What fills your bucket? Mindful media consumption
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Overview
In this reflection lesson, learners will think about how the online content that they consume and engage with may affect their feelings and well-being. They will look at what online content makes them feel good—those that ‘fill their bucket’—and the content that may detract from their sense of wellbeing.
This lesson aligns with and promotes several principles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, including the right to mental and emotional wellbeing (Article 24), and the right to freedom of expression and safe participation (Article 13). Through this lesson, children are supported in making informed, healthy decisions about their online lives, contributing to their overall rights to safety, wellbeing, and responsible access to information.
Estimated time: 80 minutes (or two 40 minute sessions).
This lesson is part of the FREE digital licence program
Learning Intentions
Learners will:
- Develop an understanding of their right to positive wellbeing when engaging in online spaces.
- Develop skills and behaviours around being mindful media consumers and creators.
These intentions are evidenced when Learners can:
- Identify their right to wellbeing when engaging in online spaces or consuming online media.
- Identify at least one strategy for online media consumption that positively benefits wellbeing, and one that negatively impacts wellbeing.
Educators will:
- Facilitate reflection on how online activities influence emotions and well-being.
- Model mindful media use and effective discussion around well-being and digital citizenship.
These intentions are evidenced when educators can:
- Guide learners to articulate their feelings about various online activities and reflect on their impact.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of the lesson by assessing understanding of mindful online behaviour and engagement in reflective activities.
Lesson Instructions
Part 1: Child rights and wellbeing
Introductory discussion
Explain child rights as part of basic human rights, especially those that protect our health, happiness, and safety.
- Human rights are freedoms everyone has to keep us safe and happy. Children’s rights are extra protections for young people, helping them grow up strong and healthy.
- Some of these rights relate to the things we watch and do online. The media we use can affect how we feel and impact our wellbeing.
Activity:
- Visit the UNICEF Australia Youth website (as a class, or individually). Find and download the UNICEF Australia Child Rights poster.
- Research: Which of these rights could be impacted by the media that you play, watch, read or listen to online?
- Direct learners to Articles 24 and 13.
- Discuss: How might the media we share impact other people’s rights?
What is wellbeing?
Create a simple definition of "wellbeing" using the visual cues on the slide. Discuss:
- How can things we watch, listen to, play, or read online make us feel?
- Do you think everyone has a right to feel well and be healthy?
- How does feeling unwell affect our ability to enjoy and use our rights?
How do we know if our wellbeing bucket is full or empty?
What are some clues in our body and emotions that show if our “wellbeing bucket” is full or empty? Encourage learners to share their own experiences and ideas.
Differentiate the lesson by assessing the discussion. Modify instruction as appropriate, based on whether learners can:
- Understand the link between their rights and their sense of wellbeing.
- Contribute to a definition of wellbeing that takes into account actions and motivations.
Options:
- Play the video “What are Child Rights?” by UNICEF Australia to help unpack the concept of child rights.
- Discuss motivations and actions (outside of online spaces) that may contribute to wellbeing; for instance, eating nutritious foods, or practicing sports or hobbies.
- Devise creative/fictional short scenarios based on motivations and actions that may impact wellbeing.
Part 2: What impacts our wellbeing online?
Discussion and mind-mapping
Using the frame provided on Slide 4, discuss how various online activities—watching, listening, playing, and reading—impact their wellbeing. Use open-ended questions and prompts to encourage critical thinking and participation.
For example:
- What kinds of videos or shows make you feel happy or teach you something new?
- What kinds of music or sounds make you feel relaxed or energised?
- What kinds of games help us feel good or learn something new?
- How can playing with friends online be fun? How can it sometimes go wrong?
- What happens when we spend too much time playing games?
- What kinds of things do you like to read online that make you feel good?
- How do we know if something we read online is true or helpful?
Set up the Wellbeing Bucket poster(s)
Individually or as a class, create a Wellbeing Bucket Poster to help remind learners of the good online choices they can make to improve wellbeing. Each poster should contain a bucket and a bin image, which can be drawn or printed using the visual assets provided.
Using the frame provided on Slide 5, ask learners to fill in three “tickets” that they may wish to add to the bucket and one that they will put next to the bin. Three tickets explain online activities that they will be mindful of to increase their wellbeing; one is something they will avoid in future.
Learners can fill out as many tickets as they like, but the next step will be to choose the best tickets to add to the poster(s).
Observe activity participation. Modify instruction if learners struggle to:
- Explain how the media they engage with online impacts wellbeing, positively or negatively.
- Conceptualise the benefits of media, as well as the potential negative impacts.
Options:
- Ask learners to create a "Wellbeing Online Checklist" with their favorite positive actions for watching, listening, playing, and reading. This can help reinforce the discussion and encourage thoughtful online behaviour.
- Use the “Top-up” worksheet to help unpack tricky terms such as “wellbeing” and “media”.
Exit pass
In-class activity with an optional homework option.
Assemble the poster(s)
Ask each learner to prioritise their best tickets - one for the bucket, and one for the bin - that they will add to the poster.
