POPULATIONS ON THE MOVE

Populations on the Move will give opportunities to investigate Australian identity. Students will:

• explain the significance of particular people, groups, places, actions and events in the past in developing an Australian identity and heritage.
• describe different cultural influences and their contribution to an Australian identity.
  
• describe communities and their global interconnection, recognising global responsibilities, cultural influences and their contribution to Australian identities.
  

Activities

1. Take up the challenge of an Internet Scavenger Hunt or Knowledge Hunt and a WebQuest on the topic - What does it mean to be Australian?
Links:
http://www.beenleigss.qld.edu.au/trhunt/hunt.htm
http://www.beenleigss.qld.edu.au/webquest/webquest.htm
There are a number of other activities on the Racism No Way web site
http://www.racismnoway.com.au/classroom/how-to.html.

2. Australia is a religiously diverse nation with over 25 major religious denominations represented. Investigate this diversity through brainstorming, surveying, researching, reporting and discussing. See the following website for details.
Link: http://www.racismnoway.com.au/classroom/lesson_ideas/20020124_42.html

3. Use your mathematical and research skills to identify the links between events in the world and the arrival and plight of immigrants coming to Australia.
Link: http://www.racismnoway.com.au/classroom/lesson_ideas/20001012_23.html

4. Design a survey of your class - country of origin of yourself, your parents, grandparents.

Step 1 - Design a survey
Some examples of questions could be: Where were you born? How many people in your family? What country of origin is your family from? Remember to have a mixture of different types of questions and don't make the survey too long or people may not have time to complete it.

Step 2 - Construct survey - online or offline.
If you decide to do an online survey, try the survey tool Zoomerang. However, note that the free version of this service has special conditions eg 10 day time limit. Your teacher could set up a (free) account for your class. http://www.zoomerang.com/

Step 3 - Conduct survey.
Promote your survey to the audience - eg. Students or students and teachers or students, teachers and parents. Encourage people to respond with honesty.

Step 4 - Collate responses.
This may be a manual process or if you use Zoomerang then this software collates for you and produces graph formats. So you will need to interpret the results rather than collate. However you only have 10 days after constructing your survey to conduct and collate results using Zoomerang.

Step 5 - What is the data telling you?
Think about the questions you asked. What is the data telling you - what information can you draw from the data?

4. Email game
Register your class to get involved in an email game. You will be taking on a role which could be:

• A displaced person trying to make it to Australia

• An Australian Citizen

• A New Zealander

• An Indigenous Australian

Discuss the issues given to you in your role.

To register email: kdibben@educationau.edu.au to register your interest. We will only be conducting this email game twice over the Netd@ys project.

5. Investigate the pre-historical nature and historical nature of humans to continually be on the move (refer: Guns, Germs and Steel a short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years by Jared Diamond provides a fascinating look into the reasons for and effects of human migration) Summaries available from:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/jan-june98/diamond_4-17.html
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/deakin/stories/s296979.htm - a transcript with audio.

6. New Beginnings

Through this project refugee students (Grades 5 - 12) are invited to prepare, publish and submit their personal stories of seeking refuge and beginning life in a new country. Contributions may include written stories, drawings, digital photos, multimedia presentations etc.

All personal journeys submitted will be displayed in a virtual (web based) exhibition to coincide with Refugee Week, 22-26 October 2003.

Students who access the 'New Beginnings' website will be encouraged to respond to the published 'journeys'. The Discover Forum linked to the Responses section of the website will enable individual feedback to be recorded in a moderated setting.

Link: http://www.discover.tased.edu.au/ec/n-touch/newbeginnings/default.htm

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