Creating games and loosing them

Schoolchildren are to be taught how to design and develop electronic games and to create computer animations and feature films. It is hoped the scheme, part of the Scottish Government's Curriculum for Excellence, will create programmers of the future who will ensure the continued success of Scotland's games industry, which employs more than 500 people and generates £20m a year.

Some  are already taught computer design and animation. Edinburgh University work has shown that children creating games show considerable interest and improve both their spokenand English writing skills.

The  government says this is the first time guidelines on the skills they should be equipped with have been presented in Scotland.  It comes at a time when the drop  in enrolement  for university computing courses is resulting in a real shortage  of computer experts, just at the time that  the government justifiably feels Scotland's success will be linked to to being at the forefront of a knowledge economy.

Maureen Watt, Minister for Schools and Skills, said: "There is huge confidence that Scotland will continue to play an important part in the future of video games and interactive entertainment and we are focusing on establishing firm foundations for lifelong learning and, for some, specialised study and careers.

"A key aim of Curriculum for Excellence is to produce informed, skilled, adaptable and enterprising citizens of the future. "The pace of change in the world means that we should be equipping young people with the skills to embrace and use all the tools of modern life."

Guidance on teaching technologies forms part of the "draft outcomes" published today as part of the government's plans to introduce a more holistic approach to pre-university education. Curriculum for Excellence's mission is "to ensure that all young people can be successful learners, effective contributors, confident individuals and responsible citizens".

It aims to shift the balance from a teaching process heavily dependent on content to one that values new approaches that improve pupils' understanding of what is being taught.

Ms Watt said: "The draft outcomes for our new curriculum are intended to help teachers make teaching more relevant, exciting and engaging. Technologies are important areas of the whole learning process and we are keen to receive feedback on the outcomes from professionals."

Although the announcement may teach children how to use software to create animations and films - a sector currently with more than 500 employees in Scotland  and generates £20 million a year, it does not offer much for those who might be lured into an interest in mathematics, science and physics, the bedrocks for future computer engineering and software development such a parallel processing systems, systems and programming for the super or futher along quantum computing that is starting to emerge.

Ms Watt says: "Technologies have become part of life, whether in computer programming, engineering or craft and design – and we need to encourage children to be confident and competent using them." 

However, to hope that this 'innovative approach" is going to fill the Scottish skills shortage ranks is akin to whistling in the wind.

Mens sana in corpora sano
                                                                                    The  science of excercise . Courtesy: www.portables1.ngfl.gov.uk

The benefit of latin tags, is they carry a quick message.  The promise that schoolchildren are to get at least two hours of PE a week is now to be scrapped, carries  quite another message for the future.

Figures obtained by Scotland on Sunday show some schoolchildren currently receive as little as 45 minutes of organised sport each week and most schools already fall short of a two-hour target.

The Scottish Government is to announce it is abandoning the key election pledge to concentrate on  "outcome-based" policies to make children fitter. It has raised a small storm of letting down Scotland's children and giving in not just to obesity, but the loss of learning active teamwork and the confidence that health and fitness confer.

One in five Scots 12-year-olds were obese in the 2004-05 school year, posing huge health implications for later life. The two-hour PE recommendation was originally made by a Scottish Government review group in 2004 endorsed by the then Labour education minister Peter Peacock. At the time it was seen as a vital tool to help fight Scotland's weight crisis.

The SNP's 2007 election manifesto also pledged to give "every pupil two hours of quality PE each week delivered by specialist PE teachers".

But a Scottish Government spokesman has been quoted saying: "It is indeed still a major priority to help create healthy, fit and active children in Scotland. But it has now been agreed that the new curriculum framework should be outcome-based with no input requirements in terms of subject or time allocations."

"Many authorities felt the target was a blunt instrument and was not always helpful in trying to achieve the outcomes sought. Some local authority areas are delivering two hours of PE a week, but this approach does not suit all."

Outcomes now awaited with bated breath.

Sources: http://ukpress.google
http://www.theherald.co.uk/
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com