AIM: To stimulate student creative thinking about weed issues
Sit the students and yourself in a circle on a suitable grassy area.
You may wish to make an audio recording of the activity for later reference.
Present the students with a weed.
Explain that:
This weed has an important message about the ecology of where it is found. Pass the plant onto the next person and ask them to continue the story with one or two sentences. Keep passing the plant and expanding the story until each student has made a contribution.
If students get stuck prompt with questions like, “Why is it here?” “How did it get here?” “What features of this plant have brought it here?” Students are free to invent ‘facts’ about the weed.
Once the story is completed, ask the students what kinds of benefits the weed may have brought as well as the problems the weed may have caused in its chosen ecosystem.