   
Many of our country towns are dying.
People are leaving, businesses are closing and things are generally grim.
What if you could make a difference!
In this webquest, you will be challenged to think differently and come up with solutions
to save a small rural town. Your solutions will be sent to the mayor or leaders of your town.
Off the Beaten Track.........
What can we do to breath new life into a small rural town?
There are 5 tasks in this webquest.
Work in small groups. With help from your teacher, decide how long each task should take. Keep a group folder
with all your ideas.
Task
One : Choose a Town
1. As a group, decide on the kind of town you wish to help.
List 3 features this town may have which has
caused its population to decrease. Fill in the form and print.
2. Visit the Walkabout website.
Choose one of our Australian towns on this site by comparing notes on the town with the 3 features you listed. If one of your members has visited this town,
all the better as you will have first hand experience.
3. Find out about your town - where it's located, surrounding environment, population,
industries, transportation, tourism features etc. Complete the report and print.
Give a short oral presentation to your class on your town, explaining why you chose it
and a brief description of your findings. Note: Each team member should choose a topic.
5. Use the problem reversal
technique. State your problem in reverse. eg Your town is growing at enormous rate and is very successful.
List all the reasons this town is so successful. You will be pleasantly surprised at some of the ideas you invent.
Task
Two: Brainstorm for More Ideas
As a group, brainstorm
for ideas that would help your town become prosperous.
Task
Three: Use strategies and decide on a plan
In pairs, choose one of the strategies listed below.
Go to the site and learn about that thinking strategy. Teach your group how to use this strategy to work
on your town improvement ideas. Complete and print the strategy form.
When each pair has had a thinking session with the group,
sit down together and review all your ideas. You can select one idea or a range of ideas.
Summarise your group's plan for the town and show the teacher.
Task
Four: Divide and Multiply
In your group, decide on a plan of attack. This is a team effort
but each member must do their part. List all the jobs and the person responsible for the completion of that job.
As a group you need to decide how your final plan will be presented.
Some examples could include:-
A multimedia presentation using Powerpoint, HyperStudio etc
Charts, brochures, desktop published document
a radio commercial or play
a web site
Task
Five: Presentation and Reporting
As well as presenting your plan to the class, decide how
your information can be sent to your town. Prepare a letter that will accompany your plan
and organise postage (or emailing if applicable). Of course only high standard projects will be sent to the town.
Towns & Attractions of
the Murray Outback - Swan Hill, Broken Hill, Mildura, the Mallee and the Riverland
Focusing on the scenic & particular qualities
of selected rural towns & environment
Logan
City Website This model could help
students generate ideas about development areas/actions - urban, so they would have to do
some comparing/contrasting
South West Strategy - Home
Page Online
Top stuff -comprehensive & cluey, what do you think? Look for ideas that could be used in your town.
Imitation is an excellent creative thinking strategy.
The Creativity Web A
great site that includes games and puzzles to help you practice your creativity, Genius
Gallery and more ideas for teachers and students.
Techniques for
Creative Thinking Contains a whole list of strategies including the ones we used in
this quest.
Bilby
Downs Webquest: Contains a variety of links to tourist attractions. This site could be used to generate ideas.
There is an evaluation rubric for each student to complete
as well as a group report.
The evaluation is related to the learning outcomes.
Learning Outcomes:-
1. The student will be able to use at least 2 creative thinking
strategies to solve open ended problems.
2. The student will understand problems faced by isolated rural towns.
3. The student will actively participate in cooperative learning
activities that involve creative thinking.
Notes
Task One: This task encourages ownership of
the project.
A simple activity (listing and comparing) with a short oral presentation enables the group
to begin working together. Initial research into the town could include use of atlas, phone books,
Government departments, personal contacts, email, Internet.
This could be a homework tasks with family involvement.
Task Two: A group brainstorming session
builds on the importance of cooperation.
It is important that ideas are stored. Group
roles could also be assigned.
Task Three: This activity encourages
students to work apart from the group. It provides students with a positive self image as
each pair becomes the "expert" in a thinking strategy. The range of strategies
could be practiced in other class activities.
Task Four: The presentation of the plan,
although important, is not the key learning outcome of this webquest. Keep presentation
simple to avoid the focus being on the final product. The learning on the way is more
important.
Task Five: Final plans could be sent to chosen towns.
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