By Tim Ferguson, 22 March 2007 11:25
NEWS
A website has been launched to teach children about government and public services.
DirectgovKids was developed by the Department for Education and Skills specifically for primary-school age children (five to 11-year-olds).
The site gives children the chance to learn about topics from children's rights to local government.
Kids can 'visit' various public buildings on the site including a town hall, a police station and a school each of which contains different activities, games and animations.
The site also has a teacher section with lesson plans to allow various curriculum subjects, such as citizenship, to be taught in the classroom.
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A parent section contains resources such as family activity sheets and information about topics such as healthy eating.
St Edmund's Primary School in Tower Hamlets trialled the website prior to its launch. Head teacher Gail O'Flaherty said the site explains today's key issues in a fun and informative way and enables children to understand clearly the differences between local and central government.
Children's Minister Beverley Hughes said "young citizens" will now be able to find out more about the world around them and how government shapes their day-to-day lives.
The DirectgovKids site can be found here.
Comments
There are 4 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
They should launch after the site is up and running
2. Richard
Very "New Labour":
The present government obviously wants to "catch them young"!
The site's "meaning machine" which defines "difficult words" has an entry for "Prime Minister":
"The leader of a government; the person in charge of running the country."
However, it has no entries for "monarch," "head of state," "queen," "king" etc.
The whole feel of the site is very "new labour."
Also, the "accessible" facility breaks basic rules: It opens new browser windows or tabs without any warning - very confusing!
I do hope that this site was not expensive and that it was bought with "labour party" rather than "public" funds.
3. Richard
Very "New Labour":
The present government obviously wants to "catch them young"!
The site's "meaning machine" which defines "difficult words" has an entry for "Prime Minister":
"The leader of a government; the person in charge of running the country."
However, it has no entries for "monarch," "head of state," "queen," "king" etc.
The whole feel of the site is very "new labour."
Also, the "accessible" facility breaks basic rules: It opens new browser windows or tabs without any warning - very confusing!
I do hope that this site was not expensive and that it was bought with "labour party" rather than "public" funds.
4. Richard
Yet another 'howler':
This site's "meaning machine" has only one entry under "J": "Judge":
"A judge is the most important person in a law court. Judges listen to all the facts in a trial. Then they decide if the person accused of a crime is guilty or innocent and how the criminal should be punished."
I thought that British justice was still based on "common law" and the "judgement of your peers."
Why no mention of the role of Juries?
(Had New Labour planned to abolish Juries before the web-site was complete?)