The debating chamber

Pick a local ‘hot’ topic to debate, it could be business, social or environmentally related. Such as:

‘Are people born entrepreneurs or can it be taught?’

or

‘What’s more important, making money or having an environmental/social impact?’

Challenge teams of students to represent each of the interested parties around the topic, such as local politicians, business persons, environmentalists, entrepreneurs, residents, councillors who each have to put forward their views either for or against the initiative and then debate to a conclusion.

You could have a panel of judges that decides whether in theory to go ahead or not and small prizes could be offered for the best contributions or most convincing arguments. Using this exercise you can really get into the detail on a local issue in an enterprising way and it would tie in well with many areas of the curriculum. You could even ask for representation from the local council or business community.