School students strive to be 'Lord of the Weeds'

February 16, 2007

School students around the nation are doing their bit to address Australia's multi-billion dollar weed problem by competing for the title "Lord of the Weeds".

"Lord of the Weeds", a national competition for schools, is an initiative of the Cooperative Research Centre for Australian Weed Management (Weeds CRC). Susanna Greig, the Weeds CRC's Educational Officer, developed the competition and runs it from the CRC office at the University of New England.

"Weeds cost the Australian agricultural community $4 billion each year," Ms Greig said, "yet many know little about them. In 'Lord of the Weeds', students investigate a local weedy area and then write a report that introduces the area, describes the weeds, and recommends a solution. Through the competition, students develop solutions to local environmental problems, and experience the satisfaction that such work can bring. They also develop a sense of pride in their school and neighbourhood."

Schools should register for the competition by the 23rd of February 2007, and reports are due by the 25th of May 2007. For more details on "Lord of the Weeds", to see the rules and the resources for teachers, and to read previous winning reports, go to the Web site:
www.weeds.crc.org.au/for_schools/competition.html. "The only thing left to do is to find a weedy area," Ms Greig said.

"More than $3,500 in total prize money is offered to the winning schools," she said. "Following its previous success, the competition has secured additional prize money from the States' weed societies. More prize money means more winning schools."

Last year, prizes went to 16 secondary schools around Australia. (Although "Lord of the Weeds" is a secondary schools competition, some primary schools have become involved.)

The competition has been popular with schools. Comments from teachers include:
"It is a real and worthwhile challenge for our students."
"Providing the certificates and personalised feedback is appreciated! The feedback is unique for a national schools competition."
"The resources provided are terrific and made this an assignment prepared and ready to go."

PHOTO (by Kate Blood) of blackberry weed: Weeds CRC.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at February 16, 2007 03:09 PM