Edtech inspires future changemakers

Animal rights organisation Voiceless has partnered with online learning platform provider Education Perfect (EP) to educate and inspire the next generation of changemakers to protect animals.

This partnership will see Voiceless delivering educational content through the EP online learning platform, making it available to all schools across Australia and New Zealand.

With the first module focused on dolphins in captivity and the second on live animal exports, EP is building out its cross-curriculum content for both teachers and students to include issues such as social justice, sustainability, student health and wellbeing, and Indigenous issues. Both modules are now available.

The module on dolphins introduces students to the social and intelligent nature of dolphins, and the welfare issues associated with keeping them in captivity in aquariums and marine parks. Lessons are aligned to English, Science, History and Geography curricula.

The second module focuses on the live export of animals as a global trade, which has been under growing scrutiny for decades. Australia has a well-documented history of incidents which have raised concern through widespread media coverage and public discourse, making it an issue that Voiceless believes warrants more attention.

The course content has been praised for creating critical thinking skills.

“It is about making well-rounded citizens who move out into the world and have the ability to think critically and make responsible decisions,” said Sharyn Rix, Head of English, Drama and LOTE at Kempsey High School in NSW.

The course, with its 12 modules, will provide the platform and its users with valuable curriculum-aligned social justice content, promoted through EP’s network of teachers, on its website and in its learning resources.

Education Perfect Partnerships Director Anna Redmile said that joining forces with Voiceless contributes content that allows teachers and students to have conversations used for critical thinking and better understanding the world they live in.

“With the strength of EP’s engagement and footprint in schools across ANZ, coupled with their expertise in animal protection education, EP and Voiceless are working together to educate the next generation and create a kinder world for animals,” she said.

Dr Christina Jarvis, Education Consultant, Teacher and Voiceless Education Advisory Council, said the critical thinking skills embedded in the Voiceless APES were rare and welcome components of what she said were unique pedagogical tools. 

“As we help children embrace an increasingly complicated future, such skills are paramount for developing engaged citizens yet are typically lacking in Australian curriculum support materials,” she said, 

Voiceless aims to promote critical thinking on this issue by drawing on a range of sources from animal welfare and protection organisations, governmental departments and industry reports, with the educational resources shared through EP seeking to provoke thought rather than provide concrete solutions.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/SFIO CRACHO