Australia Webquest By: Ann and Bridget

Illinois Standards  14.B.2: Explain what government at local, state, and national levels  14.D.2: Explain ways that individuals and groups influence and shape public policy  15.A.2b: Describe how incomes reflect choices about education and careers.  15.D.2a: Explain why people and countries voluntarily exchange goods and services.  16.B.2a: Describe how the European colonies in North America developed politically.  16.D.2a: Describe the various individual motives for settling in colonial America  16.D.2b: Describe the ways in which participation in the westward movement affected families and communities.  17.A.2a: Compare the physical characteristics of places, including soils, land forms, vegetation, wildlife, climate, natural hazards.  17.A.2b: Use maps and other geographic representations and instruments to gather information about people, places, and environments.  17.B.2b: Explain how physical and living components interact in a variety of ecosystems including desert, prairie, flood plain, forest, tundra.  17.C.2a: Describe how natural events in the physical environment affect human activities.

Questions  Describe where Australia is located on the world map. What hemispheres is it in? How many oceans and seas surround it? What countries surround it? How many Australian states and territories are there, describe some of them?  What types of ecosystems exist in Australia and explain what the ecosystems are. Describe one plant and one animal for each ecosystem. (more than 1 ecosystem)  Describe what import and export supplies means. What resources (gold, iron, sheep, etc.) does Australia have? What items are exported from Australia? What items are imported from Australia?

Questions  Who are the Aborigines? Describe shortly the culture of Aborigines. Does their culture still exist? If yes, why? If no, why not?  What type of government does Australia have? Who is the head of the country? How is the government structured? What is good and bad about this type of government?  What type of money does Australia have? Describe it and compare to American money. Which type of money do you think works better?

Task at Hand  Students will be divided into groups of four to create their own travel guide.  Every member of the groups will be given a special role to contribute to the travel guide.  Students will act as a team to present their guides to the class.  The travel guide should be creative, colorful, and fun yet contain all necessary information about Australia.

Roles in Group  Brisbane: Illustrator/Creator  This person is responsible for illustrations, design of, and editing of the travel guide.  Hobart: Expert of Geography.  This person will be responsible for finding solutions and presenting information on questions 1 and 2.  Melbourne: Expert on Business and History  This person will be responsible for finding solutions and presenting information on questions 3 and 4.  Canberra: Expert on Government and Money  This person will be responsible for finding solutions and presenting information on questions 5 and 6.

G’DAY MATE! YOU’RE DONE!

Teacher Extensions  Aboriginals Day  Use what they aboriginals used to create music and create dot painting in art class.  Australia Slang Day  Talk using Australian slang all day.  Movie day  Watch Finding Nemo in class.  Read a book on Australia  Create a book report on Australia  Pen Pal system with a school in Australia.  Students will write letters to students in Australia.

Evaluation  By the end of this quest, students will present the travel guide to the class.  The travel guide will be graded on accuracy and completeness.  Presentation will be graded on teamwork, creativity, and actual presentation of material.

Resources!   heritage    4f7a91.jpg      

Books Are we there yet? A journey around Australia Australia’s ABCs A Book about the People and Places of Australia Dingoes at Dinnertime D is for Down Under Australia Alphabet