Introduction

The Buford Citizen Times is calling on its best journalists to report a mystery about an endangered animal from Africa appearing in the downtown area. Use this Webquest to find where this animal belongs and report to the people of Buford your findings as you take a virtual journey to Africa to return the animal to its proper home.

Task

Your task will be to accompany a local scientist on a virtual African safari to carefully place this animal back into its appropriate ecosystem. This will require study of the African ecosystems and reporting findings from your safari for the paper.

Your completed activities should include:

• a document including plans for travel and accommodations for a seven day safari
• a lab journal of the ecosystems you choose to visit and research and conclusions for your choices
• a photo journal including descriptions in journal form and photographs or pictures of the seven day safari which will be used by the Citizen Times
• a paper mural of the final ecosystem you choose including the endangered animal and other primary plants and animals that live there and terrain of the area
• a class presentation of the chosen ecosystem to which you think your assigned animal belongs

 Teacher note: You may want to choose specific animals from a variety of ecosystems of Africa to assign to groups or you may let the groups choose their own animals, controlling the ecosystems available.

Process

There will be four people assigned to your group. Each person will have a specific job for the safari. Read below to decide what you must do and then work together to plan your adventure. Collaboration with the other members of your group is essential.

Travel Agent: Plan travel and accommodations for the safari for the group. Discuss with your group their wishes for the trip. Research on the Internet the best way to get your group to Africa, including travel for the animal you must transport, and arrangements for the safari.

Scientist: Research to decide which ecosystems of Africa you must visit in order to return the endangered animal to its proper home. The safari will include three chosen ecosystems. Careful records of your research must be kept so that a lab journal can be presented. Report to your group your findings including map locations of where you are visiting.

Journalist: Report to the people of Asheville every aspect of the safari.  Descriptions of where you are and what you are seeing will be primary in your reporting.

Photojournalist: Report to the people of Asheville through pictures what you are seeing as you travel through your three chosen ecosystems of Africa. You may choose to use pictures from chosen web sites, draw pictures, or use other sources such as magazines to present your pictures.

Learning Tips

1. Discuss and divide into assignments. Decide on the three ecosystems you will visit.

2. Research these ecosystems using the Internet resources provided.

3. Use sources concerning the terrain, animals, and plants of your areas of study.

4. Plan how you will present your information.

5. Gather materials for the photo journal, lab journal, and, and travel documents. Organize these into a group presentation.

6. Construct a paper mural of your chosen ecosystem.

7. Report your findings to the rest of the class. Your fellow students should be able to recognize the ecosystem you have chosen and know characteristics of animal and plant life as well as terrain of the area.

Online Resources

Interview with Conservation Volunteer in Madagascar

Interview with Jane Goodall

Wildnet Africa

Lion Safari

Zoo Atlanta

Travel guide to Africa

Maps of Africa

African Wildlife Foundation

African Wildlife and Conservation

African Animal Pictures

Safari and Tour Specialists

Rubrics

How well have you worked with your group to complete the task?

Expectations	Fair	Good	Very Good	Excellent
Cooperative with group	1	2	3	4
Resources utilized well and documented	1	2	3	4
Task complete	1	2	3	4
Presentation to class	1	2	3	4
Work competed on time	1	2	3	4

How well did you complete the activities?

Activity	A Good Start	Beginning to Think	Accomplished the Task	Exemplary Work	Points Earned
Travel Document	entries vague	detail lacking	entries in detail	entries complete and detailed, in-depth	1    2    3    4
Lab Journal	entries vague	detail lacking	entries in detail	entries complete and detailed, in-depth	1    2     3    4
Photo Journal	entries vague;few pictures	detail lacking;pictures incomplete	entries in detail;pictures for each entry	entries complete and detailed, in-depth, quality pictures for each entry	1    2    3    4
Mural	background complete	recognizable as an ecosystem	terrain, plants, animals of ecosystem completed	terrain, plants, animals of ecosystem in detail, in-depth and organized	1    2    3    4
Class Presentation	one reason for chosen ecosystem, vague details	two reasons for chosen ecosystem, detail lacking	three reasons for chosen ecosystem, complete details presented	three reasons for chosen ecosystem, organized and in-depth	1    2    3    4

Conclusion

After your African safari is completed you should be able to recognize and name the characteristics of at least three ecosystems of Africa, their locations and some of the animals and plants of that area of the continent.

Modified Version of “African Safari”

From the original creation by Susan Blackmon

sblackmo@valleysprings.buncombe.k12.nc.us