SDG 03: Good Health and Well-being

Teacher Guide

This guide offers educators a structured yet adaptable framework, including background information, practical examples, and didactic strategies. All exercises can be completed without having any specific pre-existing knowledge about the topic. They build on each other but can also be carried out independently of each other, and individually. Of course, you can make adjustments as needed. The modular structure allows for flexible implementation - lessons can be taught sequentially or individually, depending on time constraints and students' prior knowledge.

It is ideally suited for subject lessons or project-based learning and can also be utilized outside the traditional classroom setting by environmental groups and clubs.

Boardstory

Together with your students watch the short and fact-based boardstory on SDG 3. If terms are unclear, students can also be asked to write down unknown terms and questions so that they can be clarified after watching the boardstory. Student questions can also create the opportunity for further inquiry and exploration.

Take a second look at the boardstory and use the pause button on the player to ask comprehension questions. Use the interactive exercises embedded in the boardstory. The three exercise types - search game, impulse questions, and quiz - allow you to discuss the content, improve understanding and deepen knowledge on SDG 3.

Student Workbook

After watching the boardstory you can extend and enhance the learning process using the "Student Workbook" for which background information, didactic notes and explanation to each of the exercises can be found in the tab "Teaching Unit".

EXPLORING THE BOARDSTORY

This is a wrap-up activity that helps the students connect what they have learned with the content of the Boardstory. Through discussion and reflection, they will revisit key themes, reinforce their understanding, and explore real-world applications of the story's message.

Session 1:

Watch the short, fact-based SDG 3 boardstory with your students. Have an initial discussion and solve the integrated interactive tasks.

Before watching the boardstory for the first time, give the students a listening task: "What do you learn in the boardstory?" Possibly with the addition: "Remember at least three things."

Then, ask the students to describe the boardstory by asking the following:

• What happened in the boardstory?

• What caught your interest and why?

• Why is it important that everyone can be and stay healthy?

Session 2:

Work (further) on the worksheets.

Hand out the worksheets "EXPLORING THE BOARDSTORY" from the student workbook to engage the students in the content of the SDG 3 Boardstory.

ASSESSING MY HEALTH HABITS

This exercise focuses on what activities could be considered as healthy and/or add to one’s well-being. This activity helps students not only assess their own habits but also understand the broader role of family and community in supporting a healthy lifestyle.


Step 1: Collecting Activities

Ask students to list the activities they did the previous day. To ensure honesty and avoid embarrassment, consider collecting responses anonymously. You can do this by having students write their activities on paper and submit them to you or by using an online tool like www.mentimeter.com. If anonymity isn't needed, you can simply ask for volunteers to share.

A leading instruction could be: List all your activities of the day before. If needed, ask guiding questions to help students remember details:

• How long did you sleep?

• What did you do in the morning?

• How did you come to school?

• What did you do after school?

• What meals did you have?

Step 2: Class Discussion

Write some of the collected activities on the board (or have small groups discuss them separately). Then, guide the class in analyzing how these activities influence health.

Discussion Questions:

• (How) Does this activity affect your health?

• If the activity is considered unhealthy: What needs to be changed to make it healthier?

Example Discussion Points:

• Sleep: How much sleep is considered healthy?

• Diet: Was their meal balanced and nutritious?

• Screen Time: How does too much screen time affect well-being?

• Exercise: Why is movement important, and how can sports be both beneficial and risky?

• Social Time: Why is spending time with friends important for mental health?

Step 3: Expanding the Discussion

Encourage deeper reflection by asking:

• Who can help improve these habits?

• Do we need support from others (family, school, community) to make healthy choices?

For example:

• Being quiet while others sleep helps their well-being.

• Who provides access to healthy food?

• How can we balance personal responsibility (e.g., limiting screen time) with external support (e.g., access to parks for outdoor play)?

• Why is it important to include others and prevent social isolation?

UNDERSTANDING ILLNESSES

This exercise is about illnesses and their causes, prevention options and global differences.

Divide your class into small teams and possibly motivate them by telling them that they can collect points for every right answer. In total there are 8 points. The instruction could be:
Read the following texts about diseases worldwide carefully and answer the question below the text.

Use the worksheets "UNDERSTANDING ILLNESSES" to help the children learn more about the individual illnesses and answer the relevant questions. Discuss the answers with the class afterwards.

Below you can find the correct answers to the questions as well as more background information about the illness.

Malaria
Malaria is a disease that is present in tropical regions of the world, mostly in countries of Africa, Asia as well as South and Central America. It is spread by a certain type of mosquito. That means, a mosquito must sting you to become infected. It is possible to only have mild symptoms such as having a fever, a headache or feeling very cold. However, it is also possible to die from the infection. Medication can help to keep a starting infection from getting worse. Nowadays it is also possible to be vaccinated against Malaria.

