The Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission says it has received more than 450 requests from teachers and schools for an education module about the past practice of separating Indigenous children from their families.

The request was prompted by a mail-out across the country.

The commission has sent out more than 1,000 CD-ROMs and 7,000 postcards, highlighting its Bringing Them Home education module.

The module has online activities and a teaching resource that targets mainly secondary students.

It is based on the findings and recommendations from the Bringing Them Home report on the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.

The module also looks at what has happened since the report was tabled in 1997.

The commission hopes schools will adopt the module into their curricula to encourage students to question, analyse and debate the issue.

The teaching module can be accessed on the Internet, but there is a version also contained on the CD-ROM for schools without Internet access.