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Mekong Quest CD-ROM

The Mekong Quest CD-ROM is AMRC's first outreach to high school education. The multimedia program is designed to provide an entry point to the geography of the Mekong River and the people, countries and ecosystems that are connected to it. It includes interactive material about Mekong issues and geographic concepts regarding Australia's neighbouring Asian countries, as well as the role of Australia in the Mekong Region.

Based on the internationally renowned, inquiry-based learning format of 'webquest', Mekong Quest employs the CD-ROM format and video material to engage the students through visual literacy as well as the written word. Along with resources from the Internet, Mekong Quest uses video clips taken on a field study of students associated with the School of Geosciences and the Australian Mekong Resource Centre within the University of Sydney.

With the potential to expand into a series this first installment contains two 'quests' for students to undertake.

In 'Village Life in Laos' students are invited to to participate in a conference, giving a presentationabout the differences between their lives and those of Lao villagers. Before they can present, though, students must research the lifestyles, geography and history of Laos. They are guided by interactive maps, games and photographic tours. Further insight is gained through the experience of fellow Australian Geographers in video clips from Laos.

In 'Dam or No Dam' students hold their own conference to debate the the proposal of large hydropower developments along the Mekong River. Students all take on a role from local villagers, through international donors, to national government agencies. Researching their roles ismade easy with more video clips of Mekong Stakeholders and extensive links to on line material from across the globe.

This activity has been written with Stage 4 NSW Geography students in mind. That means Year 7 and Year 8 students who are studying a Mandatory course called Global Geography.

What are the elements in this material that make it different and worthwhile for use in the classroom?

• The content is unfamiliar. It cannot be found in any textbook now on the market and the content will be updated in future CDs in the series.
• The content is used only as a vehicle for learning. The student examines the content only to discover how to more accurately understand the world. For this reason, the process of learning is the same even when the content available continually changes
• The features of Geography learning that are described in the revised June 2003 syllabus have been included in this approach. These are:
  

If you are interested in purchasing 'Mekong Quest: Volume One' please download and return the order form

Check out the AMRC's full range of CD-ROMs in the Publications section.

© 2005 Australian Mekong Resource Centre