Making A Difference is a social studies unit focusing on how attitudes towards animals and their welfare have changed over the last two centuries. Students explore how people, both individually and collectively, in the past and present, take action to improve the welfare of animals and bring about changes to prevent cruelty, promote kindness and alleviate suffering of animals in their communities.

Students will begin by learning about the earliest animal welfare legislation, the formation of SPCA and how individuals strove to make change for animals, in both the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Students will then be provided with different animal contexts and investigate how attitudes towards animals have evolved. The latter half of the unit then focuses on the present day and aims to inspire students to become active citizens in their own communities. Students will identify and research the different animal welfare issues still faced in society today, learn about the current legislation that governs animal welfare, explore how individuals and groups have already contributed to change regarding a modern animal welfare issue and learn how SPCA NZ works in response to current animal welfare challenges. The unit culminates with students choosing an animal welfare issue that they perceive to be a challenge their community faces and exploring actions that they can take as active citizens to campaign for change.