Real-world Learning: bring the complex topic of organ and tissue donation into the classroom
Organ and tissue donation and transplantation in Australia is a complex and challenging topic. Despite surveys in Australia showing that over 80% of people think that it’s important to register as an organ and tissue donor, the actual registration rate averages around one in three Australians.
The documentary film Dying to Live, released in 2018, aims to raise awareness of the social, physical and emotional effects of being on the organ donor waiting list and dispel myths about organ and tissue donation. It also gives teachers a unique opportunity to engage with students in a real issue exploring science, mathematics and powers of persuasion. The lessons below include all the video content you need for you and your class to engage with the documentary. If you want to see the film in full, you can purchase a DVD of the film at The Education Shop or you can stream the film on YouTube or Google Play for minimal cost or via DocPlay.
Engaging with students in real-world topics helps to create a context for skills and knowledge they are gaining in the classroom. We get this might be a challenging topic and so our free curriculum lessons are also supported by two affordable professional development courses to help you consider how to tackle this in the classroom.
Science, Maths, English and HPE lessons that challenge students’ understanding of ethics
English: Years 7 to 10
Students are given opportunities to develop the important literacy skills of analysing and creating persuasive and narrative texts. Lessons include a Tuning In session using clips from the Dying to Live documentary. Students are able to safely explore the topic and participate in a circle discussion where new knowledge and understanding about organ and tissue donation is shared. HPE: Years 7 to 10
Students are able to explore community conversations asking, ‘How might we get more people in our community talking about organ and tissue donation?’. They also get to explore the personal qualities and strategies that can be used when having difficult conversations. Mathematics: Year 9 to 10
Year 9 students investigate real-world probabilities, investigating the issues surrounding kidney transplants and use statistics to develop an infographic poster. Year 10 lessons use scatterplots to investigate Australia’s organ donation and transplant data. In a second lesson, students prepare and conduct a survey and analyse their data for trends using comparative box and whisker plots. Science: Year 9
Students are given opportunities to explore the respiratory and urinary systems and common misconceptions of organ and tissue donation using scientific processes. |
Cool Australia Professional DevelopmentDid you realise Cool Australia has affordable, on-demand professional development courses for teachers? We integrate many of our free curriculum lessons into our professional development courses. This way you have access to quality PD and free lessons and worksheets to help bring your learning back into the classroom. These courses were developed to support teachers Exploring General Capabilities: Ethical UnderstandingCourse Length: 2 hours Course Cost: $39.95 Discover more about the General Capability, Ethical Understanding and explore strategies to make it part of your everyday teaching. Course Brochure | Go to Course Inspire Students to Take Action
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