The aim of the project ’Nightly Youth Parliament Sessions at AHHAA’ is to give young people the chance to have a say in such matters affecting their present and future that have social significance by using the everyday common devices known to youngsters and the knowledge of the leading experts in the field for communicating the message. The issues selected for the nightly parliament sessions will be dealt with by using the principles of carrying out student parliament sessions but the sessions will not take place at regular working hours but during later hours of the day (10 to 12 p.m.). With the nightly parliament sessions, we wish to initiate discussions among the youngsters in 2 major fields. The first field will focus on the high expectations of the modern-day society on the performance of young people (this theme will be divided into 3 subcategories: the issues of school and working life stress, the parenting skills of parents of young people, and the potential damage to the health of young people caused by a highly competitive environment). The second field will focus on the tolerance of the society we live in on the 21st century (this theme will be divided into 3 subcategories: gender equality, relations with the senior members of the ageing society and the changes in society brought about by awareness of orientational diversity). Each of these two fields will be discussed during a separate nightly parliament session- the challenges of the information society will be tackled at the end of 2015 and tolerance will be tackled in early 2016. Each of the fields will engage 6 groups of people, half of these will focus on the problems emerging from the 3 different subcategories of the issues and the other half will focus on the possible solutions to the challenges posed by the 3 different subcategories. In the course of the project 2 youth parliament-like sessions will take place in Science Centre AHHAA in Tartu, each of which will engage 48 secondary school students and 10 experts of respective fields. For both nightly sessions 6 groups of up to 8 students will be formed. The students will be selected among the secondary school students of the city and county of Tartu. The class teachers of the secondary school grades (grades 10 to 12) will select 5 to 6 students to participate in the project. During the project, i.e. the 2 separate nightly sessions a total of 96 students and 20 experts, that is a total of 116 people will take part of the activities . The student participants will be selected with keeping the gender balance in mind. The following schools from the city and county of Tartu will take part in the project: - Miina Härma Gymnasium - Hugo Treffner Gymnasium - Tartu Jaan Poska Gymnasium - Kristjan Jaak Petersoni Gymnasium - Tartu Tamme Secondary School - Ülenurme Gymnasium - Nõo Secondary Science Gymnasium - Rõngu Secondary School - Võnnu Secondary School The experts participating in the project will be representatives of the local governments, the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, local youth organizations and the specialists of Science Centre AHHAA. During the project, 2 nightly student parliament sessions will take place, both of which will stretch over 3 days and engage up to 96 secondary school students aged 15 to 19. The first nightly sessioon will take place from 20 November till 22 November 2015 and the second from 29 January till 31 January 2016. The sessions have a clear structure but are more informal than formal in nature, stimulating open conversations and relying on the best practices of student parliaments, national government sessions. Six groups of up to 8 members will be formed for each session. Each session will deal with 2 major fields divided into 3 subcategories. 2 groups will focus on each of the 3 categories- one will focus on the problems and the other on the solutions. Each group will have a leader and the working process of each group will be guided by a separate moderator. Different methodologies and innovative techniques are used during the project (for example, such devices as tablets or other smart devices) for open discussion in their groups. Each session will last for three days, starting on a Friday and ending on a Sunday, so that the final debate, the actual nightly session will be held on Saturday evening. To ensure smooth management of the project the board of Science Centre AHHAA will assign a project manager for the project. This project manager’s work will be based on the internal procedure rules of Science Centre AHHAA , and the project manager will be responsible for carrying out the project. Through the project we expect to increase young people’s knowledge of youth problems and needs in the modern society in order to influence the emergence on more effective youth politics at a regional level as the results will be communicated to the youth workers of the region.