Christmas Comes Early for Children at Mellor Primary School, Stockport

Dec. 21, 2010 - PRLog -- Pupils at Mellor Primary School spent Monday morning playing a game. Before you think that doesn’t sound like proper school work, the pupils became the leaders of a virtual town – making all the decisions. They gained understanding and learnt valuable skills that councils and the government could benefit from. In fact, the children (aged between nine and ten) posted a score that adults would find hard to beat.  

“It was fun and you learnt a lot. It was great being in charge of a town and seeing what the result was.” Pupil.

The game, called Sustainaville, enables the pupils to explore the complex issue of sustainable development. Sustainaville requires the class to work together in teams to deal with social concerns such as crime, environmental matters such as climate change and economic problems such as unemployment. Just like in the real world the pupils at to work with limited budgets.  The children also had to deal with incidents such as a massive flood and cuts to rural transport.

“I liked that we had a lot of freedom and it was exciting to find out the difference after each round. I also liked the money thing… I [understand] that we are very lucky to have all the resources that we have, and how well we are looked after.” Pupil

Sustainaville is part of the games-ED portfolio from Stockport games based learning company pixelfountain. The company has a history developing and delivering games to adults, and has worked with adults from local Councils including Stockport. Recently, the company has developed games-ED products for use in schools, colleges and universities.

“This is the youngest group we have worked with so far.  It was amazing to see the pupils score so highly. It makes you realise why the school has the motto ‘Making People Shine’. They certainly improved the lives of the virtual community in Sustainaville.” Paul Ladley, MD, pixelfountain.  

Over the next few months and years the company is hoping that the games will be used in many more schools in Stockport and beyond. Games-based learning shows that education can be serious and fun.

“I loved keeping a budget. It’s the best workshop ever… [I understand] that our planet needs help and we can make this world a better place.” Pupil

For more information visit http://www.games-ed.co.uk or read our games based learning blog (http://www.games-based-learning.com).

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http://www.games-ed.co.uk

games-ED products have been developed by pixelfountain. The company specialises in the development of innovative learning products.

games-ED games based learning programmes support: curriculum; personal, learning & thinking skills; and cross curriculum dimensions. They serve a serious educational purpose, but understand that learning can be fun. The games provide interactive, experiential learning that promotes collaboration and enables problem solving and accelerated learning of complex subjects.

Mellor Primary School has been linked to the Mellor community since 1881. Mellor Primary is essentially a village primary school set in a beautiful rural landscape and yet combines this with the drive and commitment to be a school of excellence.

To make the school the successful school that it is takes the involvement of the whole community. Children, parents, staff and governors have a genuine pride and love for this special place in which to learn.