The German Animal Welfare Federation is supplementing its range of school materials with new teaching materials for the subject of geography in lower, middle and upper secondary schools. The federation has developed three independent 90-minute teaching units based on selected animal welfare aspects from the subject area "Agriculture". Teachers who would like to use this focus in their own lessons can download the material free of charge.
"Many young people are concerned about how we treat animals as a society. We want to convey the idea of animal welfare to the next generation and use the teaching units to encourage the topic to find its way into as many school classes as possible. Thanks to the expertise of the German Animal Welfare Federation, all information texts are technically correct and up-to-date; the content is age-appropriate. The curriculum-related materials are fully developed and provided with competence references," says Irmina Theuß, consultant for child and youth animal welfare at the German Animal Welfare Federation.
Nine varied teaching units are now freely available to download from the website https://unterricht.tierschutzbund.de. The three new exploratory materials deal with animal welfare and environmental protection using the example of chickens, the effects of animal transportation using the example of cattle and the environmental consequences of pig and cattle farming. They supplement the existing six materials for the subjects of ethics and philosophy.
The teaching material is based on the curriculum requirements for grammar schools and is suitable for nationwide use. Teachers have reviewed the concepts and elaborations and selected subject-related methods for a fully prepared double lesson. The materials each contain a short introduction and a tabular overview of the lesson plan with methods, social forms and lesson objectives. Background knowledge for the teacher is briefly and concisely summarized for the respective animal welfare topic. A detailed description of the lesson plan, the methods used, worksheets and suggestions for differentiation or digital implementation round off the package. Adaptations for a different age or performance level are possible.
ABOUT THE YOUTH WORK OF THE GERMAN ANIMAL WELFARE FEDERATION
The German Animal Welfare Federation is the largest animal welfare umbrella organization in Germany. The federation uses its scientific expertise to promote the value and need for protection of animals in a variety of ways. Education is a central component of this. For over ten years, the Youth Animal Welfare Department of the German Animal Welfare Federation has been developing and testing handouts for open youth work and for working groups, training interested people to become animal welfare teachers and developing educational material for teachers.
