Organ donation

Around 6,000 people are waiting for organ or tissue transplant in the UK and on average three people die a day in need of a transplant because there are not enough organ donors. One donor can save or transform up to nine lives.

The Gift of Life sculpture at Ysbyty Gwynedd celebrates the gift of organ donation by donors and their families. It also celebrates the possibility of extended or better quality of life for the recipient. What do you know about this important issue? Why did the hospital think it was so important that it needed to be celebrated in a sculpture? This lesson plan will tell you more.

Key Stage:

KS3-4 PSHE & KS3&4 Art and Design

Overview:

This lesson can be used:
-to increase knowledge of how organ and tissue donation saves and improves lives
-to start a sculpture project
-to develop writing skills and to develop ideas
-to gain an understanding of the public art commissioning process
-to gain an understanding of an artists brief

Interview with Organ Donation Nurse

Abi is an organ donation nurse at a hospital in North Wales and she was involved in the commissioning of a sculpture to celebrate organ donors and their families. We might have heard of kidney and heart transplants but what else can doctors transplant and what can we do to help?

Organ donation quiz..the questions

organdonation.nhs.uk have produced a quiz to test your knowledge of organ donation. It is just 11 quick questions some of which are answered on this page or in the video, others you will just know. Try it now and see how you get on.

Organ donation quiz..the answers

If you scored less than 5 in the organdonation.nhs.uk quiz then you really need to find out more by going to their website FAQs now. If you scored 5-8 we think your knowledge could be improved but at least you know enough to get by. If you scored 8-11 take a bow.

Sculpture commission

Abi was a member of the Organ Donation Committee at Ysbyty Gwynedd who decided they wanted to commission a sculpture for the hospital to celebrate organ donation. Is the sculpture a memorial or is it to improve the environment or both. Watch the film and see what you think

Classroom Activity

Discuss the importance of the Ysbyty Gwynedd sculpture and working in small groups decide what you might commemorate in your area. Now write an artists brief for a sculpture to celebrate the person or issues that is important to you. The artists brief should be about half a page long and set out your vision for the sculpture. This should include what it will celebrate and the size and any special conditions you might add. For example in the hospital one of the conditions was that the sculpture should be easy to clean.

Classroom Activity cont

Now check your artists brief against this checklist and see how many of the key elements you have managed to include. Feel free to revise your artists brief as you go down the checklist.

Development Activity:

To develop this activity further get the students to give their artists brief to someone else in the class or group. Working only from the brief each student should then come up with one sketchbook page of ideas for different options for the site. These are sketches for ideas with notes not polished drawings. Then have a sharing session to discuss the various proposed sculptures. The quality of the drawing is irrelevant to this activity, it is the creativity of the ideas and the ability to fit the brief that scores highest marks.

Learning Objectives:

Through using this lesson plan students should:
Develop communication skills of active listening and assertiveness by listening to different opinions and expressing their own thoughts and feelings about organ and tissue donation.

Research, Notes and Links:

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