Enhancing Wellbeing Through Altruistic Behaviour

This lesson is designed to build students’ competencies in the following skills:

• critical thinking
• empathy
• global citizenship
• reflection

Australian Curriculum (v9.0) content description:

• Plan and implement strategies using health resources to enhance their own and others’ health, safety, relationships and wellbeing (AC9HP8P10)

General capabilities: Literacy, Personal and Social Capability

Syllabus outcomes: PD4-3

Relevant parts of Year 7 & 8 achievement standards: Students analyse health information and messages to propose strategies that enhance their own and others’ health, safety, relationships and wellbeing.

UN SDG 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere

• Target 1.1: By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day.

• Highlighters
• Individual devices capable of accessing the internet
• Reading: Doing Good and Feeling Good: Relationships Between Altruism and Well-being for Altruists, Beneficiaries, and Observers (1 per student, or can be accessed digitally)
• Student Worksheet (1 per student)

This lesson has been developed with the support of The Life You Can Save.

The Life You Can Save conducts research to identify non-profits running highly impactful programs that address the multiple dimensions of poverty. They also help connect people who want to donate money and resources with these non-profits to maximise the impact of their gifts. They aim to create a world where everyone has an opportunity to build a better life and where there’s no suffering or death due to extreme poverty. The Life You Can Save was founded by Melbourne-born Peter Singer, widely recognised as one of the world’s most influential contemporary philosophers, to advance the ideas in his 2009 book The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty (republished 2019). Since then, they’ve worked to introduce the ideas from Professor Singer’s book to new audiences, inspiring people to help others experiencing poverty around the world and empowering them to make the greatest impact possible.

Level of teacher scaffolding: Low – facilitate class discussion.

Ethical Understanding in the Australian Curriculum v9

Explore how to teach the General Capability of Ethical Understanding as of version 9 of the Australian Curriculum. Learn what Ethical Understanding involves and how to incorporate ethics into your regular teaching.