General debrief
Teams share profiles, clues and ideas they have developed so far. Other teams may have ideas from their periods to add.
Discussion – To what extent does time and place shape the lives of individuals?
Stage One – the last day
Task
Students work with their teams to construct an historically viable story of the life of the missing person which accounts for the objects they had with them on the day they went missing.
Students should not reach a definitive conclusion as to what happened to their ‘misper’ (missing person), but develop the story to the point where several outcomes are possible.
The class as a whole:
- develops processes and timelines for activities
- identifies sources of information.
Students continue their investigations working to the timelines they have developed.
Each team presents their initial findings, leaving the outcome open-ended.
Using a Community of Inquiry process, the class discusses the possible outcomes of each case and develops agreement on two possibilities. Both possibilities provide valid explanations for the missing person’s disappearance, but one involves the “misper” surviving, while the other does not.
Stage Two – what happened next
Task
Each team pursues the option of the missing person surviving, and speculates on ‘What happened next?’
As before, the class as a whole:
- develops processes and timeline for activities
- identifies sources of information.
Stage Three – drawing conclusions
Task
- Each team uses the information gathered to draw a possible conclusion about the fate of their missing person.
- Teams present their findings to their classmates.
- Using a Community of Inquiry process, the class discusses the outcomes of each case and considers some of the questions raised by the exhibition and the learning program:
- What is the impact of time and place on the life pathways of individuals? How have events in the wider world affected the lives of the people of Melbourne? To what extent can individuals shape their own pathways?
- Is there such a thing as a Melbourne identity? If so, has it changed over time? Is there a single Melbourne identity or are there many versions?
- Is there such a thing as the Melbourne Story? Are there different and perhaps conflicting stories to be told about Melbourne’s history and development?
- The exhibition provides evidence of both change and continuity in the lives of Melbourne’s people. What aspects of life do you expect to see change and what aspects do you expect to continue into the future?