed product. We are happy as long as it's obvious they are thinking, experimenting, designing, failing, collaborating and learning. Most kids don't receive any technology, programming or computer science education in primary school. This is

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Super-psyched to announce that NewTechKids’ founders, Deborah Carter and Marja-Ilona Koski, will give a talk on the future of tech education as part of the ‘ADC Talks’ global series. The talk will be hosted on Thursday, August 27th at 19:00 at Amsterdam's Apple store at the Leidseplein. Attendance is free. Read more. Deborah and Marja-Ilona will talk about why technology education is as important as reading and math and why kids should start learning about technology,

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NewTechKids was pleased to be invited by NEMO to participate in its inaugural Codestarter event on May 28th. In case you haven't heard, Google Netherlands donated $1 million to Science Center NEMO in Amsterdam to stimulate interest in coding, technology and computer science amongst primary school children. NewTechKids' teachers taught two of our popular 'Robot Boogie' workshops at the event. Rather than focusing on hardcore programming or more technical activities, the workshops exposed kids to a structured

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NewTechKids is pleased to announce that Deborah Carter, its co-founder, will be speaking at the Hands On! Conference which takes place in Amsterdam from October 13 - 16th. More than 300 museum professionals from around the world will gather to discuss and be inspired by the latest developments in children’s education in museums. Under the theme ‘Touch and Learn’, participants will explore how museums in the 21st century can touch the hearts and minds of

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NewTechKids is pleased to be joining NEMO's inaugural Codestarter event which takes place on June 27th from 10:00 - 16:00 at NEMO in Amsterdam. The Codestarter event is all about programming and will feature workshops, lectures and activities which cover everything from explaining how a computer works to programming a 3D printer and coding a robot. The target audience is children aged 8 - 12 years. The big plus: it's free! NewTechKids will organize two workshops (held in

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NewTechKids is pleased to announce that it has partnered with Leonardo da Vincischool, a primary school in Amsterdam, to deliver technology and programming courses to its students. The programs will begin in mid-August after the summer holidays. Groups 1 and 2: NewTechKids Robot Boogie Bootcamp Students will be introduced to concepts such as computational thinking, design, commands and systems thinking. They'll learn the basics behind programming and automation through crafts, games, and physical activity. Taught

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The great thing about technology and programming education is that it is a relatively new field and ripe for innovation and experimentation. So that’s exactly what NewTechKids did last Thursday when we organized a brainstorming session at Google’s Amsterdam headquarters. We brought together a group of Dutch and international teachers, teacher trainers, curriculum experts, designers, developers, and technology professionals dedicated to expanding technology and programming education in schools. Joe Fletcher, Creative Director at frog design

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One of the nice things about launching a technology and programming academy is asking for input from different kinds of professionals. In NewTechKids' case, we organised a brainstorm session last week which brought together teachers,  international education experts, designers, programmers, city government policy makers, branding specialists, event curators and executives working for technology companies. Our goal: sharing information and ideas on how to get kids and their parents excited about technology and programming education. Here are some of the ideas we shared.

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Deborah Carter, NewTechKids' Co-Founder and Business Director, gave a TED talk at TEDxAmsterdamED in March. Her main point: technology and programming education should start in primary school (aged 4-12 years) in order to give kids 21st century skills (problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration) and prepare them for a future full of technology. The world needs thinkers and

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It's a wrap. Last Thursday, I gave my TED talk at the fantastic TEDxAmsterdamED event. This one day conference was dedicated to the theme, 'The Education (R)evolution', and asked the question 'Is revolution needed for education to evolve, or is the future of education already within reach?' My talk focused on providing primary school-aged children (4-12 years) with technology and programming education as a way to help them develop higher order (21st century) skills such as problem-solving, critical

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