Canon of the Netherlands app
The Canon of the Netherlands app is a BSL development that we designed and developed together with the “canonvannederland.nl” foundation and pedagogical consultancy firm Mediant. We’ve designed the app for use by children of all ages, using content from the Canon of the Netherlands, which describes the story of how events and people have shaped the country using 50 carefully chosen subjects. Each subject depicts one of the key historical figures, objects, or events that have contributed to the establishment of the Dutch state and culture. The Canon is an essential component when teaching Dutch history within primary and secondary schools here in the Netherlands.
Using the app (formerly known as “Entoen Nu”), children learn about the history of the Netherlands interactively. It was one of the first apps that fully meets core educational objectives within the Netherlands. We designed the app for use by children in groups 5 through 8, providing a range of different content for each age group. By entering the age of the users, the app will filter the contents accordingly.
Interactive possibilities
Firstly, children scroll through a timeline containing many historical events and figures. They can then choose individual topics like ‘Anne Frank’ or ‘Slavery’. Once they choose a subject, a new window opens. This contains a more detailed description, along with an image or video. The app expands on these basic details by offering more pictures and illustrations, online videos, links to relevant books, museum exhibitions, and more! Also, some subjects contain illustrations with hidden information. By clicking within these pictures, users can interactively discover more details.
In the full version of the app, we’ve assigned several small projects or tasks to each of the chosen subjects. So using a simple “wheel of fortune”, users can spin the wheel and receive assignments, some of which are for individuals, some for small groups, or even the whole class. Moreover, they can spin the wheel up to three times to select an assignment and group size in which to work.
Intelligent app management
We manage the contents of the Canon of the Netherlands app using a server that we link to the main Canon of the Netherlands website. So any changes to the Canon contents are immediately visible to app users, and there is no need to release an app update each time the contents change. We launched the original Canon of the Netherlands app (then known as Entoen Nu) in late 2013. Since its launch, it has been a top-rated school app, and we have released regular updates and improvements. We delivered the most recent releases of Entoen Nu in 2021 when we added support for the newly revised Canon (introduced in 2020 by the new Canon committee, led by Professor James Kennedy).
Our Canon of the Netherlands app is entirely new, developed using React Native. We released the app for iOS and Android at the start of 2022, and there are two versions available:
Canon of the Netherlands Full version
.
Canon of the Netherlands Full version
.
Canon of the Netherlands Lite version
.
Canon of the Netherlands Lite version
.
The Canon of the Netherlands app is an excellent example of what we do best. Building apps for iOS and Android that access online databases. In this case, we maintain the Canon contents on our servers, and any changes are pushed to app users instantly. We develop native apps using Swift, Java and React Native, so if you are looking for an app to publish your data, or to access your databases, get in touch.
