The Task

Your task for this webquest is to design a tour for a group of heritage guests from another country. 
You will need to take your guests to the four corners of the state. Also you must take your heritage guests
 to one or more sites that is based on their heritage.  For instance if you have a group from Denmark you
will want to take that group to the Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn.

Author Note: This is the essence of this webquest.  The students will be investigating Iowa through their guest as they design thier tour.  It would be good to emphasize the fact that the tour must cover all parts of the state.

As you design your tour you will need to create a budget.  You can find the budget information on the Letter from the Governor.  Remember, the tour you design should be thought out carefully.

The Process


In this webquest each student or student group will need a road map of Iowa.  These can be obtained from the Iowa Tourism Office. 

If the project will be completed by individuals.......

1.  Determine the Heritage Guests that will be assigned to each student.  There are many ways that these can be determined.  Pick from a hat, teacher assign, student choose or other ways to determine the assignments.

2.  Review the webquest.  Look at each page WITH the students.  An LCD projector or other presentation device may be used.  Make sure that the expectations are very clear and and even giving a written expectations list will assist with this.

3.  Set up a calendar for due dates. You may want to set up intermediate dates for parts of the webquest to be due.  Visiting websites can eat up lots of time so setting due dates can set the pace of completion of this webquest.

FOR STUDENTS

1.  Once you have your assigned group investigate their occupations and numbers.  Think about ONE or TWO places in Iowa that your guests must go.  What country are they from?  Where has their country had a significant influence in Iowa?  For instance, there is a significant Danish influence in the western part of Iowa.  You will want to look at the websites there for a place to visit.  Remember: you must visit each part of the state; North, South, East and West.

2.  Read the letter from the Governor of Iowa.  Make sure you understand what it expected and if you have a question please see your teacher immediately.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page and review the prices of  the bus, mileage, hotels, and  meal allowance.  These are essential figures for your budget.  Begin making a chart to record your buget information.  To download a budget sheet click here.  This sheet if a MS word document.  If you have MS word on your computer you can download the sheet to the computer and then print it off.

3. You will have seven days for your tour.  Plan for one or two sites each day. Check with your teacher for tour expectations.

4.  Begin your tour at any location in Iowa.  You can assume that your guests are at that location.  If you are from Iowa starting at your home town would be a good choice. Once you have the sites your are going to you will need to locate them on an Iowa road map.  On the map mark the locations that you will visit.  Plot the SHORTEST route from one location to the next.  Look for the mileage numbers beside each road to determine distance from one location to the next.  Sometimes you might be able to use MapQuest for distance from one location to the next.  MapQuest may not always be accurate so be careful about this.  Check with your teacher regarding the use of MapQuest on this project.

5.  At each site write up in one or two paragraphs (or another length assigned by your teacher) about what your group would see at each site.  Be specific.  You want to show that you looked at the website for the information.  You will need to pace yourself while looking at the websites.  Spending too much time at a site will impact your due date schedule.  Just as a tour guide would, you also need to stay on time!

6.  Have fun with this project.     

The Evaluation

	Expert Guide	Experienced Guide	Nomad Guide
Map Presentation	Map is neat and well organized. There is a reason for the order of sites visited.	Map is neat.	The map is confusing and would not be able to be followed by the "World's Best" trackers.
Written Form	The paragraphs are well written and are word processed.  Spelling, capitalization, punctuation, indentation and grammar are accurate.	Paragraphs are written in cursive.  Spelling, capitalization, punctuation and grammar are correct.	The paragraphs are hard to read.  There are many errors.
Contents of Writing	The writing accurately depicts the information contained in the web site used.  It presents a clear picture of what would be shown to the group.	The writing depicts the information contained in the web sites used. The picture the wroting presents could be clearer.	What did the web sites show?
Selection of  Web Sites	More than one of the sites seleted for thetour that directly relates to  the tour groups heritage.	Exactly one connection to the groups heritage.	No connections!
Budget	Budget is accurate and complete.	The buget is somewhat accurate. Some mistakes.	Budget is not accurate. Many mistakes.

The Websites

Each of the websites listed were chosen with certain tour groups in mind. Encourage the students to look for sites that fit for thier tour groups.  It may be specific to the tour group's culture or their occupation.  If you or your students would like to choose other websites the Iowa Tourism Office website has lots of information to choose from.

If you have any websites or groups to add to this webquest please email them to the author at curt.nielsen@uni.edu.