How can people prevent to be infected with Malaria?

• ✓ By keeping mosquitos off their body with the help of mosquito nets, insect repellants and long clothes.

• It is not possible to prevent an infection.

• By washing their hands regularly.

When presenting the correct answer (✓), you can provide this information: With the current climate change due to the climate crisis, it is likely that Malaria will spread to other regions of the world where the disease typically has not occurred previously, for example in Europe. This makes knowledge on how to protect oneself and sharing it even more important.


Type 2 Diabetes
Some people have a sickness called Type 2 Diabetes. This means their body cannot use the energy from food properly. This happens because a special helper in the body, called insulin, does not work the way it should. Over time, this can cause problems, like making it harder for blood to flow or hurting the heart, eyes, and nerves\footnote{World Health Organisation. (o. J.). Diabetes. www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diabetes}. But don’t worry—it’s not something you can catch from someone else! People can get Type 2 Diabetes for different reasons. It can depend on what they eat, how much they move and exercise, or if other family members have it too.

There are several reasons that the number of people developing Type 2 diabetes is increasing. People are eating less vegetables, fruit and whole grains than they did before and have replaced these good foods with too much processed food as well as too much meat. A lot of people also do not move their body enough or do any form of exercise. Type 2 Diabetes occurs in every country in the world.

What are good ways of preventing Type 2 Diabetes? (2 choices are correct)

• ✓ Move your body every day.

• Eat a steak every day.

• ✓ Eat leafy greens regularly (e.g. broccoli, spinach, kale, cabbage ...).

When presenting the correct answers, you can share: Type 2 Diabetes can be prevented by living a healthy lifestyle. Once a person suffers from it, the illness cannot be reversed, but affected people can mitigate the symptoms for example by changing what a person eats and by doing more sports.


Cholera

When a person gets infected with Cholera the most prominent symptom is usually diarrhea. The illness is easily treatable with medication. People get the disease when having contact with or drinking dirty water. That is usually the case in regions of the world, where people do not have access to toilets, showers or clean water to drink and wash their hands.

What can a community do to prevent cholera in their region? (2 choices are correct)

• Put the region in a lockdown until the disease is under control.

• ✓ Ensure that all people can use clean water every day for cooking and washing themselves as well as have access to a toilet.

• Encourage people to do more sports.

• ✓ Educate people on the disease and how to prevent it.

When talking about the correct answers, you can add: Cholera often occurs in regions that are poor or face conflicts. Sometimes it is not that easy to prevent the disease from spreading.


Opioid Epidemic

When people have strong pain, doctors give them medication to help. This medication is also known as opioids. Some people like to take it even though they are not ill or in severe pain, because it numbs negative feelings for a short period of time. Without a doctor advising how much to take of that medication, people take more of it than they should, or they take it more often than they should. That can lead to not being able to stop taking it anymore even though one might want to. That is called addiction. Taking too much of opioids can kill people. In the United States of America, a lot of people have that problem that is why the situation there is called an opioid epidemic. In 2023, 300 people died daily in the USA because of taking too much of these opioids.

Which two statements are true?

• The opioid epidemic happens because people do not wash their hands often enough.

• ✓ It is called an epidemic because it affects so many people.

• Opioids can kill when too much of it is taken.

When discussing the correct answers: This topic is different from the other diseases that you read about until now, because it is not an illness that is spread by having contact with another sick person, dirty water or mosquitoes. However, if one is addicted to substances such as opioids, it is still considered a disease. Because the brain does not work anymore in the same way as that of a healthy person. People continue to use opioids even though they know it has a bad effect on their body. The disease makes it hard for them to stop.


Mental health

Health and well-being are not just about your body, but also about your mind. Mental health is about how a person thinks, feels, and acts. Everyone feels angry, sad, worried or fed up from time to time. This is nothing unusual. Of course, one may feel sad, e.g. if their grandparent is treated in hospital or even dies. But if these feelings last for a long time, this may be a sign of poor mental health. For example, if one always feels low or cannot sleep anymore. Many different things can cause or contribute to mental health problems, like being bullied, feeling lonely or that no-one understands you. The good news is: You can help yourself and others to prevent poor mental health. If you do things you enjoy, see your friends and have positive relationships with others, you will feel well yourself and make others feel included and better. And in case a person cannot be cheered up over a long time period, there are also professionals they can seek for help. Seeking help is nothing to be ashamed of.

What can lead to poor mental health?

• ✓ Bullying others.

• Visiting your grandparents.

• Spending time with your friends.

When discussing the correct answer, you might refer to the earlier discussion on the impulse question above (Do you remember a situation where you have been there for someone and possibly made them feel better?) to show that they already know about strategies to prevent poor mental health.


