Touring Antarctica
An Internet WebQuest on Antarctic

created by Camilla Elliott - Linking for Learning
Introduction | The Quest | The Process & Resources | Conclusion | Teachers

Introduction

Antarctica is one of the last unspoilt environments on Earth, relatively untouched by humans. As modern technology permits more and more people to visit this beautiful wilderness, the risk of damage and pollution becomes an increasing threat. Can we afford the costs of increased human activity in Antarctica? In this class you will work in teams to establish the environmental impact of increased tourism in Antarctica from the point of view of a number of interest groups and present your conclusion as to whether or not this planned tour should be permitted to go ahead.

The Quest

A new tourist company, 'Antarctic Tours', wants to establish monthly trekking tours in the Antarctic for four months from November to the end of February. They plan to take 400 trekkers to Antarctica during this four months each year. The Australian government has requested that an Environmental Impact Team explore the impact of this tourism proposal on the animals and natural environment of Antarctica. The Environmental Impact Team will be made up of a Tour Operator, an Environmentalist, a Scientist and a Politician. This Team will present a report to the government with recommendations to either support or argue against giving the go ahead for 'Antarctic Tours' to begin operations in November this year.

The report must be supported with factual information relating to each interest group and present a valid argument to support the views of all stakeholders. The completed report will be presented to Australian government representives and be used to decide if the venture is to be allowed to go ahead.

The Process and Resources

In this WebQuest you will be working together in groups. You will use the webpages that have been provided but may also use general book resources from the library collection. Each group will consist of eight (8) students who will divide into pairs and take on one of the roles of either Tour Operator, Environmentalist, Scientist or Politician and complete the quest task.

Once each pair has researched and developed an Environmental Impact Statement in relation to their role, they will come together as a group to develop a conclusion and recommendation to be presented to the government on behalf of the whole team.

Phase 1 - Background: Something for Everyone
Students in pairs (from your group) complete an introductory exercise using the links in this phase to get an overview of tourism now and in the past. Use this electronic note-making sheet to record your evidence. Email your completed sheet to your teacher to be given your specific role for the webquest.

Phase 2 - Looking Deeper from Different Perspectives

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Divide into groups of eight students per group (or approximately as instructed by your teacher). Each group will then divide into pairs with each pair to take on one of the four roles of Tour Operator, Environmentalist, Scientist and Politician. These pairs will come together after they have researched their role to develop an Environmental Impact Report on behalf of their team based on the findings of each role.

2. Read through the files selected for your chosen role. You may also like to use some of the general sites provided or some allocated to one of the other roles. You must use the sites located within this Webquest.

3. Take notes in your workbooks. Remember to take note of the URL of the sites you use for your bibliography.

4. Once you have researched your role, use the 'Environmental Impact Report' sheet provided to help you develop an opinion on your role with your partner.

5. Join back into your eight member team to focus what you've learned into one main opinion that answers the Quest ie: From your role as a Scientist etc. What do you consider would be the environmental impact of the proposal of 'Antarctic Tours' to provide 400 trekking positions to Antarctica over a four month period from next November - February.

Tour Operator

As the tour operator you will be wanting your project to get approval to go ahead. You are intending to prepare your tourists well so that they will be responsible tourists. Use these questions and Internet sites to assist you in developing an argument to support your decision to take 400 tourist trekkers over a period of four months.

1. What preparation will you give the tourists regarding their environmental responsibilities?

2. Check the breeding seasons of land-based animals. Will the timing of you treks coincide with any of the animal breeding seasons? What effect will this have? What precautions will you take?

2. What rubbish will leave behind from your food, vehicles and human waste?

3. How do you plan to dispose of your rubbish?

4. Are there trekking tours to Antarctica already available? Why should you be allowed to take so many extra people to this wilderness area?

Environmentalist

As an Environmentalist you are concerned at the number of tourists already visiting Antarctica. Use these questions and the Internet sites provided to develop a report about the impact of trekking tourists on the wildlife, the plantlife and the general environment. Use your report to either support or refuse the proposal of 'Antarcic Tours' to establish monthly trekking tours for 400 tourists over four months.

1. What animals, plants and features would be threatened by this increased land-based tourism to Antarctica?

2. Is this threat a problem or could it be managed? How could it be managed?

3. Why should we look after Antarctica? What's so special about it?

4. Develop some guidelines that you would propose for trekking tours giving attention to such details as (a) time of year, (b)length of stay, (c) support vehicles used, (d) disposal of rubbish.

Scientist

You have been involved in scientific research in Antarctica for twenty years. Over that time you have seen a huge increase in the number of people visiting the region. From your position as a Scientist you may feel that increased tourism is threatening important research projects. Use the following questions and the sites provided to produce a report indicating the effects of scientific research to support your argument of science being more important than tourism:

1. What sort of experiments do scientists conduct in Antarctica?

2. Does this work have much of an impact on the environment? For example, what sorts of vehicles are used? Do you disturb the wildlife? Do they leave pollution?

3. Is it important that Antarctica be kept as a research area? Why?

4. Will these proposed trekking tours affect any scientific projects? In what way?

Politician

Antarctica has no universally recognised owners and, therefore does not belong to any one country. As a Politician you receive pressure from all groups using and working in Antarctica. As you want to get re-elected at the next election, you are keen to keep everybody happy. Use questions and the sites provided develop a report on the legal obligations of people who use Antarctica for any reason.

1. What treaties and laws are in place to protect the region?

2. What is the purpose of these treaties and laws?

3. How many tourists have been to Antarctica in recent years? Should we worry about the numbers?

4. What actions would you suggest that would enable the trekking to continue in harmony with scientific and environmental activities? Can they all exist together?5. Could tourists be involved in useful projects to preserve our Antarctic heritage? Can you suggest a project?

Phase 3 - Debating, Discussing, and Reaching Consensus

You have all researched the Environmental Impact from a number of viewpoints. Now group members come back to the larger WebQuest team to develop a Team Report. You won't all agree but must be able to work as a group to come up with a final recommendation regarding the Environmental Impact of the proposed trekking tours.

Each team will present a report to the government with recommendations to either support or argue against giving the go-ahead for 'Antarctic Tours' to begin operations in November this year.

Each team will present their report in the form of a poster to the class as if they were presenting it to a government representative. The poster will be divided into four parts to represent each of the four roles with each Tour Operator, Scientist, Environmentalist and Politician explaining their findings and recommendation. One spokesperson will present the overall team conclusion.

The final recommendation of your WebQuest team should be written out and attached to the poster.

Phase 4 - Real World Feedback

Once reports are presented to the class you will complete the attached assessment rubric to check what you have learned by completing this WebQuest and consider what you would do differently if you did it again.

Your teacher will then give you instruction on sending a summary of your findings to the schools contact at the Australian Antarctic Division.

Send your email to: Australian Antarctic Division

Conclusion

Through the investigations you have conducted in this WebQuest you now have a greater understanding of the impact of humans on the Antarctic. News items regularly appear on television and in the daily newspapers. Watch out for them and be aware of what is happening in one of the world's last, relatively unspoiled wildernesses.

Please attribute information taken from this webquest. Plagiarism will be detected by Copysafe

©Content Camilla Elliott, celliott@sjcmda.vic.edu.au
 Originally developed 1996. Last revised 10 April, 2008
Edited in template from http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/