Understanding weeds: life cycle

Weeds compete with native plants in our natural environments, and can dominate both natural ecosystems and areas of agricultural production. This competition limits biodiversity, as well as the economic potential for farmers. This activity will look closely at three different weed forms and children will learn about their reproductive life cycles. This learning activity is the first part of a sequence of 2 individual learning activities focused on understanding weeds. The order of these learning activities are: life cycle and investigation. The OUTCOMES of this learning activity are for children to: learn about weed features and compare with other plants; undertake research about garden, bushland and agricultural weeds; investigate weed plants and describe its form and dispersal mechanism; and value weed removal as important in maintaining biodiversity and agricultural productivity.