Besides talking to your students about the prevention of illnesses, you can also broaden the discussion to focus more on individual affectedness and how illnesses are dealt with differently. You can use the examples below or add new ones:

• How do you think an illness affects one’s life? Think about different illnesses (in body, mind and heart/soul) and also different groups of people.

• Do you think there are differences in how one handles an illness? Which ones might that be?

• What can be done on the individual and political level to deal with an illness?

• Why do you think are there inequalities in accessing healthcare in the world?

To consider your local context, you can also let your students do a (web) research and discuss their answers on the question of what the most common diseases in your country are and what measures can be taken to prevent them, especially infectious diseases.

SHOWER OF APPRECIATION

The following exercise focuses on mental health: Complimenting each other to strengthen group dynamics.

You can do this exercise in written form or orally. First, talk about what a compliment is. Prepare name lots of your students. Let each student draw a lot blindly.

Hand out the template "SHOWER OF APPRECIATION" from the student workbook and let your students fill them in. Ask your students how it feels to receive and read the compliment cards.

In case a student wrote down nothing or something mean, talk about it with your class:

• Why is it problematic?

• How does it make someone feel?

• What does it mean for someone's mental health?

You can also talk about how mental health is perceived differently:

• Do you think there is a difference in perceiving a mental illness and one that physically shows? Why is that?

• Do you think there are differences between age groups, cultures and societies?

THE ROLE OF HYGIENE AND YOUR SEX

This exercise focuses on whether there are differences in good health and hygiene depending on one's sex.

We recommend not to separate the class by sex, but to involve them all in the conversation. Talk to your students about the importance of hygiene. We suggest to start with a concrete example: In this case menstrual hygiene. Afterwards you can broaden the topic. See the glossary as part of the learning world for explanations on sex, gender and gender identity that you might want to include as well as the info text on menstruation which is also in the student workbook. If possible, you can use a graphic that shows the ovaries. You can also bring for instance pads, tampons or a menstrual cup to make it more vivid.

Hand out the worksheet "THE ROLE OF HYGIENE AND YOUR SEX" from the student workbook. Let them read the info text and answer the proposed questions (together).

You can then start a conversation in class using the following questions:

• Why do you think these period products are necessary?

• Why is it difficult to obtain menstrual hygiene products even nowadays? Have a look at other regions or countries too.

• Why is it important to talk about this no matter your sex?

• How could you support each other, e.g. when someone menstruates leaving stains on their clothes?

Now, that your students are aware of a concrete example for the importance of hygiene, we suggest to discuss further. You can also have students write down their answers in their workbooks first and then discuss the answers with the whole class.

• Why do you think hygiene is important for health?

• Do you think different genders have a different hygiene?

• Do you think there are global differences in accessing hygiene (and clean sanitation)?

• How do you think those differences impact people's lives?

HOW ADVERTISING INFLUENCES YOUR HEALTH

This activity helps students recognize how advertising influences their choices, often promoting unhealthy products in an appealing way. By analyzing real ads and creating their own for a healthy product, students will develop a critical understanding of marketing tactics and their impact on health.

Though some countries like Norway and Sweden banned advertising targeting young children, most European countries allow such advertising. Often commercials for unhealthy products or activities (e.g. candy, energy drinks, and video games) are aimed at young people.

Start by asking the students about their latest experiences with advertising targeting them and/or showing a current example from your country. We recommend using an ad for something you know that matters to your students. You can also look for something that is usually depicted with strong, powerful design, e.g. energy drinks or electronics using animals and/or (extreme) sports.

Ask your students what comes to mind when they see the ad. Then make them question if the depicted product/activity is really contributing to their health. (In case you use the energy drink as an example, you might enlighten the students about the ingredients, especially the high dosage of sugar). You can also talk about what the difference could be when something is promoted by famous and popular people – could that make you want something even more? Do you connect the product with characteristics of that popular person, their lifestyle or anything similar?

After the previous discussion that could happen e.g. in groups, give them the task of creating an ad (poster) for something healthy! Depending on your school's equipment the posters can be either painted/drawn, made with paper, glue and scissors or created digitally (maybe using AI). Ask your students to make the ad in a way that they themselves would be addressed successfully.

If you want to discuss the role of advertising further, you can have a look at the learning world for SDG 12 on responsible production and consumption.

VULNERABILITIES OF DIFFERENT GROUPS

This activity helps students understand why some people are more vulnerable to health risks than others and what factors contribute to this. By analyzing real-life situations, students will explore how biological, economic, environmental, and social factors impact a person’s ability to stay healthy. This exercise encourages empathy and awareness of health disparities.