Optional:
Send a worksheet with the tickets home to families. Ask parents/carers or other trusted adults to write their own tickets that can be discussed in class and added to the poster.
Assess the “Exit pass” to ensure learners have met the following success criteria:
Identify their right to wellbeing when engaging in online spaces or consuming online media.
Identify at least one strategy for online media consumption that positively benefits wellbeing, and one that negatively impacts wellbeing.
Next steps:
If some learners didn’t meet the criteria, do the “Top-up” activity in the following section. Discussion about the lesson’s themes can be continued at home, by setting the extension task as homework.
Important Note:
If this lesson is part of the eSmart Digital Licence, you’ll need to ensure that all learners have met the success criteria before accessing the Digital Licences.
(Optional) Top-up or extend the lesson
Top-up the lesson
For learners who need more help meeting the learning intentions & success criteria.
Using the worksheet provided on Slide 7: Find words related to this topic listed on the worksheet. Match each term to its correct definition from the options provided. Write a sentence for each term to demonstrate its meaning in context.
Extend the lesson
Ask learners to write a letter to their future selves using the frame provided on Slide 8. They will describe what they are doing to stay healthy and happy, such as limiting screen time, choosing positive media, or taking breaks. They will use the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC) poster to identify the rights they are upholding, such as the right to safety, education, privacy, or play.
Aligned Curriculum
Australian Curriculum (Version 9.0)
The Australian Curriculum outlines the fundamental knowledge, comprehension, and abilities students are expected to acquire as they advance through the initial 11 years of schooling.
Years 5 & 6: Health and Physical Education
- AC9HP6P06: Apply strategies to manage emotions and analyse how emotional responses influence interactions.
- AC9HP6P08: Analyse and rehearse protective behaviours and help-seeking strategies that can be used in a range of online and offline situations.
- AC9HP6P10: Analyse how behaviours influence the health, safety, relationships and wellbeing of individuals and communities.
- AC9HP6M06: Propose and explain strategies to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour levels in their lives.
My Time, Our Place – Framework for School Age Care in Australia
This framework assists educators to provide children and young people with opportunities to maximise their potential and develop a foundation for successful lifelong learning. The Framework has been designed for use by approved providers and school age care educators working in partnership with children and young people, their families and the community, including schools.
Outcome 1: Children and young people have a strong sense of identity.
Children develop an understanding of their emotions and sense of self through reflection on their digital interactions and mindful media consumption. This is evident when children:
- Identify their right to emotional and mental wellbeing when engaging in digital spaces.
- Reflect on how online content impacts their mood and emotions, making choices that promote positive self-perception.
Outcome 3: Children and young people have a strong sense of wellbeing.
Children understand how their media choices influence their physical, emotional, and social wellbeing and learn strategies to enhance it. This is evident when children:
- Identify and implement strategies for mindful media use to support their emotional and physical wellbeing.
- Engage in reflective activities that help them recognise the balance needed between online and offline life.
CASEL Framework
This Framework creates a foundation for applying evidence-based, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) strategies both at school and in the broader community. Its aim is to support the cultivation of SEL skills and environments that advance students’ learning and development.
Self-Awareness
The lesson helps students reflect on their emotions and how media consumption impacts their wellbeing. This is evident when learners:
- Recognise their emotional responses before and after engaging with media.
- Identify which media content contributes positively or negatively to their mood and mental state.
- Develop an understanding of their personal needs and boundaries in digital spaces.
Bournemouth University Theory of Change
This project, funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) as part of the UK government's Online Literacy Media Strategy, aims to empower people to stay safe online by being able to critically evaluate what they see and read on the internet. It offers a transferable and sustainable framework and methodology that can not only be used for the independent evaluation of media literacy projects but also to inform their future design.
- Awareness: Media literacy enables people to have a critical awareness of how media and information represent people, events, issues and places. On a larger scale, media literacy helps us to understand how the media environment we are engaging with is constructed, for example in terms of how diverse it is, who owns or controls different media sources and how digital and social media is governed, designed and manipulated. Media literacy also involves critical awareness about the role of data and algorithms in everyday life and with regard to citizenship, education, work and health.
National Association of Media Literacy Education (NAMLE)
The NAMLE Framework outlines the foundational concepts and principles for teaching and learning about media literacy. Media literacy, as defined by NAMLE, is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication.
Core Principle 1
- 1.1: MLE encourages learners to ask critical questions about what they watch, listen to, play, and read.
- 1.2: MLE intersects with other literacies, such as emotional and social literacy.
Core Principle 2
- 2.1: MLE is inclusive of all types of media, including digital, visual, and interactive formats.
- 2.3: MLE integrates physiological and psychological responses to media.
Core Principle 5
- 5.1: MLE emphasises personal experiences as a lens for media interpretation.
Core Principle 6
- 6.1: MLE encourages responsible and active digital citizenship.
- 6.3: MLE promotes collaboration and dialogue.
Core Principle 7
- 7.1: MLE highlights both the benefits and risks of media.
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