Introduction
(Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/business/2010/02/100211_australia_dro…)
| Welcome to this webquest! Throughtout the webquest you will experience a variety of activities and information on drought in Australia. So what is a webquest? A webquest consists of a variety of structured learning activities where students use the internet as a resource to investigate and answer questions, problems or issues. They are student centred, inquiry based and require students to use the internet in a structured way to explore certain issues. They generally require higher order thinking and problem solving in an interesting way which motivates the students. They help to avoid the frustration of searching unsuccessfully for information on the internet, as the needed links to useful information are given in the webquest. |
Task
Hello Stage 3 Students! Throughout this webquest you are going to learn and discover things about drought in Australia. Drought in Australia is a very important topic to discuss and research, as it is occurring in our time, and as it is likely to continue to occur in the future. Have you heard of water restrictions? Well they were strict rules that everyone needed to follow concering how much water they used and when and where they used that water. As of the end of 2010 we don't have water restrictions anymore, but we have water wise measures. These are different guidelines which can help us to save water.
(Source: http://www.sawater.com.au/sawater/environment/waterrestrictionsconservationmeasures) So why should we learn about drought?
That is a great question. Australia is the driest continent on the earth and so we often have droughts. The major droughts we have had were in 1895-1902, 1914-1915, 1937-1945, 1965-1968, 1982-1983, 1991-95, and 2002-2003. In fact it is peredicted that a major drought will happen approximately once every 18 years. That means that you will live probably through at least one drought, so you and I should learn something about it, since it will affect our lives at least once!
The main question which we are going to look at in this webquest is "What is the impact of drought in Australia", but there are some other questions you might like to keep in mind during the webquest.
- How does drought impact me?
- What can I do to stop drought?
- Who/what does drought affect?
(Source: http://tourism-australia.net.au/australia-drought/) You will have a variety of tasks to complete this webquest. Some of them will be recorded in your workbook. Once you have completed the webquest you will hand up your workbook to your teacher for assessment.
Process
Now view the Youtube clip on drought in Australia. While you view it, continue to record feelings, questions, things you find interesting etc in your workbook about drought.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwe6QjW6M1I#t=17]
After viewing this video answer the following questions in your workbook. 1. Who do you think was most effected by the drought and why? 2. What sort of problems do you think the people and animals would be facing? 3. What do you think is happening to Australia in the video? 4. What did you notice about the land, animals and plants in the video? (use as many adjectives as you can to answer this question) View the following Youtube video about brainstorming.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP4gyqk2WF8]
Now that you know how to brainstorm. Use an A4 sheet of paper to brainstorm anything you know about drought, and any questions you have about it. When you get stuck and can't think of anymore, join with a partner and share ideas. Write anything which you didn't already have on your piece of paper with another colour. If both of you are still stuck, join with another pair and share your ideas. Once again use a different colour to record what they had.Now don't loose your brainstorming piece of paper - fold it in half and stick it into your book. Ok now that you have recorded everything that you know about drought, its time to do some research and find out more. Before we launch into that, it is a great idea to refresh our memories as to how to use your time effectively when searching online.[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp7k4ypt6PQ]Look at the following webpages and answer the questions in your workbookl. Make a new heading of Drought in Australia and answer the questions under that heading. http://www.skwirk.com.au/p-c_s-57_u-479_t-1306_c-5026/qld/sose-geography/disasters/natural-hazards/drought-and-drought-in-australia http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/drought/livedrought.shtml http://home.iprimus.com.au/foo7/droughthistory.html#1 1. What is drought? 2. What are some of the causes of drought? 3. Who/what is affected by drought and what are some of the impacts on them? 4. Why do lots of droughts happen in Australia? 5. What are some possible solutions for drought, or ways that we can lessen the effects of it?