Part 1: Identifying Dangerous Situations

1. Brainstorming

Ask students to think of situations where a person’s health could be at risk. You can guide them with prompts like:

• Are there extreme weather conditions that could be dangerous?

• What obstacles in daily life might cause harm?

If needed, provide examples:

• A very hot day in a city with no shaded areas.

• Stairs with no handrails, poor lighting, or wet leaves.

• Exposure to an infectious virus.

• A narrow, busy road with no bike lane.

• Losing one's home.

2. Discussion

Write the students' ideas on the board and discuss them as a class or in small groups. Use guiding questions:

• Why is this situation dangerous?

• Who is most at risk in this situation, and why?

• What changes could make it safer? Who is responsible for these changes?

3. Understanding Vulnerability Factors

Introduce key factors that affect vulnerability:

• Biological: Age, genetics, pre-existing conditions.

• Economic: Income, job security, housing.

• Environmental: Pollution, access to clean water, infrastructure.

• Social: Healthcare access, education, discrimination.

There is also the possibility to categorize the influencing factors differently, such as:

• Personal factors, which can either be influenced (e.g. level of fitness, taking precautionary measures like wearing a helmet while cycling) or not (e.g. age).

• External factors such as environment (e.g. different extreme weathers in different areas), society (e.g. structural racism, ableism) as other people may have prejudice against someone due to their appearance and treat them with less respect/differently and/or infrastructure (e.g. access to medical treatments, parks and shadowy areas).

• Power structures: Who is possibly able and/or responsible to help (e.g. individuals may perform first aid or call for help, while only collectives can build a new park or hospital).

Encourage students to connect these factors to the situations they discussed. Example: A very hot day without a possibility to rest and age: An elderly person or a baby will be more affected, hence, more vulnerable to that situation than a 20 year old e.g. However, if that 20 year old person is constantly exposed to pollution (e.g. bad air quality) and has no access to clean drinking water, their body and immune system can already be unwell and with that also badly affected by that hot day.

Part 2: Exploring Vulnerability Through Role-Playing

1. Using Character Cards

Hand out the sample cards “VULNERABILITIES OF DIFFERENT GROUPS" from the student workbook. Each card represents a fictional person with unique characteristics (e.g., financial status, health conditions, living situation).

2. Group Activity

1. Assign each group a dangerous situation from Part 1.

2. Each group discusses how their character would be affected by the situation.

3. Use guiding questions:

   • Is the person heavily or slightly affected? Why?

   • What challenges do they face in getting help?

   • What factors (social, economic, biological, environmental) contribute to their vulnerability?

3. Reflection

Have groups share their findings with the class.

Highlight how multiple factors often combine to make a person more vulnerable.

BEING HEALTHY IN YOUR TOWN

This activity encourages students to explore how their town or neighborhood supports health and well-being and to propose improvements. By analyzing access to healthcare, green spaces, transportation, and healthy food, students will develop a deeper understanding of how communities influence health.

Step 1: Assessing Your Town’s Health Environment

Provide students with a map of their town or have them sketch one. Let the students identify key locations like hospitals, doctors' offices, parks, sports facilities, grocery stores, and residential areas.

Afterwards have a guided discussion. Possible questions are:

• How easy is it to access healthcare? (Where are hospitals and doctors’ offices? Is it easy to get an appointment?)

• Are there green spaces and places to relax?

• What sports and recreation opportunities exist outside of school?

• What kinds of food are available, and where can people buy fresh, healthy food?

• How easy is it to move around? Are some people excluded from certain areas or activities?

Step 2: Designing a Healthier Community

Ask students to imagine improvements that would make their town healthier. Have them mark or draw additions on their maps, such as:

• More parks and sports areas.

• Safer bike lanes and sidewalks.

• Better access to healthcare services.

• More affordable and nutritious food options.

Have students present their ideas and explain why these changes would improve public health. Encourage them to think about realistic solutions and who in the community could help make them happen.

TAKING ACTION

This exercise focuses on what students could do to improve their health and well-being and likewise of other people. They can write these ideas down, draw them or make a collage.

For this, split the class into groups and distribute the worksheet “TAKING ACTION” from the student workbook.

Have students brainstorm actions according to different parameters, such as these:

• Actions, that promote your own health and well-being.

• Actions, that improve or keep the health and well-being of others stable.

• Things we can change at school/at home or another place we spent a lot of time at to improve our health and well-being there  and derive actions from this.

• Things we would like to change in terms of access to healthcare  and derive actions from this.

• Vulnerable groups and what could be done to help them.

Ask your students to justify their answers. You can also collect the answers on posters that you can display in your classroom and somewhere else in the school building. The students can design the posters even further and you could link it to what they have previously learned about the influence of advertising: How can they make their posters as interesting as possible to motivate also others to join their actions for better health and well-being.