When developing your knowledge and skills for your study of imaginative journey you will need to use a structured search process. Firstly identify journey using a dictionary or glossaries from this webquest - get a sense of the full meaning and think of other words to describe journey, like trek, expedition. Extend your vocabulary about journey using a thesaurus.

The activities on this page will provide you with some understanding about the concept of imaginative journey.

During your experience of the activities below keep a process journal that reflects on the ways in which your understanding of imaginative journey develops. How did you feel about imagining a different world? How did you feel when you were creating an avatar?

Use the material in your process journal to inform the decisions you make when you undertake your assessment task.

Now take your own journeys of imagination...

Activity 1. Imagine a different world

Imagine you live in a time when everyone believes that the world is flat. You see a different world, one where the world has curved horizons.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) argued in his writings that the Earth was spherical, because of the circular shadow it cast on the Moon, during a lunar eclipse. Another reason was that some stars visible from Egypt are not seen further north.

You have convinced three of your friends about your beliefs. Debate with three non-believers about the shape of the earth. You can dress in appropriate costumes for the time and use language that is appropriate to either the time of Christopher Columbus or of Aristotle.

When we're children we often play games when we take on different characters. Have a conversation with the person next to you and describe some of the characters you were when you were playing as a child.

If you didn't imagine yourself as different characters when you were a child imagine yourself in ten years time. Where will you live? What sorts of technology will be available to you? What will the environment be like and how will that affect your life?

Activity 3: Look closely at the image taken from The Violin Man. Choose one small frame and imagine the story behind that frame. Tell the story as though you were a witness to the journey that either begins or ends in the frame in the image. Share the story by writing it down or describe it to the person sitting next to you.

Write a letter (in character) describing the motivation for your journey and if the journey matched your expectations. Where were the challenges and what sparked your journey on?

Consider - the beginning, the challenges on the way and the destination of the journey and include those aspects of the travels in your written or spoken text.

Activity 4 Check out sites on the internet about imaginative journey and then evaluate those sites in terms of usefulness for your study of Imaginative Journeys. Consider sites on fractals and images that alter your understanding of what's real and surreal.

Start with the HSC Online site.

Activity 5: Compile a list of films, poems, song lyrics, fiction and non-fiction texts and share the list with your classmates. Don't forget to consider webpages, blogs and television shows like Noah and Saskia.

Click and listen to the audio from Angela Thomas from the University of Sydney. Some of the concepts and language in the audio are complex but reflect upon what you hear. Try and understand the complexity of Angela's discussion and how it relates to imaginative journey, as well as contributing to your understanding about avatars.

Another site that uses avatars is Second Life.

A 6: Devise a list of fifteen questions about imaginative journey.

The questions you ask should help you demonstrate synthesis and evaluation of the text you're studying.

The aim of compiling this list of questions is to assist you to develop skills and knowledge about how to understand imaginative journeys. Share the list of questions with a partner and compare their list with yours. Pare the list down to ten questions and share them as a class. Do questions duplicate and overlap?

Choose the best ten questions and keep them for practice questions about imaginative journeys that you can apply to any imaginative journey text.

Activity 7
Imagine you have just arrived in another country for the first time. You have little knowledge of the language spoken in the country you're visiting and less knowledge of the culture you're about to be immerse in. You don't know anyone in this new place and you're a long way from all those who love you.

What are the first actions, that you imagine, you'll take when you arrive in a new culture and a different country?

Consider your expectations of other people and groups. Think about the world and list the things might shake your expectations about your place in the world when you're a long way from home.