Parliament complete with petting zoo
What if, scattered between offices and meeting rooms, Parliament held a petting zoo?
That would be a reality if some Wellington schoolchildren had their way.
Pupils from Waikanae School, Glenview School in Porirua and St Benedict’s School in Khandallah descended upon Parliament on Monday to present their recreations of the country’s political centre – each constructed digitally using Microsoft’s educational version of the computer game Minecraft.
The initiative was created to give pupils an insight into Parliament, and how the political process works, while collaborating as teams and engaging with technology.
Last month, each school visited Parliament, seeing its buildings first-hand and learning about how the system worked.
St Benedict’s pupils used their experiences to recreate not only the parliamentary buildings and their interiors but also the statue of former prime minister Richard Seddon and add a few ‘‘extras’’.
They aimed to make Parliament a more versatile space, adding a petting zoo, snow room, rollercoaster, waterslide and a cake room – ‘‘for all your cakey needs’’.
If they could add one of these features to Parliament for real, it would be the cake room, they say.
The biggest challenge was working together, explains 12-year-old Ben Vickers, of Waikanae School.
Everyone had different ideas and ways of working and it took about a week for their team to gel.
Minecraft works in blocks, which made creating the Beehive and curves within the debating chamber difficult – but they are happy with their result.
Ben says it was an interesting experience, which required a lot of dedication. ‘‘I stayed up till 10 o’clock some nights and I’d be just tapping away.’’
Microsoft’s director of public sector, Jeff Healey, says Minecraft teaches maths and spatial awareness but also social skills such as teamwork. This initiative was a way to get pupils interested in the parliamentary process at an early age.
It makes learning fun, so helps to keep the pupils engaged. ‘‘If you learn stuff in an interesting environment, it sticks,’’ Healey says.
‘‘If you can use it as a medium to get across some of the other core learning concepts, it’s certainly got to be a good thing.’’