Irish Presidential elections

Concept: Democracy

Here is a link to how the President of Ireland is elected.

www.environ.ie

Administrative Skills

The following skill will be useful for your Action Project

Administrative Skills

• Writing
• Typing
• Filing
• Telephoning
• Making bookings
• Accounting for funds
• Keeping records

Skills of Analysis

The following skill will be useful for your Action Project

Skills of Analysis

• Reading and understanding materials and arguments
• Thinking about arguments and viewpoints
• Identifying other views and judging them
• Finding and gathering as well as presenting facts and figures
• Preparing graphs and diagrams

Debating Skills

The following skill will be useful for your Action Project

Debating Skills

• Speaking
• Arranging your materials
• Identifying key arguments and points
• Being able to back up an argument
• Seeing many sides to an argument
• Being skilful with language

Presentation Skills

The following skill will be useful for your Action Project

Presentation Skills

• Public speaking to large or small groups
• Deciding on what to present and which arguments to use
• Structuring what you want to say
• Using visual materials to present your facts or arguments or those of others

Team-working Skills

The following skill will be useful for your Action Project

Team-working Skills

• Working in groups
• Allocating and agreeing tasks
• Group discussion skills
• Listening to and talking with others
• Dealing with debate and even disagreement
• Accountability to the group
• Taking responsibility and getting things done

Communication Skills

The following skill will be useful for your Action Project

Communication Skills

• Oral communication
• Contacting and making arrangements with speakers and organisations
• Introducing and chairing meetings
• Summarising discussions
• Meeting and greeting people
• Briefing speakers
• Preparing and sending letters
• Presentation Skills for small and large groups

Research Skills

The following skill will be useful for your Action Project

Research Skills

• Selecting topics and key issues
• Identifying sources of information and accessing them
• Reading and summarising information
• Organising material

Organisational Skills

The following skill will be useful for your Action Project

Organisational Skills

• Deciding on who does what
• Organising meetings
• How to come to making decisions
• Contacting people and organisations
• Setting up rooms for meetings
• Obtaining permissions etc
• Following up activities or events
• Preparing materials
• Making appointments

Skills

Did you use any of these skills during your Action Project?

• Writing skills 
• Communication skills 
• Organisational skills 
• Artistic skills
• I.T. skills 
• Teamwork skills 
• Negotiation skills 
• Cleaning skills
• Speech writing skills
• Public speaking skills
• Graphing skills 
• Research skills
• Marketing skills

I.T. skills

Good IT skills are not only useful tools for researching and presenting your work. IT skills for an Action Project could include some of the following:

• Good typing skills.
•  
• Developing good searching skills and being able to find information on the internet.
• 
  
• Being able to communicate online - send an email.
• 
  
• Being able to make a poster using a design package.
• 
  
• Being able to create, save and recover files on a computer.
• 
  
• Being able to create a PowerPoint presentation for a class presentation.
•  
• Create a flyer using a desktop publishing package.

Did you use any of these for your Action Project?

Organisational skills

Organisational skills mean that you can work in a methodical manner, by prioritising and using time management, for either yourself or your team.

It involves:

• Being organised - Not taking on too much work / study
•  
• Planning ahead - Making a list of tasks to be completed
• 
  
• Time management - Prioritising your workload
•  
• Delegating tasks to other team members
•  
• Keeping a diary of important meetings /events
•  
• Knowing what is essential and what is not

Have you used any of these skills when you did your Action Project?

Elections

 

Source 

Concept: Democracy

Here are some key words connected with an election. How many can you use in your Action Project report?

Election - The act of choosing a person to fill an office.
Electorate - All the people entitled to vote in an election.  
Candidate - A person who offers him / her self, or is put forward by others, as a suitable person for an office.  
Dáil Éireann - The lower house of the parliament of the Irish Republic.
Teachtaí Dála - (TD in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament)  
Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

Problem solving skills

Problem solving is a skill, and is demonstrated by:

•Ability to identify problems
•Ability to deal with change
•Flexibility and adaptability
•Initiative and resourcefulness

Steps to probelm solve include:

Step 1: Recognise the Problem

This step involves recognising that a problem exists and that solving the difficulty is a what you want to achieve.

Step 2: Understand the Problem

Before you start to tackle the current problem, it is important to clearly understand why there is a problem and make sure that the problem you are trying to solve is the "real" problem.

Step 3: Generate Alternative Solutions

You may want to write a list of possible options, or ask others what some solutions they might have for your problem.

Step 4: Make a Decision

Now you are ready to narrow down some of the options that you have generated in the previous step. It is important that you examine each of the options, and think about how realistic each is, how likely you would be to implement that solution, and the potential drawbacks of each solution might be.


Step 5: Implement a chosen Solution

Put your solution to the test. If you find that the solution is too hard to implement or it is just not working, revise it or try something else. Information sourced from

http://www.athealth.com/Consumer/disorders/problemsolving.html

and http://barney.inspire.anglia.ac.uk/minisites/pdp/problem.html

Democracy in Action - International

Concept: Democracy

Democracy in Action - InternationalAdvertisement"Democracy in Action" is a film made for BBC Two's Learning Zone to illustrate the democratic process. It covers four themes - UK politics, the media, international politics and the European Union. We've broken down the film into its four themes and in this one, about international politics, young people from the US, Switzerland, China, Dubai and Zimbabwe give their own views of their countries' political systems and regimes. This video was first broadcast on BBC Two on 12 June, 2009.

 

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/guides/newsid_8233000/8233574.stm

Democracy in Action - UK politics

Concept: Democracy 

 Democracy in Action is an hour-long film made for BBC Two's Learning Zone to illustrate the democratic process. The film covers four themes - UK politics, the media, international politics and the European Union. We've broken down the film into its four themes and in this one, about UK politics, groups of young people engage with politics in different ways. They campaign against climate change, try to save their school from closure and a teenager stands for election as an MP.
This video was first broadcast on BBC Two on 12 June, 2009





Source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/guides/newsid_8233000/8233383.stm

Democracy in Action - European Union

Concept: Democracy 

 "Democracy in Action" is a film made for BBC Two's Learning Zone to illustrate the democratic process. It covers four themes - UK politics, the media, international politics and the European Union. We've broken down the film into its four themes and in this one, about the EU, we see young people living in a town in Europe where borders have been taken down under the Shengen Agreement. This video was first broadcast on BBC Two on 12 June, 2009.




Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/guides/newsid_8233000/8233630.stm