05.11.2009
Web games and Budget scrutiny have been the focus of the Parliament’s education team this week.
The team provides resources and education sessions for young people, teachers and other educational groups interested in learning about the Parliament, in line with the Curriculum for Excellence.
Starting on Monday, a series of new online games, designed to provide an exciting Curriculum for Excellence resource for teachers, were launched. The games are:
- Making Decisions (a budget and prioritising game)
- Pairs game
- Jigsaws
- Wordsearches
- Street scene
- Quiz
- Explore Parliament (three sections Chamber, MSP office and a new section on Committees)
- Get Elected snakes and ladders (an interactive version of a hardcopy game)
- Pass a Bill (an interactive version of a hardcopy game)
- Sp-ingo! (an interactive version of a downloadable game)
Senior pupils from New School, Butterstone (near Dunkeld) visited Holyrood to test and review the games. The school offers specialist provision for individuals who find it difficult to engage in mainstream education and caters for students with all manner of learning difficulties.
Meanwhile, on Thursday and Friday, pupils from Hyndland Secondary, Glasgow Gaelic Secondary, Hillhead High, Notre Dame High and Cleveden Secondary will take part in sessions to learn a variety of research methods and see them used in a Parliamentary setting.
During the two days, Parliament staff will demonstrate the work of committees in the Budget process and help the pupils to conduct their own research. Members of the Finance Committee will meet with the pupils to discuss key issues raised and seek their views, helping the pupils to gain an insight into how complex parliamentary decisions are made.
The pupils will attend the Finance Committee meeting on Monday 9 November in Glasgow City Chambers. After the meeting, Members and Parliament staff will meet with the pupils again to discuss what took place in the meeting.
An account of the event will be included in the Finance Committee’s report on the Draft Budget, which is due for publication in December 2009.
Background
The Finance Committee is meeting in Glasgow City Chambers on Monday 9 November.
The Parliament’s Education Team provides resources and education sessions for young people, teachers and other educational groups interested in learning about the Parliament, in line with the Curriculum for Excellence.
The team has recently increased its capacity for education visits to Holyrood by 97% (2008-2009 compared to 2007-2008) enabling 11,320 young people and teachers to visit the Parliament.
Staff also visit schools, and in 2008-2009 met with 7,749 young people – an increase of 29% over the previous year.