Lesson 1: Wants and needs: what is important to me?

Living Democracy » Textbooks » Lesson 1: Wants and needs: what is important to me?

Students learn to distinguish between what they want and what their basic needs are

Learning objectives The students learn that their individual wants – the things and ideas they would like to have and realise – are as important as the things that human beings actually need in order to live a decent life.
Student tasks Students select pictures that represent wants and needs and discuss and decide on them.
Resources String (a clothes line), clothes pegs, clippings (pictures) from magazines, handout.
Methods Group work.

Information box

Human rights have both an ethical and a legal nature. Even though human rights as a whole are considered indivisible, it remains clear that every individual clarifies for himself or herself what is important for his or her own life. Moreover it is important to understand – especially for adolescents – that not all needs are basic needs that have been recognised as rights in the international standards on human rights. Distinguishing between wants and needs, respecting the ways that people may value certain rights over others, and at the same time accepting the importance of the cohesive international human rights framework, is a long-term learning process. Although the legal aspects of human rights are not addressed in this lesson, teachers should be aware that bind-ing legal treaties – which governments sign and agree to abide to – were based on the normative framework of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In Europe, the main legally binding human rights treaty is the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (European Convention on Human Rights).4

Lesson description

The classroom should be prepared in such a way that the students can sit in groups of four to six. The teacher should place all the materials needed for the lesson on a separate table, from which the students can take what they need and return it at the end of the lesson. Ownership is a key factor in successful EDC/HRE, and both students and teachers need to see their classroom as a living space that they care about. There should be as many clippings from magazines as possible (dozens, maybe even hundreds of pictures) stuck on the walls of the classroom.

The teacher gathers the students in front of the “picture wall” and engages them in a discussion:

  • What were your experiences when you collected the pictures?
  • Was there something that surprised you? If so, what?

After a few minutes of introductory conversation, the teacher gives two students the task of holding the clothes line (approximately 4 metres long) and 12 clothes pegs. The teacher then takes two prepared cards with the words “WANTS” and “NEEDS” written on them. He or she hangs them on the right and left-hand sides of the line and then asks the students to think about which picture they would choose to hang under “WANTS” and which to hang under “NEEDS”. Once everybody has thought about this, the teacher asks two students to hang up their suggestions and to explain why they decided in the way they did. Next, the teacher should try to clarify the difference between wants and needs in a discussion with the students, but should take care that he or she does not give a definition of them, but rather collects and orders the students’ explanations.

In groups of four to six, the students are given the task to choose 10 pictures from the whole collection, five under the category of “WANTS” and five under “NEEDS”. Each group is given this task in written form (with the teacher either giving printed copies of the handout to everyone or writing the task on the blackboard).

Task and presentation:

  • As a group, the students should choose 10 photos out of the whole collection. Five of them have to fit to the category of “WANTS” and five of them should fit the category of “NEEDS” (if two or more groups want the same picture, try to find a solution).
  • The groups should discuss their choices and try to answer the following questions:
    • Why is this important in my life?
    • What would it mean if I didn’t have this?
    • What do I want to have or attain later in life?
    • What does this mean for me as a boy/a girl?
  • The 10 chosen pictures should then be sorted according to importance and the students should explain why they have chosen them in this order. They should find a solution that suits all group members.
  • Two group members should hold the clothes line, and one person should explain each choice. Only the first and last choices should be explained. Finally, the students should try to explain in their own words the difference between wants and needs. Can they find a “definition” of both?

The clothes line is hung on the wall (or anywhere else in the classroom), together with all the pictures chosen.

4. ETS No. 5, opened for signature on 4 November 1950 and entered into force on 3 September 1953.

UNIT 8: Rights and freedom – My rights – your rights
Lesson 2: Human rights: what do they say?
Print
Download